Vaillant EcoTec Plus 831 - Heating controls recommendation?

[active149]

Hi All
I am going to have a Vaillant EcoTec Plus 831 Combi boiler fitted next month to replace my old existing system (Glowworm Fuelsaver). Things have moved on considerably since my last boiler was installed and the problem I now have is that I can’t decide on which heating controls to go for?
I think this time around I would like to have a Programmable Room Thermostat (wired) and have been looking at either the VRT230 or VRT360 but not sure what the difference is between them? Do I have to stick to a Vaillant heating control or can another manufacturer’s (Honeywell/Drayton) be fitted without losing any functionality?

I would really appreciate your opinions on this; therefore any recommendations you could give me would be great. Thanks.

 

[spudkey]

have a look at the vrc400 which will give you weather compensation

 

[simond]

VRC400 is now replaced by VRC430.

You can fit third party controls or Vaillant's own. The VRC430 is weather comp, VRT360 is standard room temp prog controller and VRT360f is radio version of 360.

All this you can find on the Vaillant web site for yourself.

Truth is, we have found Vaillant's controls to be a little too complex for most customers and tend to fit the Honeywell CM range in preference.

All Honeywell's main features are easily accessible without an hour spent reading the manual. They will be used as a benchmark of clarity by all the manufacturers next time round, I reckon.

 

[gas4you]

If you have a handy north wall then I would fit a VR430, fix it to the front of the boiler and put trvs on all rads.

If not the VRT360 is a better unit with more features than the 230.

I must have been luckier than Simon in the past, as yet I have had no complaints or problems with customers being able to use the new series of Vaillant 'push & click' controls.

However, the previous range were a nightmare, even I could never quite get to grips with them

 

[mrkjd]

Sorry for being thick here but I don't quite understand "weather compensation". Could somebody explain why it's better than a conventional programmable control?

A conventional control measures the ambient temp around where it's placed and controls the boiler according to the settings the user puts in it. What does a weather compensator do that's different?

 

[gas4you]

WC on the Vaillant measures the outside air temperature and adjusts the flow temp from the boiler accordingly.

Therefore on a 'warmer day' in winter the boiler runs the flow temp down to save gas and keep it in condensing mode longer.

 

[active149]

Thanks for your replies so far .....

I quite like the look of the Honeywell CM907, which seems to be fairly well spec’d without being too overcomplicated (nice layout etc). One question, would it control the hot water warmstart feature of this boiler like the VRT360 does? Thanks.

 

[DP]

Same boiler to be fitted tomorrow. I will be installing S plan (two zones) controlled by two Danfoss TP5000

 

[gas4you]

Thanks for your replies so far .....

I quite like the look of the Honeywell CM907, which seems to be fairly well spec’d without being too overcomplicated (nice layout etc). One question, would it control the hot water warmstart feature of this boiler like the VRT360 does? Thanks.

No. You have to have the Vaillant 2 channel programmer to do that.

All you will be able to do is leave it on all the time or off all the time.

Saying that, as yet, I have never installed an Ecotec Plus where the warm start function is need to be left on.

All it does is wastes precious and expensive gas all day by firing the boiler approx every 30 mins.

 

[mrkjd]

Thanks for the explanation.

Surely on a "warmer" winter's day though the room stat would reach temp quicker and shut the heating off anyway.

Not meaning to hijack the thread but is WC likely to save much dosh during real world use? Our example is a 4 bed large(ish) edwardian semi

 

[plplumber]

Truth is, we have found Vaillant's controls to be a little too complex for most customers and tend to fit the Honeywell CM range in preference.

if i was spending £2000+ on a new boiler installation i wouldn't want a different controller that i couldn't access all the features of the boiler from. people have to learn how program these things or get someone else to do it for them, but to use a 'second choice' controller is not the way to go when spending this kind of money.[/quote]

 

[simond]

I would have agreed with you 6 years ago.

But 100s of Vaillant boilers later, we wouldn't have enough staff to deal with all the calls we'd be getting from confused owners.

After the first year we knew we had to stop using these complex controllers for all but the most techy savvy of owners.

Even Vaillant's UK sales team had to create their own idiots guides to help the industry and users work their way through the manual. One of my customers was an interpreter in three languages. He couldn't understand the UK version so he read it in two other languages, reckons they made even less sense.

The new Vaillant VRC430 is much clearer. But it is still way behind the Honeywell CM range in terms of user interface. Do you know what an 'active cylinder' is? The Vaillant manual doesn't bother to tell you. And how many users would immediately associate 'H1' with their heating?

How many people want to time their warmstart anyway? And how many other manufacturers even offer that option?

 

[plplumber]

ok, fair do's - i get your point.
i suppose i take my own ability to understand technical stuff for granted. well hopefully, by the sound of it, once a weather compensation system is set up 'properly' it should need messing with - only to activate holiday function when going away.