Control - multiple zones and heat/cool sources

[RichardL]

Slowly moving the house from a traditional single source oil-fired central heating to various:

Heat/cool sources
- Solar PV - does its own thing generates juice and indirectly hot water via immersion (no integrated control required)
- Oil phasing out but initially topping up the hot water when solar isn't sunny
- Bathrooms underfloor and electric towel rail x2

- Couple - perhaps 3-4 eventually - zones of Air to Air heating cooling:  living area, bedrooms, office area, rest of house

Zone control is the challenge.

a. I don't need to control the heating when I'm not at home.

b. I don't want integration with a remote server, or probably even my wifi router, to heat/cool the house (NO CLOUD).

c. The timeclock/multiple thermostat combination seems to work well (i.e. timeclock to centrally shut things off (summer/ overnight) room/zone stats for local temp control through the day/week.

There are a few timeclocks with more than 2 zones on the market - they tend to switch 240v rather than volt free though.

 

Q

Am I making this complex - are these requirements satisfied with some simple kit?
Closest I'm getting is a 4 zone clock, and then use mains detection to revert to the volt free on/off the aircon needs.

The ideal would be a 4-5 zone timeclock with exposed relays so I can make some volt free and some mains.

Edited September 25, 2022 by RichardL

[dpmiller]

UFH wiring hubs can have a dry contact for each channel and you can do nifty linking of the inputs and outputs to give different combos.

 

I've one of these (Hetta branded, but they don't sell them any more)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000221789143.html

 

with four thermostats. Multiple stats can be assigned to a channel, and channels can be paralleled also. Plus an additional dry, and a live mains contact.

[RichardL]

@dpmiller Thank you - that looks promising.

[Adsibob]

What is your concern with cloud based systems? If the internet fails, Tado’s system still works and can still be controlled locally or via the preset timers, just not over the internet.