Looking at getting a smart heating system and was looking at Tado, but after speaking to their support it seems the TRV's I have are not compatible, so does anyone have idea on what ones they are? The brand written on the housing is 'Boss' but would like to know what the actual valves are to see if I can get any adapters for them,
Originally Posted by Jonny - After being taken out at Spa
Your car is Usain Bolt with wellies
Re: What TRV do I have?
[Re: Begbie]
#1655088 08/01/202217:3408/01/202217:34
Looks pretty much the same as the TRVs that I have fitted (see pics, haven't been able to identify a make or model from the W or E logos) but I'm not a great fan of them TBH since they nearly all seize up, or rather the little "plunger" (your first pic) gets stuck, needing a bit of WD40 and "persuasion" before they start moving again.
There's a compatability list for Tado, shows hundreds (well not quite, but a lot) of different TRVs but only a few are not conpatible. Only one TRV is listed from Boss (compatible) but looks nothing like yours, and most of the TRVs pictured have a much smaller diameter rod or "plunger". The closest one looks to be Pegler Yorkshire Terrier / Mistral / Belmont which is shown as not compatible so they might be right.
I'm curious though as to whether rhe high cost of the Tado stuff really pays back in saved energy costs?
1996 Portofino 20vt & 2000 Pearl White Plus 2008 Ferrari F430 & 2017 Fiat 124 Spider
Re: What TRV do I have?
[Re: Begbie]
#1655089 08/01/202218:0408/01/202218:04
Thanks for that Dave and yes, your plunger bit looks exactly like mine. I even popped into B&Q over the weekend to look at the TRV's they have and the ones that they had, I could see that they had the same plunger bit as well.
Not sure how I can measure the thread pitch, but did measure it the width and it was 3cm wide.
As for cost saving? I think it would help, especially with gas prices going up and the way myself and the wife work, we need heating in different parts of the house during the day night. Mon - Fri 9-5 I'm in the spare room upstairs. Wife is in the other bedroom Wed - Fri 9-5, but Mon - Tue she is downstairs looking after the little one, so to have heating in different parts of the house on a schedule it would be much better to have it automated as we have 4 heating zones too. 3 downstairs (UFH) and 1 zone upstairs. Plus if we go out, Tado (and other systems) can turn the heating off etc..
Originally Posted by Jonny - After being taken out at Spa
Your car is Usain Bolt with wellies
Re: What TRV do I have?
[Re: Begbie]
#1655107 10/01/202223:4010/01/202223:40
I measured the outside of the thread on the valve base (around the plunger/rod) with calipers and used a thread measuring thingummy on the "collar" at the base of the "head".
Wow 4 heating zones eh, we had all our hot and cold water tanks and boiler replaced when the extension was done years ago, and I'm not sure we have any zones at all, just TRVs on every radiator but the lounge (where the thermostat used to be, except now it's a wireless one that usually sits in the diner part of the kitchen). Unfortunately the house is not too energy efficient, we have polystyrene balls for cavity insulation and over the years they all seem to have leaked out. Plus we have this stupid microbore piping in the old part of the house.
1996 Portofino 20vt & 2000 Pearl White Plus 2008 Ferrari F430 & 2017 Fiat 124 Spider
Re: What TRV do I have?
[Re: Begbie]
#1655112 11/01/202212:1611/01/202212:16
Well you certainly have more tools than I do for measuring things
The underfloor heating is for the kitchen, hallway and living room, so a zone each with its own thermostat too, whereas upstairs is just radiators with TRV's and a single thermostat for that, hence wanting a bit more control over things on the phone, as the Polypipe thermostats are a bit of a faff to configure. Your house sounds fun I know what it's like when a bean bag loses its polystyrene balls!
I've posted the question on Tado's support forum to see if anyone can advise as to what I can do with the TRV
Originally Posted by Jonny - After being taken out at Spa
Your car is Usain Bolt with wellies
Re: What TRV do I have?
[Re: Begbie]
#1655344 20/01/202223:5320/01/202223:53
Thanks Dave. I got a reply from a couple of community members who had the same valve and said Tado worked for them, so ended up getting the wireless starter kit for £129.99 from BT shop (out of all places) and 3 TRV from BT shop. All up and running, apart from that the boiler now won't turn off, so already raised a ticket with Tado for this
Originally Posted by Jonny - After being taken out at Spa
Your car is Usain Bolt with wellies
Re: What TRV do I have?
[Re: Begbie]
#1655353 21/01/202211:5621/01/202211:56
Been reading up on it and think it is because I have 3 controllers, 1 for heating and 2 for heating, whereas a normal Tado install is 1 for hot water and 1 for heating, so ordered another wired thermostat and need to do some configuration in the app to make it work as it should
Originally Posted by Jonny - After being taken out at Spa
Your car is Usain Bolt with wellies
Re: What TRV do I have?
[Re: Begbie]
#1668723 16/11/202311:1216/11/202311:12
Thanks Dave. I got a reply from a couple of community members who had the same valve and said Tado worked for them, so ended up getting the wireless starter kit for £129.99 from BT shop (out of all places) and 3 TRV from BT shop.
Can I tap into your experience since you posted this. I've got Pegler Mistral II, and wondering if Tado TRVs will work with them. Do yours still work OK? Do the valves open all the way when heat is needed? Close all the way when it isn't? Or do they fit, but you've had glitches and niggles with them?
Re: What TRV do I have?
[Re: Begbie]
#1668739 17/11/202312:4417/11/202312:44
I think it should work fine for you. In the end, I had confirmation from other users of Tado on their community forum when I raised the same question above here - https://community.tado.com/en-gb/discussion/11937/what-trv-do-i-have but otherwise they open and close as they should and been running it for nearly 2 years without issue.
I have even use Home Assistant to do some automation on it as well
Originally Posted by Jonny - After being taken out at Spa
Your car is Usain Bolt with wellies
Re: What TRV do I have?
[Re: Begbie]
#1668740 17/11/202315:3117/11/202315:31
Thanks, appreciate the reassurance. Everyone's marking the TRVs down at the moment for Black Friday, so I'll take the plunge, fit one and test thoroughly in case I need to return, but it sounds like I'll be fine. I'd also found the thing with two conflicting compatibility charts - very confusing. Fingers crossed...
Re: What TRV do I have?
[Re: Begbie]
#1668741 17/11/202316:5717/11/202316:57
Just to add to this, I fitted a Drayton Wiser system last year - it has been working very well - https://wiser.draytoncontrols.co.uk/wiser-black-friday-smart-thermostat-deals - the controller was a very easy swap with the existing controller - when I was looking at systems it was at a cheaper price point than the Tado system as the TRVs don't have a display on them