Smart thermostat for bath underfloor heating more info needs

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01EG

604 posts

Ultimate Geek

#253234 2-Aug-2019 11:12

Hi, my thinking: currently we have a thermostat to control the bath underfloor heating, the thermostat is old school one with buttons and a small screen in perfect working condition, where I can set temperature/timer/etc. But wanting something more(as usual :)))). So following my brand heating, I found what I want, but the price is ouch(~$470 including installation), back to internet and I found original one, and unfortunately, its production company, back to internet and found NZ reseller, and end of story, now, my questions

# Is anyone here from EEP? may be you can PM a thermostat price?

# internet shows a lot of thermostats for less prices, do I must to steak with the brand thermostat(link 1 or 2) or basically I can buy any if it suits my heating installation?

Thanks

wellygary

8312 posts

Uber Geek

#2287612 2-Aug-2019 11:53

If you take the existing thermostat off the wall, you will find it just slots into to a bunch of generic connectors that come up from the heating coils, you can connect any thermostat brand as long as its got compatible connectors....

01EG

604 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2287614 2-Aug-2019 11:55

wellygary:
If you take the existing thermostat off the wall, you will find it just slots into to a bunch of generic connectors that come up from the heating coils, you can connect any thermostat brand as long as its got compatible connectors....

Thats I'm thinking, thanks for confirming it.

davidcole

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#2287622 2-Aug-2019 12:07

Curious to what device you look at. I have an old stupid warmup one.....the one with 4 programs that you can't alter....so it you dont want it to start at 4am, you have to adjust the clock so that it starts when you want.

Was looking at something that I might be able to control by my local network (either Home assistant or openhab). Not interesting in any dodgy, man-in-the-middle-enabled app with no security one of these companies would probably come up with.

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Handle9

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#2287661 2-Aug-2019 13:25

What sort of controller do you have now? If there is a floor probe then you are limited as to what brand of controller you can use.

If you go from having a floor probe to controlling on room temp get ready for serious bill shock.

Handle9

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#2287665 2-Aug-2019 13:29

Also you need to be very careful with sizing the thermostat. A lot of thermostats are rated to 5-6A. A good sized underfloor heating mat can be 3-5kw so you need an interposing relay of some variety.

If you don't know what you are doing you have a real risk of causing a fire.

01EG

604 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2287667 2-Aug-2019 13:33

davidcole:
Curious to what device you look at. I have an old stupid warmup one.....the one with 4 programs that you can't alter....so it you dont want it to start at 4am, you have to adjust the clock so that it starts when you want.

Never use timer yet, just know it exists, don't know if it is stupid one or not. )))

01EG

604 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2287670 2-Aug-2019 13:35

Handle9: Also you need to be very careful with sizing the thermostat. A lot of thermostats are rated to 5-6A. A good sized underfloor heating mat can be 3-5kw so you need an interposing relay of some variety.

If you don't know what you are doing you have a real risk of causing a fire.

My underfloor heating is in bathroom, this is why I'm trying to understand what should I expect

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davidcole

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#2287671 2-Aug-2019 13:38

01EG:
davidcole:

Curious to what device you look at. I have an old stupid warmup one.....the one with 4 programs that you can't alter....so it you dont want it to start at 4am, you have to adjust the clock so that it starts when you want.

Never use timer yet, just know it exists, don't know if it is stupid one or not. )))

Yeah i've never used out timer, just manually turn it on/off....which means it's never used. We'll be looking at a bathroom upgrade for our other bathroom, to put in floor heating there too, so ideally would want to have the same thermostats for both.

timmmay

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#2287726 2-Aug-2019 14:23

Handle9: What sort of controller do you have now? If there is a floor probe then you are limited as to what brand of controller you can use.

If you go from having a floor probe to controlling on room temp get ready for serious bill shock.

This. Make sure controller is compatible with probe. You can gently heat the room if it's on all day or on a high temperature.

My heat mat is only 1kw.