What's the worst that could happen?

[Adsibob]

I have some Smart radiator valves made by tado from my old place. Our new place will have UFH throughout, except that in the bathrooms we'll have some small towel rads as well. I was thinking of using the Tado rad valves on those towel rads. Below is what the Tado website says. I'm thinking of installing one about 50cm from a bathtub, so in breach of the requirements. Given it is IP20 rated, what's the worst that could happen? Would the tado die from a few spashes, or could it actually be dangerous? They are battery operated, so not plugged into the mains. Is this something the BCO will spot if I breach the rules?

 

[ProDave]

IPX0 is NO resistance to water (first digit is resistance to a solid object e.g a finger, second digit is resistance to water)

 

So I would guess they have a perforated case and any splash of water could get in and upset the electronics.

 

do you have a picture of them?

[PeterW]

7 hours ago, Adsibob said:

could it actually be dangerous?

Not to a person as they are battery operated but water would be dangerous (probably fatal...) to the electronics inside. It would probably be worse as the valve on a towel rail sits on its side so you would have the unit at 90° and the casing slots would be exposed. Dripping water into it when grabbing a towel etc would be the biggest risk. 

[joe90]

1 minute ago, PeterW said:

probably fatal...) to the electronics inside.

Hence the reason they say to be installed away from bath and basin!!!

 

 

[Adsibob]

Thanks for the replies @PeterW, @ProDave and @joe90. Is there an alternative way to have smart control of towel rads, either by rigging up some sort of "false" radiator valve outside of the bathroom and fitting the tado smart thermostatic valve there or by losing tado altogether and using something else?

I appreciate that if the tado is fitted outside it won't be able to sense the temp inside the bathroom, but that doesn't bother me as much. I just like the smart control that means I can control the valve from my phone as well as set it to different routines on different days. We had this at my old house (on radiators outside of bathrooms, not in bathrooms) and would love to know how to replicate this.

I prefer to stick to water based towel rads as I think they are more efficient (i believe, but might be wrong about that) than electric.

[joe90]

? no good asking me about tech, I am a Luddite. My bathroom radiators are electric on timers.

[saveasteading]

 

 

Does this help? I have one of these connected to a towel radiator element.

IPX5 rated, £40 Toolsatation.

The only issue was that it is in-line with the power, so had to draw cables to it as well as the rad heating element.

 

It is very convenient. When the hot water is not going to the rad, we usually just push the green button and it works for 2 hours.

Otherwise the controls are for 20%  steps in power, not on a timer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Adsibob]

Thanks @saveasteading but i rather stick to water based rads if possible. I would consider electric only if it ticked all other boxes, but that has no timer or wifi control. I guess wifi control isn't essential if electric heats up within 5 minutes. Have no experience of electric towel rads so don't know how responsive they are.

[PeterW]

7 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

Thanks @saveasteading but i rather stick to water based rads if possible. I would consider electric only if it ticked all other boxes, but that has no timer or wifi control. I guess wifi control isn't essential if electric heats up within 5 minutes. Have no experience of electric towel rads so don't know how responsive they are.

Use a Shelly1PM and the temperature sensor then. Change of £30 and you can bury it in a wall box and just have the DS18 sensor “disguised” somewhere. That can be controlled by app, HomeKit, Alexa or a good old push switch. You can also put them onto a timer schedule.  

[Adsibob]

6 hours ago, PeterW said:

Use a Shelly1PM and the temperature sensor then. Change of £30 and you can bury it in a wall box and just have the DS18 sensor “disguised” somewhere. That can be controlled by app, HomeKit, Alexa or a good old push switch. You can also put them onto a timer schedule.  

Looks very technical! The nice thing about tado is it's idiot-proof.