Ecobee 3 Thermostat

m11rphy

Hi All,

A company in the US called Ecobee have a really cool thermostat and there next version avalible next month will have homekit support

ecobee3 smart WiFi thermostat

I emailed the company yesterday to see if they plan to release in the UK, they said they didnt but said I could use the US version as long as I had a perminat 24v supply. does this sound like it would be compatable with UK heating systems ?

neilball

Several reasons why it will not be great for UK, including Fahrenheit temperatures, no external temperature as based on US zip codes, only 24v switching so cannot directly connect to most UK heating systems. So pretty much the same issues as affected Nest before they added the heat link unit and UK/Euro localisation.

m11rphy

Thanks buddy, not the answer I wanted but save me wasting my cash. I now going to email them back to tell them to bring this to the UK

wattolcfc

This wouldn't work at all in the U.K. Well the sensor wouldn't at least, the main thing that controls is an air con unit. The only option to have full control of each room would be a wireless radiator thermostat with built in sensor. The only 2 options available in the U.K right now are the Honeywell Evohome and Heat Genius. Check them out but they're expensive and you probably would never get your money back in savings (unless you have a REALLY old system)

For the record I'm a central heating engineer at one of Britains largest heating companies.

neilball

I don't see why you would not get your money back, most systems are poorly controlled as they have a thermostat in the Hall (so the most useless place to begin with) or no room stat at all! Going fully room zoned can save 30-40% or more of the largest part of your annual energy bill. Yes it is expensive, but payback in 4-7 years seems typical for most installations unless the heating is barely used to begin with. Even a decent smart thermostat like Nest will save 20% if used well and located in a sensible location. The percentage saving is irrespective of whether you have a new high efficiency boiler or decades old massively inefficient unit, so decent controls are always a good idea.

wattolcfc

I disagree. These fully zoned systems are well over £1000 and if you are changing from just a regular thermostat (it's in the hall usually as it's the coldest part of the house, meaning the rest of the house is always warm) I can't see it saving you £100 a year, which could take 15 years to pay for itself. The average person moves house 8 times in their lifetime, so you are unlikely to see any savings.

Better value for money would be to have thermostatic radiator valves fitted to all rads (apart from one which is the bypass rad, where the room stat is located) and a smart thermostat such as nest. This would be less than half of the cost and you would still have some control over each rooms temperature.

Obviously, as the price comes down in the future, fully zoned systems will be the way to go, but for now, I'd stick well clear.

neilball

Most controls (including the fully room zoned systems) use a variety of wireless protocols, so if you were to move house you can easily take it with you to the next place too (unlike solar PV and other energy saving improvements), reinstating the original timeclock and thermostat if you need to, so it can be a portable system if you do move a lot. However if your energy bill is only a couple of hundred pounds a year then I fully agree that a smart thermostat would be more appropriate (which is what the OP initially asked about).

I doubt fully zoned controls will reduce significantly in cost as the wireless radiator actuators are now around £50 from the likes of Honeywell already, so it is hard to see how costs could realistically fall much further.

topcat2014

Ecobee 3 works well in UK. I installed two in my daughter's house in USA in Dec 2014. I then installed two in my house in SE England in Jan 2015 with gas boiler and two radiator zones. Centigrade option is built in as it is a Canadian product and Canada uses Centigrade. Internet weather for outside temp recognises UK locations, summer winter time changover works properly. You require a small 24v AC transformer (6VA is fine, and a 24v AC coil relay from RS components, I fitted them in a standard MK pattress box with Ecobee on the front. I installed alongside existing two legacy 240v thermostats in hall and master bedroom. With 6 remote sensors I now have remarkably smooth temperature control across my two heating zones. With 15 month archive and comprehensive graphing you can diagnose your systems behaviour. Since then I installed Ecobee in two local churches which benefit financially from the Optimum Start feature which Ecobee call Smart Recovery. As a 30 year commercial building hvac control specialist Ecobee 3 is in my view is the best smart thermostat for domestic use available anywhere. Sadly to get for the UK you need a North American friend or family as agent.

neilball

I still don't see that it does anything different to any of the other Smart Stats/controls that are available and supported in the UK, and which generally support direct 230v operation without additional Interface relays/contactors.

topcat2014

Ecobee 3 is the only smart thermostat I know of that can measure temperature in up to 32 different places using tiny low cost 2 year coin-cell battery operated wireless sensors. The system uses the measured values of selected remote sensors and or the thermostat sensor at different times of the day exactly under your control. Each sensor uses IR to detect human presence and again by user option can determine which sensors take part in the temperature averaging. The Ecobee 3 cloud archive shows detail of every sensor temperature and IR presence, as well a s the run time of boiler(s) and pump to 5 minute resolution and 0.1C reaolution over the last 15 month. The UK Hive and UK version of Nest seem crude by comparison. However free choice is the great benefit of capitalism.