Nest Thermostat with a Potterton Prima F60 boiler.

[Ianb191]

Ok, so I am tempted by the nest. Recognising that to work on the boiler itself I would need to be gas safe trained, so I am not planning on interfering with the boiler, I have been reading up on the installation instructions. Currently I have a 240v switching thermostat, with a live(from the programmer) a neutral, and a switched live to the pump. Could I therefore just replace the thermostat with the
Nest heatlink box and use the separate stand to power the Nest unit in another room? Looking at the instructions it would seem that this could work. Does this sound reasonable?
Secondly what is the panels view of the Nest as opposed to Hive, or the Honeywell singlezone or the Tado, Insteon and anything else.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions, Ian b

 

[Dan Robinson]

Nest and Evo are currently the best.


But word to the wise - wait a few months .

 

[Ianb191]

Great thanks Dan, now that does sound intriguing, although it is a bit like waiting for Christmas now. I now know something is coming but don't know what it could be. Sounds like you reckon it's worth the wait
Thanks again, Ian B

 

[Dan Robinson]

There are some interesting things in the pipe line.

Nest is good but overated IMHO.


I say that with 3 or 4 of the blighters sitting in stock at the moment

 

[Agile]

The Nest looks and feels lovely.

It works well within its limitations. But on/off modulation is last centuries technology.

Its also let down by needing a cable connection to the power supply!

But if everyone waited until the next model is out no one would ever get anything new!

Tony

 

[petit_pablo]

Other than the aesthetic's of the nest, Hive is a better unit for the price.

Unless you have an all singing system the other options are overkill.

 

[Ianb191]

Thanks all, i'll put my purchase on hold for the moment, and keep my eyes open for the stuff in the pipeline

 

[Agile]

The main advantage of the Nest is that you can control the times and temps via your smart phone.

Still beats me why anyone would want to when they are not in the house!

Salus have one too at a probably cheaper price.

Tony

 

[Agile]

Ian, your boiler is seriously old and inefficient and would have been within the boiler scrappage scheme a few years ago.

Putting your money towards a new boiler would be better financial management.

Tony

 

[Ianb191]

I am also tempted by understanding more about how my CH is performing, which it looks like some of these new thermostats can do.
Currently I have a relatively simple boiler, a nice old chunky electro mechanical programmer (2 on/off times) and a Siemens remote control room thermostat (replaces the old electro mechanical thermostat). Although the Siemens thermostat works ok, it has a tolerance of 1c below, and .5c above target temperature, which is too large for me.
I note from researching here mainly, that nice new boilers appear to adjust to outside temp and a whole range of other things, but as mine is working fine it would be a bit of a waste to replace it (not to mention the costs, I note the point that it is old and inefficient but as I have only recently moved in, I had not considered the scrappage scheme, but will investigate). So until I replace the boiler that leaves me with replacing the electro mechanical programmer and keeping the Siemens stat, or keeping the programmer (and leaving it set for constant for heating), and getting a greater function stat, which could learn and using outside inputs as well as inside inputs, maximise my use of energy.
I am in the process of researching the options, hence my questions here, but have been tempted by the Nest, which looks rather nice, although at £179 without fitting is a wee bit steep.
I am also thinking about the future, as a bit of a gadget fan I am looking at much more home automation (switching of lights, monitoring of sensors around the house, linking lots of things etc) so I am trying to pick something that may link to full home automation one day.

Thanks once again for your inputs, it has been really useful for my decision making so far
Next task is to balance my radiators (using the FAQ) as some are red hot, and others are stone cold!

Thanks
Ian b

 

[Agile]

So until I replace the boiler that leaves me with replacing the electro mechanical programmer and keeping the Siemens stat, or keeping the programmer (and leaving it set for constant for heating), and getting a greater function stat, which could learn and using outside inputs as well as inside inputs, maximise my use of energy.

Thanks
Ian b

That's exactly what you should be aiming NOT to do!

You want to minimise your energy usage!

Are you quite sure your stat does not have timing options?

Tony

 

[Ianb191]

Tony, You are of course correct re energy usage, I want to minimise the amount I use, by using it wisely (I just chose the wrong words, I suppose I was trying to say maximise my return on the investment in the energy I use or something similar ), and some of the features like turning off when all have left the house (useful if you have irregular patterns), and some of the monitoring options sound quite useful.

Unfortunately the stat I have doesn't have any timing options, it is this one http://w3.siemens.co.uk/buildingtec...-controls/documentation/Documents/RDH10_1.pdf which was originally a present for my parents, but as they don't have a neutral to their existing thermostat the gas fitter couldn't get the receiver unit to work. I have a neutral here, so it works fine, but just doesn't give me the level of control I want.

I suppose I could just opt for a new boiler which would I hope come with some more options, but that seems even more expensive for savings of ~£300 per year and my existing boiler does work fine currently, so seems a bit of a waste.

Oh well, much more research to do I think , and maybe try for the green deal if it starts again next April .

 

[Agile]

Unfortunately the stat I have doesn't have any timing options, it is this one http://w3.siemens.co.uk/buildingtec...-controls/documentation/Documents/RDH10_1.pdf which was originally a present for my parents, but as they don't have a neutral to their existing thermostat the gas fitter couldn't get the receiver unit to work.

The unit you have linked to is a battery operated wired thermostat.

It does not need a neutral.

Even if they did have a wireless then the transmitter unit is battery operated and the receiver unit is fitted beside the boiler where a neutral is available.

Tony

 

[Ianb191]

Tony, yes that is correct, I currently have the wireless transmitter (the battery operated unit shown in the pic, the RDH10RF ) sat in my bedroom today, and the receiver unit the RCR10/433-GB connected where the original analogue stat was. Having a live, neutral and demand wires all previously connected meant it was a really simple swap over.