So here we are, two weeks into our Evohome experience, how have things been ?.
Chalk and cheese compared to what we'd been tolerating since moving in. We've gone from being uncomfortable with the worlds hottest hot water (the thermostat was definitely knackered) to being comfortable with hot water that's just as we want it and no longer fetches your skin off, all in time for winter.
Of course installing this now does mean we won't have any data of our own to gauge any potential savings against. We did change energy supplier the moment we walked in so do have a bill showing one months use but that won't include any heating (the hot water cost was ridiculous as we thought). We have a rough idea of bills from previous owners and also our old energy costs in our previous house, so might be able to pick a rough idea out of that buggers muddle, if not we won't lose any sleep (unless the TRV's kick in...apparently...).
The aim of installing the system was to enable us to be as comfortable and as energy efficient as possible so even if we only achieve savings at the lower end of what Honeywell say is possible it will be positive. Based on the controls we took out I'd guess we will be towards the middle to higher end of their savings sales pitch.
When I say "took out" it's still on the wall in the utility room looking at me every time I go in there. It does not do anything anymore but seems to know it's day are numbered before it's finally kicked out of the building (actually that sounds like a few people I've worked with over the years!..anyway... back to the heating...).
Let's be clear, if you're sensitive to noise and want to wake up to a toasty bedroom any system with motorised TRV's (at least ones that make this level of noise) is probably going to be something you should avoid. You could still potentially install the system in other rooms and simply use standard TRV's in the bedroom as if you're heating anywhere else in the house in the morning your bedroom will heat up at the same time which might be the most simple solution. I'd have put this in place but did not want the bedroom heating up in the evening whilst the lounge is being kept warm (yes I know....first world problems).
Uneventful is good, after all this is a heating system it should be installed and vanish into the background as soon as possible and it's done just that. We still find we do the odd bit of fine tuning for the odd day someone is working from home but that's the only time we pull up the app and that will stop once we've got things exactly right.
Any other temperature changes are made using Alexa and this continues to work surprisingly well especially as the voice commands are short, simple and very natural. It's just as easy to ask Alexa to turn the heating up or down as it was in the old days shouting for whoever was not sat on the sofa to do so. Also Alexa tends not to complain about "having to do everything around here" and is happy to nudge the heat up a degree or two with a never ending cheery demeanour.
There are still a couple of niggles that would be nice to be resolved and some things that we'd certainly have on the wish list for Evohome.
The controller still reports an issue with the hot water actuator even though the hot water is working perfectly well. It's annoying from the point of view of just not being how it should be but fine as everything is working as it should. Honeywell support tell me they can't / don't want to help and I should contact my installer. My installer feels all is well as it's working and it must be a software error. I'll spend some time to get it resolved over the next few weeks but for now there are other things to do. We still don't know if Alexa should be able to report the temperature of the hot water, the question we asked (a number of times) is still pending an answer from Honeywell.
Speaking of hot water, being able to set the water temperature along with the time schedule (as you can for zones) would be really useful. This would allow you to easily build in a once a week higher temperature to kill off any nasty bugs that might be enjoying a free bath in your tank. Surely an obvious energy saving feature that's glaringly obvious in it's omission ?. That would be a very simple firmware update, maybe we'll see it in the future.
It would be nice to be able to ask Alexa to set a temperature for X amount of time or until X time (as you can in the app / controller). This would avoid the potential issue of leaving the heating on all night (as we raised in a previous blog). Maybe that will arrive in the future as well.
It's nice to see the system still learning about how our house heat's up and cools down as this is one of the energy saving features of the system. There is still some "over shoot" with rooms getting around 1.5 degrees over temperature in some instances however that does seem to be getting better. That said we're not sat watching it so it's only what we've noticed so far.
One thing I have noticed is the boiler does very occasionally appear to fire at a random time for no apparent reason. A quick check of the schedule gives no clue as to what's going on as there is no heat being called for and its not a pre-heat to get a room to temperature for a set time. I've spotted this a couple of times but not found any link yet so I'm still looking out for it to gather info before going back to Honeywell. If this does turn into something to look out for I'll give an update in the blog.
Hopefully we will get a positive response on the hot water actuator niggle, we will keep the blog updated with how we get on.
If things continue as they have been we should be looking forward to a cosy energy efficient winter with a system we never really think about.
Chalk and cheese compared to what we'd been tolerating since moving in. We've gone from being uncomfortable with the worlds hottest hot water (the thermostat was definitely knackered) to being comfortable with hot water that's just as we want it and no longer fetches your skin off, all in time for winter.
Of course installing this now does mean we won't have any data of our own to gauge any potential savings against. We did change energy supplier the moment we walked in so do have a bill showing one months use but that won't include any heating (the hot water cost was ridiculous as we thought). We have a rough idea of bills from previous owners and also our old energy costs in our previous house, so might be able to pick a rough idea out of that buggers muddle, if not we won't lose any sleep (unless the TRV's kick in...apparently...).
The aim of installing the system was to enable us to be as comfortable and as energy efficient as possible so even if we only achieve savings at the lower end of what Honeywell say is possible it will be positive. Based on the controls we took out I'd guess we will be towards the middle to higher end of their savings sales pitch.
When I say "took out" it's still on the wall in the utility room looking at me every time I go in there. It does not do anything anymore but seems to know it's day are numbered before it's finally kicked out of the building (actually that sounds like a few people I've worked with over the years!..anyway... back to the heating...).
Don't give me those puppy dog eyes, you're on your way
Uneventful is perhaps the best word to describe how things have been so far. There was of course the "TRV incident" which you'll know all about if you've been following the blog, but we're past that now and have moved on simply choosing to keep the bedroom cooler in the morning so the motors don't kick in.
Uneventful is good, after all this is a heating system it should be installed and vanish into the background as soon as possible and it's done just that. We still find we do the odd bit of fine tuning for the odd day someone is working from home but that's the only time we pull up the app and that will stop once we've got things exactly right.
Any other temperature changes are made using Alexa and this continues to work surprisingly well especially as the voice commands are short, simple and very natural. It's just as easy to ask Alexa to turn the heating up or down as it was in the old days shouting for whoever was not sat on the sofa to do so. Also Alexa tends not to complain about "having to do everything around here" and is happy to nudge the heat up a degree or two with a never ending cheery demeanour.
There are still a couple of niggles that would be nice to be resolved and some things that we'd certainly have on the wish list for Evohome.
The controller still reports an issue with the hot water actuator even though the hot water is working perfectly well. It's annoying from the point of view of just not being how it should be but fine as everything is working as it should. Honeywell support tell me they can't / don't want to help and I should contact my installer. My installer feels all is well as it's working and it must be a software error. I'll spend some time to get it resolved over the next few weeks but for now there are other things to do. We still don't know if Alexa should be able to report the temperature of the hot water, the question we asked (a number of times) is still pending an answer from Honeywell.
Speaking of hot water, being able to set the water temperature along with the time schedule (as you can for zones) would be really useful. This would allow you to easily build in a once a week higher temperature to kill off any nasty bugs that might be enjoying a free bath in your tank. Surely an obvious energy saving feature that's glaringly obvious in it's omission ?. That would be a very simple firmware update, maybe we'll see it in the future.
It would be nice to be able to ask Alexa to set a temperature for X amount of time or until X time (as you can in the app / controller). This would avoid the potential issue of leaving the heating on all night (as we raised in a previous blog). Maybe that will arrive in the future as well.
It's nice to see the system still learning about how our house heat's up and cools down as this is one of the energy saving features of the system. There is still some "over shoot" with rooms getting around 1.5 degrees over temperature in some instances however that does seem to be getting better. That said we're not sat watching it so it's only what we've noticed so far.
Screen shot showing two rooms using the built in energy saving features
One thing I have noticed is the boiler does very occasionally appear to fire at a random time for no apparent reason. A quick check of the schedule gives no clue as to what's going on as there is no heat being called for and its not a pre-heat to get a room to temperature for a set time. I've spotted this a couple of times but not found any link yet so I'm still looking out for it to gather info before going back to Honeywell. If this does turn into something to look out for I'll give an update in the blog.
Hopefully we will get a positive response on the hot water actuator niggle, we will keep the blog updated with how we get on.
If things continue as they have been we should be looking forward to a cosy energy efficient winter with a system we never really think about.
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