-rick-

Yeh I agree. Unfortunately, they are not bog standard ones and colour matched to the interior so getting replacements that match the rest is not cheap. I've ordered some cheap Chinese fan kits to attach to the small rads to see if that buys me enough output but they won't be here for a while. If I'd known what I know now a few years ago I would have replaced the rads but given I want to move I doubt I'll be here long enough to get any sort of payback on the rads. Or at least, reverting to my previous heating strategy of ignoring the temp in that room seems like a better plan to me. The other rooms are fine and radiators seem adequate. Maybe not enough for low temp at -5 OAT but should be good at 0. Keston System S30 (A rebranded Ideal Logic with extra gubbins to support 50mm flues). Pump is built in Grundfoss UPM3 15-75 (according to the photo in the manual), boiler modulates pump between 70 + 100%.

It's looking like I can't maintain room temp at OAT 5C unless I allow flow temps >60C. With a DT of 5 that means operation will be entirely non-condensing, unless i've misunderstood something. As I understand it, if I can get my flow temps below 50C then DT doesn't matter anywhere near as much.

Yeh, that matches my thoughts. Any suggestions for the best strategy to achieve this while maintaining as high a DT as possible?

One part of government not co-ordinating with another (planning). So the upgrades were planned then got slammed into planning issues. Supposedly a lot of new build and upgrades to the network will happen over the next 5 years. Paid for out of bills of course, but if it stops curtailment and the associated cost the impact will be more limited.

Sorry for the highjack! Ha! you should have seen mine. A mess of choc blocks with loose screws and exposed single insulated cables (thanks Mr Installer!) The universal plate should be compatible with the Wiser so you should just be able to slot it on (using existing wiring). To add opentherm cabling yes you can cut out a section of the mounting plate for the wire. Assuming the wire is thick enough then the installed unit should clamp down on it. The thermostat has a little plastic bracket with it. I liked Camerons idea (in the video I linked) of buying a normal blank plate to go in place of your existing thermostat (assuming its wired remote from your controller) and attach the plastic bracket to that. Having said that I've moved my thermostat to a location closer to the place I want to control the temperature. As an update to my progress, I'm realising that my CH system has been badly designed and have very little hope of achieve low temperature efficient operation without spending a lot more money. My existing radiators can't dissapate enough heat to heat the room at low temp or avoid cycling with the minimum modulation of my boiler. It's likely Wiser could be doing some things differently to cope a little better with this situation but most of the issue is with my CH system. The wiser does a fantastic job of maintaining a very stable temperature (within 0.2C) assuming the CH system has sufficient capacity. (In my case during the day, but it starts losing control as the temps drop at night unless I bump the flow temp up outside condensing range).

As you may have seen from other threads, I recently got a Wiser heating controller and have been spending time looking at my heating system. I've known there have been problems with it for a long time and had basically been ignoring them by only limited a subset of my rooms and not worrying about the rest. Now I have the controller, I have some tools to monitor function an also wanted to attempt again to heat my whole flat, with the hope that I can optimise things and the overall cost won't be hugely worse than existing. Very quickly, I've realised I needed to balance the radiators. I've done a couple of rounds of balancing. First round, I dealt with the radiators that were heating first and obviously stealing flow from the other 4 (which are located in my higher heat loss rooms that I've not been actively heating). At this stage, I'd left the 4 wide open (in hindsight not ideal). This made a difference in the speed of getting to temperature (2-3 hours, not 10) but the overall dT was still about 6C which is not great. Chart below from roughly steady state once to temp (I know the temps are fairly high, that's another thread that I will write at some point*). Today I did another round of balancing, I've now restricted the flow on all the radiators now and have managed to widen the dT to nearer 9C and had planned to go back tomorrow and tweak some more. I have some concerns though. Firstly, the locksheilds on most rads are now barely open and I'm concerned about minimum flows and noise in the pipework (noise so far is minimal but I'm clearly very close to more noticable noise). Is this what I should be doing or have I misunderstood something? Secondly, since I've done this I noticed the boiler is now really short cycling (the cycling before at steady state was not great but now it's clearly problematic). My thesis is that before when the boiler cycled the initial burst of heat from the ignition got absorbed by the high flowing water fairly easily, with the more restricted flow caused by additional balancing work this burst of heat during ignition is not being lost in the flow and is causing the temp limit to trip and the boiler to lockout. During the lockout the return temp drops further giving more space for the heat from the next ignition. In theory you could deal with this via the controller but Wiser doesn't appear to have an easy way to do this (there is a hystersis setting in the debug output but no obvious way to change this). Is my thinking right? Is there a way to address this with balancing / doing something different on the physical side? * My system as installed (when the flats were built) is a mess. The radiators in my high heat loss areas appear undersized even when dealing with traditional dT of 50 and obviously totally inadequate for any sort of low temp heating. In the first screenshot here, the state seems steady but in reality the room was slowly losing heat as the OAT dropped and the heat input was capped but the minimum boiler modulation + max flow temp as I had it set. The second graph has a much higher max flow temp, but you can still see the minimum modulation is an issue (even though the property could likely absorb that heat ok).

Install ESPNow on them and use Home Assistant? Not sure it supports everything, but I thought Tuya stuff was fairly well covered. I don't mind automating things if it makes life easier. But anything that ties you in to internet services (potential monetization by the provider in future if not currently) is a strict no-no for me.

1 gigabit ethernet requires 4 pairs with specific properties. Most people installing data will these days will want to install something that supports faster speeds*. For faster speeds the spec of the cable really matters. Cat6A spec is what you should be aiming for and can support 10 gigabit ethernet (and HDBase-T for HDMI, etc). Cat5 spec might handle that over short distances (35m max) but that's it. Routing an ethernet cable directly parallel and closely coupled to a mains cable is generally frowned on. I'd guess the main question is whether this 'cat5' cable with in the EV Ultra cable actually meets the spec for Cat 5. Firstly, there are multiple 'EV-Ultra' cables, some with only 2-cores of data, some offer 2xcat5e spec (2x4-core). Looking at the datasheets, I'd guess that the 4-core cat5e FTP cable version does meet the spec for gigabit ethernet. You can probably run 2.5g and 5g on it as well. 10g likely very limited. As it's a shielded cable (FTP) that does give some reassurance about interference from the closely coupled mains cable. * 1gig ethernet is approximately 100MB/s. With the storage on modern computers being capable of >3000MB/s, 1 gig ethernet can feel very slow if trying to access a NAS or similar though it's fine if all you want is internet access.

I didn't think regs required CO2 alarms (in England). CO alarms near gas appliances yes.

Definitely wouldn't be the same without him. Buildhub MVP

Before doing this, confirm whether the draft is coming from the seals or from around the edge of the frame. Sounds more likely that the installers didn't seal around the frame too well (or it failed).

I'm not fully committed yet. Did look at those EPH controls you recommended before reordering the Wiser system. The EPH would have required another re-wire of the wiring centre and cost at least twice as much. One of the benefits of reordering now is that I now benefit from the extended return times Amazon gives you around Christmas. So I've got months to get to grips with the Wiser system and still have the option of changing my mind. So far its mostly working for me, couple of niggles that I'm trying to work out if its me misunderstanding something, a bug or intentional design but I don't think anything show stopping (given workarounds I've discovered). Todays task is installing Home Assistant to access the debug info. Shame that appears to be the easiest way to get it. My biggest concern right now is how much scope there is for me to run low and slow and heat the whole place is with the existing radiators. Half the flat the system can easily cope, the other half seems more difficult. Heatpumps being funamentally low and slow and the controls being designed around that vs boilers where low and slow is a new thing grafted on must mean there is a lot of technical debt/legacy that gets in the way.

Quick update from me. I'm just in the process of returning the package I ordered and replacing it with a different one (Multizone Kit 2 to Thermostat Kit 3). Reason being the TRVs are utterly useless. I knew smart TRVs weren't hugely useful and the only reason I got them is because I have a high heat loss area (subject to high solar gain when the sun is out) and low heat loss area and I wanted either area to be able to call for heat. The TRVs are useless because their temperature algorithm is totally divorced from reality. Heating on: Room 18C, measure 23C Heating off: Room 16C, measure 13C The Thermostat Kit 3 is technically a dual zone kit and the second zone doesn't work with Opentherm so I don't plan to use it. However, I believe you can configure two of the Smart Thermostats to control the same heating zone and this is the cheapest way to achieve two calls for heat within the first gen ecosystem (it's also on significant discount right now so I will end up spending less - even though it was the more expensive option when I was originally ordering). If it hadn't taken me so long to get the system up and running I would have given it a bit more time and seen if Wiser support would trade the two TRVs for the extra Thermostat. But they haven't responded to my support case yet and my returns window on the original order is about to expire so I'm forced into quick action. Still trying to get my heating system into shape. The system was on full bore for the entirety of yesterday and didn't get the high heat loss area above 21.5. Been attempting to balance things today that does seem to have made an improvement but a bit too early to tell (especially as it's warmer outside).

Now done some reading and agree this doesn't seem like such a big deal. I think I was misremembering (not even sure what my last company did would count as sacrifice).

I was under the impression that this was how a lot of private/company pensions work. Certainly how it was done in my last job.

The leak today is different from the previous one. Someone hit publish too soon with apparently little damage other than taking the wind out of Reeves sails. From the politics reporters I follow, the leaks prior to this have been a deliberate policy by some in government as a way of seeing what will fly and whoever is responsible should be fired for the damage theyve done.

That's how @SimonD ended up doing heating systems isn't it? I'd guess you are asking them to do something non-standard or give them the impression that you will be picking up on any minor issue and they have enough other work that they'd rather take the easy job. I'm not currently in this situation but have thought about it because I suspect I would similarly put off contractors for similar reasons. Options in my mind: 1. Play dumb, hide your knowledge and ask them to do the basic job without giving the detail (expect a poor job) 2. Find a friend of a friend who will do it on that basis (or find someone who has a rental portfolio who has a good relationship with a plumber). Would be easy to damage friendships here if not very careful. 3. Do it yourself 4. Offer a premium, don't ask for a fixed quote and pay by the hour. Be upfront about expectations. 5. Wait for a recession when there may be more availability (though given the shortage of plumbers it still won't be easy).

This £2k cap on tax free pensions saving is going to make this a whole lot worse. The most counter productive policy I've seen for a while. Lowering the rebate for higher earners makes sense. Limiting/taxing contributions from lower earners is madness. I suspect lots of people will end up ceasing pension contributions because of this (losing employer match) and storing up massive problems for the future. We are in a hole until some party wins an election on a manifesto commitment to rejoin the EU and take some hard decisions to make that possible. Rejoining won't actually be fast but I'd expect just that decision to help the country lose the basketcase tag from investors and be a turning point when things start improving. Chances of that happening any time soon are very low. 😒

Hmm, this is a 'warranty reestablishment' service, because I'm apparently a few weeks late booking the service. They are supposed to fully take it apart and check everything. Edit: I had thought I was out of warranty but apparently I have 1 more year so it was worth the extra £30 to keep the warranty.

Hmm, well I've just booked my service with them, would you expect their engineer to question it? So far the boiler is doing exactly what is asked of it. I may have other issues to raise with my overall system in due course but so far the boiler is fine. I've looked into this and I can get an add-on relay (I think Salus make a nicely packaged one for the purpose), but for now I'm doing poor mans PDHW by just not scheduling them both to come on at the same time. Edit to clarify: my system has two NO valves (and a pressure release bypass). I have no interest in investing extra money in this property (really want to sell it asap but can't right now due to cladding issues) so focussed on maximising what I have. Needed to replace the controller anyway as my Honeywell broke and while I was able to repair it, I don't trust my soldering skills (or the quality of the replacement capacitors) as a long term fix.

I don't mind that we are finding a way to pay for much needed upgrades, but adding it to the cost of electricity is mad and I agree that the messaging is infuriating. Add the cost to gas an remove the costs from electricity. Average person with gas boiler will pay a bit more, those who are electricity only pay less, EV owners pay less. This government (and the previous one) are fixated on not touching the big ticket items that they end up creating huge amounts of perverse incentives that drag our economy down and pile on hidden costs that put off investments and improvements (unless specifically government backed). The worst thing is that I don't think any of the 5? parties currently competing at similar levels in the polls seem to be offering an alternative.

Looks like E.On have removed their 16p export tariff, with higher value export tariffs now only available if you either have a new e.On installed solar system or don't want an EV tariff on use. https://www.eonnext.com/electricity-and-gas/smart-export-guarantee The beginning of the end for the more generous export tariffs?

I was thinking that they were bigger than they look in the photo and you've confirmed it. Thanks!

Yep. Wiser 2nd gen will do that too along with some others, though had I seen @SimonD's recommendation before I bought I may well have gone with EPH. Having said that, having the separate connections may be of use even if your boiler doesn't have opentherm (or a broken version of it). My relatively basic boiler will run the hot water at a hotter temp if triggered by a separate input to the normal heating circuit. It was my fallback position if I had a problem with opentherm.

Still working out which is best. Until the Wiser I've been running on manual boost as required, now exploring other options. One of my rooms has pretty much all its two external walls as not thermally broken aluminium double glazed floor to ceiling sliding doors and is hugely lossy. I don't really use the room so until now I've not be actively controlling the temperature there (just leaving some radiators relatively low and the room gets whatever heat comes from them when the heating is on for the other rooms). This arrangement has its downsides and I'm hoping that the efficiency gain of being able to run the boiler at a lower temp offsets the additional gas that I expect to need to regulate that rooms temperature (early signs not inspiring confidence). Edit: I opened your big boiler journey thread earlier, not (re-)read it all yet but plan to. Thanks! Yep Came across that one in the wiser forums. Opinions are mixed as to whether it's a benefit on a good modulating boiler. (Mine goes from 30kw to 6kw)