Domoticz

Hello all,

Although I'm not new to the home automation concept, this isn't something that I have used extensively. I am in the process of a house renovation project and I see this as an opportunity to look into making the house more intelligent. I won't be installing everything from day one, as fund's won't allow for this, but what I do plan to do is to install the infrastructure to allow for bits to be added in the future while the building is being pulled around rather than trying to retrofit as an after thought.

The part of the project that I'm looking at at the moment is the heating and controls, as part of the project I'll be installing an ASHP (Air Source Heat Pump) (probably a Nibe) along with underfloor heating throughout the ground floor, radiators on the first floor for the 3 bed rooms and electric underfloor heating in the first floor shower room.

The ground floor will likely consist of 4 zones via 7 UFH loops - I'm not decided on whether to install a single upstairs zone with the thermostat installed on the landing for the bedrooms, or to install a separate radiator manifold for bedrooms upstairs and to install a stat in each room.

I want to be able to pair all of this with a 'smart' thermostat solution that will allow for multiple zones to be controlled (ideally including the shower room) whilst being able to integrate the system with Domoticz. So far I've looks at the Heatmiser Neo & Honeywell Evohome offerings, however I'd be interested to hear if anyone has done anything similar in the past and if so what advise & suggestions do you have following your experience?

In terms of the rest of the house, when the new light switches as installed I'm going to make sure that a neutral is also provided and the back boxes are deep enough to accommodate the various modules, is there anything else that I should think about?

Thanks

Well i am using high temperature Daikin Altherma air heat pump. All 3 floors have radiators which have thermo-valves on each of them. I regulate the room temperatures with only these valves. Actually the place i live in has a moderate winter (Never below 0C), so it fits my needs. The structure of your house is very important while planning these zones and sections, since there might be air escapes from one room to other etc. Also the staircase shaft and everything if you ask me should be examined by a HVAC specialist. Otherwise you might be having a non-performance heating. As again, since Daikin mostly produces propriety thermostat controls, i couldn't used any intelligent thermostat whatsoever.

For the Domoticz sake, i highly reccommend you to install network and smart house cabling during the renovation. Especially for the door-windows magnetic contacts and movement detector PIRs. You would be getting a lot more cheaper and stable alarm system if you install wired security alarm and select a brand which has IP connection module for Domoticz. Also, CAT6 network cabling for the home network will be a very big plus, to overcome any wifi issues in the house and also Access Point locations. Once you handled the HVAC and cabling during the renovation you won't be having any issues afterwards.

Thank you for your reply.

One of the plumbers that I spoke to had suggested a high temperature unit, however this was before the underfloor heating was on the agenda - as I understand it ASHP's are 30% more efficient when used with UFH compared with larger rads. However, retrofit UFH isn't always practical!

I'll take a look in to your suggestions of getting a HVAC specialist to look at everything, in short though minimising draughts and insulating is going to be high on my agenda.

Like the Daikin, the Nibe also has its own control (which fortunately has an API so can be integrated with Domoticz) but this is only half of the solution - the Nibe will control the hot water as well as the flow and return temperatures for the hot water however the other side of things comes in with regulating the UFH loops, this is achieved by having actuators on the manifolds to increase or decrease the flows depending on the room temperatures. This is my understanding anyway.

I already have CAT5e run throughout the house, as well as 6 core alarm cable that runs to a Honeywell Galaxy G2-44 (not sure if this can be integrated with Domoticz?), but I plan to add to this. Lots to think about!

As far as i know, high temperature (~80C) heat pumps are used for radiator installations and low temperature (~60C) for underfloor heating installations. I simply have no idea which will be used for mixed installations like you indicated. One more question for the HVAC expert...