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In some ways my use of electronic TRV heads was in early stages a flop. I had a programmable thermostat fail, and the result was my 90 year old mother sitting in a room at 27°C, OK room at moment at 31°C but this is the summer, and it's not caused by central heating being stuck on.
So I was not going to buy another thermostat and chance a repeat, so got two Energenie MiHome TRV heads
with the idea these would better control the two main rooms, and to some extent they did, however not until I had worked out why they were not working as expected.
It transpired they were too slow to react, boiler would switch on, and valve fully open, before valve could close, radiator stinking hot, and as a result temperature over shot the mark, once I had worked that out, careful trimming of the lock shield valve and rooms were spot on, so got another two for upstairs as well.
The plan had been to fit Nest, however once the lock shield valves were trimmed it worked well without, so never bothered.
When we sold the house, the old TRV heads were put back on, and since the lock shield now trimmed they worked well.
So idea was to fit on the new house, which was done, two in living room, one in hall, and one in dinning room, there was no wall thermostat fitted, however it could be seen at one point of time must have had one in hall, as found the wires, however only one pair of wires from main house to below main house (built on a hill) now a granny flat, but originally a garage. So looking at existing wires, Nest Gen 3 seemed the best option, and it would link with the TRV heads I have.
However some 15 radiators, 12 rooms, some of which will mainly be used as storage, so wanted a way to turn off rooms not being used. At £75 a pair the Energenie heads are rather expensive, so although Hall, living room, and dinning room will follow Nest, don't really need that with rest of house.
So
this much cheaper at £15 each head has been fitted, what has been a surprise is some functions are not found in the more expensive valve, the expensive valve must have a hub, and only way to set is with PC, Phone or tablet, but these cheap heads can be set with a phone or tablet (not at PC) however they can also be manually set on the valve its self.
They have a holiday mode where you can program central heating frost only for time you are away, suppose not needed with more expensive version, it also detects rapid drop in temperature and will turn off for set time as this likely means a window or door is open.
OK some down sides to them, can only be paired to one phone, but do like the boost feature where push of the wheel and you get 80% open for 5 minutes to rapid warm a room.
There are now a lot of electronic heads.
EQ3TRV – programmable ‘on board’ with pushbuttons. £10
EQ3BTRV – programmable by smartphone using Bluetooth® or with push buttons. £15
i30 - The terrier i-temp is a Programmable Radiator Control (PRC) £18
Energenie - Links with Nest. Requires Hub. Works with IFTTT £73 per pair.
Danfoss Eco Smart - another bluetooth £35
Honeywell EvoHome - think link to thermostat which is really a hub £61
Drayton Wiser - Requires Hub £40
Lowenergie eTRV Electronic Thermostatic Radiator Valve £23
Salus GP60
Tado £46
Lightwave TRV £55
JG Sheedfit Aura Wireless TRV £83
Thing is hard to work out what make does what, I have the Energenie and EQ3BTRV and in both cases not quite what I expected, I did consider the cheaper EQ3TRV but my radiators are not placed where easy to reach, and on most TRV is horizontal so would be hard to read.
I still have 6 radiators with either old mechanical or no TRV fitted, however want to try a winter with what I have before buying more, likely will use more EQ3BTRV but would be interesting to hear how others work.
Also if really worth it, I found last house Geofensing was a non starter, move set temperature from 15°C to 20°C and first 3°C is quite quick, but the anti-hysteresis software means last 2°C can take 2 hours. Not tried in new home with Nest.
There is no reason why one should not set a programmable wall thermostat and a programmable TRV to same program, and the EQ3BTRV allows you to correct them if not spot on with temperature, the Energenie has two sensors one measures water temperature so corrects air temperature reading. The Energenie shows room temperature the EQ3BTRV does not.
The price range seems a lot, I can't see a problem risking £10 to see how it works but £83 is another matter (think that one is for under floor heating?) where a hub is required not so bad when same hub turns lights on/off, sockets on/off and measures energy used by socket, which mine does, but if not it bumps up price.
The Energenie does not warn if travel is too high or too low, there are adjusters to get travel within range, but no warning, the much cheaper EQ3BTRV however does, so you know if valve has stuck, both have an exercise program, but EQ3BTRV fixed to Saturday 12:00.
So I was not going to buy another thermostat and chance a repeat, so got two Energenie MiHome TRV heads
with the idea these would better control the two main rooms, and to some extent they did, however not until I had worked out why they were not working as expected.It transpired they were too slow to react, boiler would switch on, and valve fully open, before valve could close, radiator stinking hot, and as a result temperature over shot the mark, once I had worked that out, careful trimming of the lock shield valve and rooms were spot on, so got another two for upstairs as well.
The plan had been to fit Nest, however once the lock shield valves were trimmed it worked well without, so never bothered.
When we sold the house, the old TRV heads were put back on, and since the lock shield now trimmed they worked well.
So idea was to fit on the new house, which was done, two in living room, one in hall, and one in dinning room, there was no wall thermostat fitted, however it could be seen at one point of time must have had one in hall, as found the wires, however only one pair of wires from main house to below main house (built on a hill) now a granny flat, but originally a garage. So looking at existing wires, Nest Gen 3 seemed the best option, and it would link with the TRV heads I have.
However some 15 radiators, 12 rooms, some of which will mainly be used as storage, so wanted a way to turn off rooms not being used. At £75 a pair the Energenie heads are rather expensive, so although Hall, living room, and dinning room will follow Nest, don't really need that with rest of house.
So
this much cheaper at £15 each head has been fitted, what has been a surprise is some functions are not found in the more expensive valve, the expensive valve must have a hub, and only way to set is with PC, Phone or tablet, but these cheap heads can be set with a phone or tablet (not at PC) however they can also be manually set on the valve its self.They have a holiday mode where you can program central heating frost only for time you are away, suppose not needed with more expensive version, it also detects rapid drop in temperature and will turn off for set time as this likely means a window or door is open.
OK some down sides to them, can only be paired to one phone, but do like the boost feature where push of the wheel and you get 80% open for 5 minutes to rapid warm a room.
There are now a lot of electronic heads.
EQ3TRV – programmable ‘on board’ with pushbuttons. £10
EQ3BTRV – programmable by smartphone using Bluetooth® or with push buttons. £15
i30 - The terrier i-temp is a Programmable Radiator Control (PRC) £18
Energenie - Links with Nest. Requires Hub. Works with IFTTT £73 per pair.
Danfoss Eco Smart - another bluetooth £35
Honeywell EvoHome - think link to thermostat which is really a hub £61
Drayton Wiser - Requires Hub £40
Lowenergie eTRV Electronic Thermostatic Radiator Valve £23
Salus GP60
Tado £46
Lightwave TRV £55
JG Sheedfit Aura Wireless TRV £83
Thing is hard to work out what make does what, I have the Energenie and EQ3BTRV and in both cases not quite what I expected, I did consider the cheaper EQ3TRV but my radiators are not placed where easy to reach, and on most TRV is horizontal so would be hard to read.
I still have 6 radiators with either old mechanical or no TRV fitted, however want to try a winter with what I have before buying more, likely will use more EQ3BTRV but would be interesting to hear how others work.
Also if really worth it, I found last house Geofensing was a non starter, move set temperature from 15°C to 20°C and first 3°C is quite quick, but the anti-hysteresis software means last 2°C can take 2 hours. Not tried in new home with Nest.
There is no reason why one should not set a programmable wall thermostat and a programmable TRV to same program, and the EQ3BTRV allows you to correct them if not spot on with temperature, the Energenie has two sensors one measures water temperature so corrects air temperature reading. The Energenie shows room temperature the EQ3BTRV does not.
The price range seems a lot, I can't see a problem risking £10 to see how it works but £83 is another matter (think that one is for under floor heating?) where a hub is required not so bad when same hub turns lights on/off, sockets on/off and measures energy used by socket, which mine does, but if not it bumps up price.
The Energenie does not warn if travel is too high or too low, there are adjusters to get travel within range, but no warning, the much cheaper EQ3BTRV however does, so you know if valve has stuck, both have an exercise program, but EQ3BTRV fixed to Saturday 12:00.