Evohome for electric convection heater

Posted on
Wed Jan 29, 2020 5:38 am
colinpartridge offline
Posts: 373
Joined: Jan 13, 2014
Location: London, UK

Evohome for electric convection heater

Probably not the correct place to post this query but here goes. I'm currently heating a Cabin using a Heatmiser thermostat with built in relay, works well as a stand alone unit but I'm reluctant to shell out over £100 just to get the one unit to connect to the outside world ( and indigo). It occurred to me that since I already have an evohome system for the central heating that I might be able to extend this system to control an electric convection heater. But it doesn't appear that the evohome system allows for this. Any ideas how I might achieve this. One thought I did just have was to create a dummy heating zone and use this to trigger a Zwave relay to manage the heater.
I'm open to ideas.

Posted on
Wed Jan 29, 2020 7:00 am
neilk offline
Posts: 714
Joined: Jul 13, 2015
Location: Reading, UK

Re: Evohome for electric convection heater

Colin,
I had a similar issue and realised that my electrically heated study was causing the boiler to fire. That issue was fixed with the latest evohome firmware (which I think only works on the later Wi-fi version, not the one that requires a wired gateway box). So if you have one of those you could add an evohome relay to control the zone, but you would also need a thermostat. To save money the evohome controller can also act as a zone stat, and the relays often pop up cheaply on eBay. You also need to make sure the relay is rated enough to switch the load, but you would have similar constraints with a zWave relay. Not my area of expertise but you can get contactors to switch higher loads.
Thanks,
Neil

Posted on
Wed Jan 29, 2020 7:07 am
neilk offline
Posts: 714
Joined: Jul 13, 2015
Location: Reading, UK

Re: Evohome for electric convection heater

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Honeywell-BDR91-wireless-thermostat/223874646380?hash=item341ff8016c:g:ZRIAAOSwEcReLE77

Includes the relay, in the example link the thermostat would not link to your evohome but is a cheap way to get the relay. From memory the bdr91 switches up to 5A but you would need to check with someone qualified about the electrical side and wiring a contractor (a din rail contractor is less then a tenner)

Happy to help with the setup.

Neil

Edited : I checked and the rating is 5A, and the thermostat would not bind to evohome

The "new" solution would be

https://theevohomeshop.co.uk/honeywell- ... dt92e.html

or for me worth the premium the much smarter

https://theevohomeshop.co.uk/honeywell- ... f2024.html

But for a cheaper option if you can reconfigure an existing wireless thermostat from your evohome and use the one in the controller (as many setups don't use it) you could get the relay alone on eBay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HONEYWELL-WIRELESS-RELAY-RECEIVER-MODULE-BOX-UNIT-BDR91/283761127705?hash=item42117b3119:g:65EAAOSwyVdeMVuk

Posted on
Wed Jan 29, 2020 4:05 pm
colinpartridge offline
Posts: 373
Joined: Jan 13, 2014
Location: London, UK

Re: Evohome for electric convection heater

Big thanks for all the links Neil,
I need to look at them more closely to figure out which way to go, but you have given me some idea which way to go.
Cheers
Colin

Posted on
Wed Jan 29, 2020 5:00 pm
neilk offline
Posts: 714
Joined: Jul 13, 2015
Location: Reading, UK

Re: Evohome for electric convection heater

No worries - any questions on the config side or to compare then let me know. It is nice having it all one system.

Posted on
Tue Feb 04, 2020 1:58 pm
colinpartridge offline
Posts: 373
Joined: Jan 13, 2014
Location: London, UK

Re: Evohome for electric convection heater

Unfortunately I have to report that after buying a T87RF thermostat and BDR91 relay combo the distance from the evohome controller to the cabin is just too far for the RF comms to work. Pity that there is no repeater device available. So it looks like I'll have to keep using the Heatmiser thermostat ( in itself not a bad product).

Cheers

Colin

Posted on
Tue Feb 04, 2020 3:04 pm
neilk offline
Posts: 714
Joined: Jul 13, 2015
Location: Reading, UK

Re: Evohome for electric convection heater

Colin - if you have a wired network connection in the cabin then you can connect this via the network gateway device (RFG100), you can bind the stat and relay to it and add it as a new location. The plugin supports it as well. Mine is currently setup like that as when I installed it Evohome did not support electric zones. Realise it starts to get expensive that way. A shame about the range.

Posted on
Tue Feb 04, 2020 3:24 pm
colinpartridge offline
Posts: 373
Joined: Jan 13, 2014
Location: London, UK

Re: Evohome for electric convection heater

Hmm I didn't think of that. So the indigo plugin works with more than one location? The dilemma now is that to get the Heatmiser working with its internet gateway is now about the same cost as the bits I have bought to go down the Evohome route. I bought the Evohome bits from Amazon so they could always be sent back..

Colin

Posted on
Wed Feb 05, 2020 4:29 am
neilk offline
Posts: 714
Joined: Jul 13, 2015
Location: Reading, UK

Re: Evohome for electric convection heater

The two location thing works fine, no real difference at the indigo end, and the Honeywell app you need to swap locations to see the second location but you can do it on the same login. I have been meaning to retire my gateway anyway as I know I have no range issues, I just haven’t got around to it since Honeywell upgraded the firmware. You are welcome to it if I have a chance to swap it over at the weekend, better than binning it and I could do with the network port it would free up.

Posted on
Wed Feb 05, 2020 6:22 am
colinpartridge offline
Posts: 373
Joined: Jan 13, 2014
Location: London, UK

Re: Evohome for electric convection heater

Hi Neil
I'll take you up on that kind offer Neil. I've sent you a PM.

Colin

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