HomeKit Tado vs Honeywell T6 (UK Thermostat)

[Vado]

I’m looking for some advice as to which smart thermostat I should look at to replace my Nest Thermostat v2 that I currently have.

I’ve been using my Nest Thermostat and Nest Protects fairly happily since they begun to be sold in the UK about 4-5 years ago. With the only problems being the original Nest Protects removal of the Nest Wave feature (had my v1 Protects replaced with v2 for free) and Nests continued reluctance to add Apple HomeKit support.

The reluctance by a Nest to add official Apple HomeKit support had been resolved by using HomeBridge with the Nest plugin. I’ve had my Homebridge server setup on a Raspberry Pi3 for the past few years without an issue.

It’s been announced by Google this week as part of a reorganisation of Nest within Google that the ‘Works with Nest’ program is to close, which gives access to the developer API’s that makes the Nest HomeBridge workaround work and there isn’t going to be a replacement.

With this being the case I’m looking at replacing my Nest equipment, starting with my Thermostat.

The options I’m looking are the Tado v3 and the Honeywell T6. I have a Worcester Bosch 38CDi combi boiler.

I’ve had a look at Tado and I would need to buy both the Thermostat and the Extension kit as I don’t have an existing direct connection between the two. Is it recommended to buy radiator valves at the same time to achieve maximum efficiency?

Would every room radiator with an existing TRV require one, how does it work with larger rooms my kitchen has two radiators both with TRV’s? What about heated towel rails?

Does anyone have a Honeywell T6, if so how do you find it?

 

[Vado]

Anyone able to give me any advice about either Thermostat?

 

[m11rphy]

I have 3 tados each controlling 3 zones and I’m very happy with them

 

[cynics]

I don't know anything about the Tado but I've been using Honeywell thermostats professionally for 20 years. Really they have a firm grip on the non-smart thermostat market, at least here in the US.

The thing I like about the Honeywell in your case is you and set the cycles per hour and aggressiveness to match the type of heat you have (radiant) and then fine tune it. The purpose of this is to get a balance between comfort and efficiency. Heating, cooling, refrigeration, etc is the most efficiency when its up to its design speed and temps so a longer run cycle is inherently more efficiency. However too long and you can feel the temp swings in the room as it warms up and cools off.

Plus it has a way to be wired in any crazy configuration you can imagine. Technically it would would be easy for you to combine this thermostat with your AC (if you have it) without a relay since you have a Rc and Rh terminals. And it can use batteries if you don't have a common (neutral) wire from the combi.

That said I think it was one of the ugliest smart thermostats on the market. A quick glance online and I think the Tado looks much nicer.

 

[UKenGB]

I've been using the Tado system for about 2 years and while it frustrates me enormously at times, it has been pretty reliable. The ultimate control is achieved with a Smart Radiator Thermostat on every rad and then maybe a Smart Thermostat as a central control in any zones with multiple rads - which each still need their own SRT, unless you have some other controllable valve for that whole zone.

It really is the ultimate in control, but don't expect any overall savings as they will be more than offset by the cost of all the batteries you have to keep buying.

 

[827538]

How would Tado or Honeywell work with a 5 zoned system using unfloor heating (via geothermal heat pump) + MVHR + AC?
It's been hard finding any sort of smart thermostats that would work with this.
Ideally I'd just have one smart thermostat with a sensor in each zone all connected to a control board individually adjusting heat and cooling.

 

[robbieduncan]

How would Tado or Honeywell work with a 5 zoned system using unfloor heating (via geothermal heat pump) + MVHR + AC?
It's been hard finding any sort of smart thermostats that would work with this.
Ideally I'd just have one smart thermostat with a sensor in each zone all connected to a control board individually adjusting heat and cooling.

Honeywell EvoHome might work. Are the zones all controlled via powered zone valves? If so I think you can bind BDR91 wireless relays to each zone and use Y87RF stats for each zone. This won’t be a particularly cheap solution though! I have a 11 zone EvoHome system but using the radiator TRVs. I’m very happy with the way it works.

Or look at Heatmiser. I used that in my previous house. The system I had was designed for underfloor heating and I think they now do fully wireless systems