This is a high level overview of the smart radiator valve Tado system I’ve utilised to upgrade my central heating system. There are lot of new components and systems I’ve incorporated on this journey. Some deserve their own post but this one intends to go over the general theme on a high level.
Looking back nearly two years ago I had made a fair few upgrades to the central heating system. I started with draining the entire system, learned how to solder pipes for the new connections, had learned how to add a new radiator to an existing system with cheap fancier looking radiators! Finally I installed wet underfloor heating by splitting the central heating zones.
The existing system
So my starting point was at a good spot. I had future proofed my system for smart radiator valves because at the time I couldn’t afford the additional hundreds of pounds I’d had needed to install it in one go. What I did make sure was that every radiator had been upgraded to have a dumb thermostatic radiator valve (TRV) in its place which could be upgraded at a future date. I specifically went for the Drayton TRV4 as these needed no adaptors for a wide range of smart radiator valve options later down the line. Also, they had a nice slim profile and are not as bulky as the cheaper options.
I also installed a wet underfloor heating system in my kitchen which was plumbed in on an independent central heating zone, this meant I needed a wired Tado thermostat just to control this independently from my radiators. (S plan system).
The problem I wanted to solve
Now one could argue how much of a problem it was or just an improvement in process. Having dumb central heating meant my boiler would only fire from a 24 hour timer or manually. If I set it to go on for the morning and evenings. This scenario would be specific for the household leaving to go to work during the work week. As you can imagine, there are a number of combinational scenarios an average family will find themselves in –
- Weekday with no one working from home
- Weekday with both working from home in two zones
- Weekday with one working from home in one zone
- Weekend in all day
- Weekend, have a lie in and out for the day later on
Those are just a few high level examples I could think of. The point I’m making was that there was a lot of manual adjustments down to the accuracy of a 15 minute interval.
Additionally, without a smart radiator valve, we couldn’t preheat the house if we were out for the day. However, the main problem a smart radiator valve would solve was zoning.
Hive and Nest, whilst seem to have considerably larger budgets in marketing, miss a big opportunity here for me. Why would I want one focal point to control the heating for my entire 3 bedroom house? Tado allows me to individually control a zone. When I’m not working from home or generally on the weekend, I never need to heat the home office. This means I can control individual zones depending on my needs.
Installing the smart radiator valve
The tado app does a great job of providing a step by step guide. They also come with a range of adaptors depending on the existing thermostatic radiator valve (TRV) that’s already installed on your central heating system. The general idea is to twist and unscrew the valve head from the body. This means you are not having to disconnect the valve from the main water line and therefore do not need to drain the water in the system. The only time that would be necessary would be if you had a standard lockshield valve in place which is not compatible to convert into a smart radiator valve.
Getting the smart radiator valve to talk to the boiler
Now just to clarify, Tado do offer standard thermostats like Nest and Hive which will control the overall system. This might be useful if you have a zoned heating system and can use multiple thermostats anyway. It’s just nice that with Tado you have the option to bring in additional smart radiator valves if you want, or you can choose to never upgrade. I’ve seen plenty of forum users having to sell their Nests and Hives because they eventually realised they wanted greater control of their system.
Only the wired one also works with underfloor heating (which I will write about in the future). If you don’t need the wired one there is a wireless variant. I believe new build houses have it required in building regs that central heating need zoned systems so that they at least split heating between floors. If that was the case then you could use a combination of Tado thermostats (wireless or wired) and smart radiator valves.
Regardless if you use a smart radiator valve or wireless thermostat. They both talk to the boiler in the same way, and that’s using the wireless extension kit. You will get one with any starter kit and can’t use the system without one. The extension kit can also control hot water if you have a seperate water tank. As I have a combination condensing boiler, it was easy to set the extension kit to the combi setting. The wired thermostat does not need the wireless extension kit and can be wired directly to the boiler.
The extension kit sits as the middle man between the thermostats, smart radiator valves and the boiler. If the boiler has a 24 hour timer, you even change this to have it “on” 24/7. The Tado app will override and control the heating requests from the boiler.
The only other component is the “bridge”. Similar to what Hue offer to connect their LED light system. The Tado bridge which comes in the starter kit connects direct to a modem or wifi router and that lets the extension kit communicate to the app via the internet. This is what gives you the remote control and weather forecasting.
Programming the schedules
The programming is pretty self explanatory. You can control by individual days and copy and paste schedules between different zones and days. You can also pay for a subscription to have the auto on off feature for when you leave the house. For me, I haven’t found myself needing this additional functionality as I’m quite happy to turn the heating off via the app. The app also reminds you to turn the heating off from your home screen anyway. Generally when I go home from wherever, I remember to turn the heating on ready for my arrival.
You will find over the first few weeks tweaking the temperatures by a few degrees until it is comfortable. Of course the reading at the smart radiator valve body is a lot higher than what it is in the middle of the room. This means you will need to technically self calibrate to what feels right. There is an expensive shortcut to avoid doing this. Tado sell a wireless temperature sensor which can override the control of the smart radiator valve in the room. This sensor can then turn the smart radiator valve on and off without the valve making any decisions itself. The benefit is that the reading is a lot more accurate depending on where it is placed in the room. I’ve found that most my rooms are comfortable without needing this but realise the readings may be a few degrees off what is reality.
What’s next?
I split my single zone central heating system from a single to a double zone. The reason for this was to isolate control between the new kitchen underfloor heating system with the rest of the house’s radiators. That deserves a write up on its own! To do this required zone valves so it was a great culmination of the experience I gathered in plumbing and electrics.