Honeywell Home evohome review: The "Sonos of heating" for your home

(Pocket-lint) - Once upon a clip heating your location efficiently progressive getting thermostats, but successful today’s smarthome determination are present respective ways you tin vigor your location intelligently.

Honeywell Home evohome is much costly than a azygous controlling portion from the likes of Hive, Nest, Tado, oregon Netatmo but takes things further by allowing you to power and docket idiosyncratic radiators astir your location via an app.

• Best astute thermostat 2021: Nest, Hive, Tado, Honeywell and more

But is the “Sonos of heating” truly that good, is it casual to instal and run, and however does it each work? We’ve been utilizing the strategy since 2014 and here’s our semipermanent reappraisal of the merchandise that promises to prevention you currency connected your heating bills.

What is evohome?

Honeywell Home evohome is simply a implicit heating power strategy that volition let you to manually power idiosyncratic zones wrong your home. This tin beryllium achieved either via a dedicated Wi-Fi enabled touchscreen sheet oregon via an app connected your smartphone.

Unlike accepted systems, oregon adjacent intelligent ones similar Nest oregon Hive, wherever the somesthesia of your location is taken from a azygous sensor successful a azygous room, evohome works by having each radiator connected to the cardinal power portion connected its ain mesh system. In doing truthful you tin person antithetic temperatures successful antithetic rooms astatine antithetic times giving you precise granular power implicit however you vigor your location compared to different systems connected the market. 

What you don’t get nevertheless is the aforesaid “learning” attack of Nest oregon Hive that look to vigor your location successful a mode that doesn’t impact you based connected your settings oregon erstwhile actions. This is inactive precise overmuch a “schedule first” approach.

How overmuch does evohome cost?

There are assorted starter kits available. An indispensable 3 radiator starter kit costs astir £330. Each radiator controller costs different £50-£60 though you tin prevention wealth if you bulk buy.

squirrel_widget_6270616

Installing evohome

Honeywell Home recommends that you person the strategy professionally installed by a heating technician. This does, of course, ramp up the terms - but we wouldn't urge doing it yourself.

The strategy works via a wireless relay container connected to your boiler and past idiosyncratic intelligent artillery powered thermostats connected your radiators.

You tin person up to 12 zones successful your house, but aggregate radiators wrong those zones. Two radiators successful your lounge? No problem, that’s 1 portion for example. The easiest mode to spell astir it is to dainty each country arsenic a zone, oregon if you’ve got much rooms than that person rooms combined into a azygous zone, similar your hallway and landing radiators nether the aforesaid zone.

There are 2 types of radiator thermostats available, some of which won’t triumph immoderate plan awards, but are casual to use. The Honeywell Home evohome HR92 Radiator Controllers and Honeywell Home evohome HR91 Radiator Controllers. The lone quality being that the HR92 comes with a surface and tin beryllium controlled connected the radiator itself, portion the HR91 is wholly controlled via the cardinal controller portion oregon the app.

The HR91 is large arsenic a secondary thermo successful a country wherever determination is much than 1 radiator, oregon arsenic we’ve recovered successful a kid’s chamber wherever you don’t privation them ranking up the heating to 25 degrees due to the fact that they are acold earlier they caput disconnected to schoolhouse for the day. If you tin spend to, it’s amended to spell for the HR92 purely for that 1 the spot controlling aspect. Battery powered; you’ll get astir 18-months disconnected 2 AA batteries for the HR92.

The strategy besides supports your blistery h2o strategy if you person a accepted blistery h2o tank, underfloor heating systems, and astir types of boilers including OpenTherm, vigor pumps, territory heating and adjacent pellet burners.

Honeywell Home evohome works connected its ain low-frequency mesh web meaning that you shouldn’t person immoderate occupation with the idiosyncratic thermostats being capable to pass with each different adjacent if you unrecorded successful a location wherever you acquisition “spotty Wi-Fi” coverage.

Controlling evohome

There are 2 ways to power evohome. Either via a accepted main wireless controller oregon via a smartphone app.

The aboriginal evidently has its benefits including the quality to power your heating distant from your location oregon from the comfortableness of the sofa.

The app is basic, but precise effective. Rooms tin beryllium ordered by preference, and past controlled accordingly. Turning up the somesthesia is arsenic casual arsenic selecting the country and past swiping up with your thumb until the desired vigor mounting is reached.

There’s a little hold arsenic the awesome is sent and proceeding the artillery powered centrifugal whirring into enactment earlier moments aboriginal feeling the warmth coming from the radiator successful question.

The strategy besides allows you to cheque your radiators idiosyncratic scheduled timetable, opt for respective speedy presets similar “Away” and adjacent power a 2nd oregon adjacent 3rd home. For setup and scheduling decisions, we would urge the Wi-Fi Connected Controller.

The Honeywell Home evohome Wi-Fi Connected Controller is the different main way of controlling evohome and takes a robust elemental attack alternatively than a Californian plan benignant attack with swish graphics and charts.

The interface, similar the smartphone app, is focused connected your rooms and changing the somesthesia with astir different features tucked retired of sight.

You tin besides power the full strategy via Alexa and Google Assistant arsenic good arsenic IFFT – useful for creating shortcuts with different devices.

Heating your home

The biggest alteration to however you presently vigor your location is that present each country and truthful each radiator tin beryllium individually controlled alternatively than your full location being connected oregon off. That’s a crippled changer.

The colourful interface of the dedicated controller is casual to use, and you tin opt to spell done a wizard for each portion oregon manually make a timed schedule. To marque things easier you tin transcript and paste schedules betwixt rooms if you aren't looking to spell arsenic granular arsenic idiosyncratic schedules consecutive from the commencement for each zone.

The timer tin beryllium acceptable aggregate times with aggregate temperatures successful each zone. If you similar it blistery successful your lounge astatine nighttime but acold successful your room that's not a problem; if you privation to marque definite your kid's chamber is simply a small warmer successful the mediate of the time for the afternoon nap but not the remainder of the house, you tin acceptable that up too.

Each radiator sensor replaces your aged thermostatic valve (if you had them, positive you tin get further country sensors if the radiator worth is hard to reach) and that gives you a acold greater somesthesia gauge for the home. It's large having this elaborate control, but evohome inactive offers quality elements: the HR92 radiator controllers person carnal dials connected truthful you tin ever twist them to crook down the somesthesia if it's excessively blistery oregon acold successful a room.

These sensors tin observe whether you person a model oregon extracurricular doorway unfastened successful the room. If you do, past it volition automatically unopen disconnected that radiator arsenic it predicts that you privation to chill the country down. You tin override this if you've got the radiator adjacent to a beforehand door, oregon a draughty room. The diagnostic has proven invaluable clip and clip again.

Setting the somesthesia connected evohome

With each this accusation and new-found power, it changes your narration with somesthesia successful your home. For astir houses the somesthesia of your location is ne'er truly known if you're utilized to positioning a radiator dial betwixt 0-5, you conscionable enactment connected feel. With evohome you person elaborate accusation and tin experimentation with what suits you and your household successful those idiosyncratic spaces with greater accuracy.

In our system, for example, we thin to opt for our surviving country to beryllium warmed to 19C, portion the maestro chamber is somewhat cooler astatine 15C. The strategy goes 1 measurement further and volition archer you the somesthesia of your water. This means you tin much accurately marque changes to your blistery h2o settings, arsenic good arsenic knowing if you'll person capable blistery h2o for your bath. Handy.

The evohome strategy has different chill instrumentality too: timings, oregon arsenic Honeywell Home telephone it; Optimum Start and Optimum Stop.

The temperatures that you acceptable it to volition beryllium maintained to a constituent whereby if you privation it to beryllium 20C astatine 6pm connected a Tuesday past that's what you get. The strategy doesn't crook connected astatine 6pm to vigor the room, but volition beryllium 20C astatine 6pm - a immense quality to however astir accepted heating systems presently enactment and tin instrumentality immoderate clip to get utilized to, but hard to spell backmost to the older mode of reasoning erstwhile you are.

The strategy works by analysing implicit clip however rapidly it takes to vigor the country and truthful works to efficiently get to that constituent astatine the close time. It's precise clever.

The system doesn't "turn off" per se, as you tin acceptable a lowest somesthesia threshold per room, whereas different systems you'll beryllium mounting a lowest somesthesia for the full location successful astir likelihood. That means that if your country drops beneath that comfy minimum the boiler volition occurrence up to vigor that country again, but your boiler won't beryllium moving constantly.

The timing and zone-based quality of evohome means that you don't person to discarded vigor heating parts of the location that don't request to beryllium heated. That's a large measurement implicit accepted on/off systems, meaning that erstwhile you're feeling chilly successful the surviving country successful the evening, you don't person to vigor the kitchen, eating room, bureau and everything other unnecessarily. It's each down to however you docket your ain acceptable up.

Heating with Quick Actions

Beyond the scheduling strategy available, determination are respective Quick Actions that tin besides beryllium performed. Economy reduces each portion temperatures by 3 degrees Celsius, for example, portion a Heating Off preset volition crook your heating disconnected but support your blistery h2o on.

There is an Away mounting that reduces the temperature, and a Custom 1 that we person acceptable to Snuggle - this pumps up the heating successful the lounge astatine the property of a button. You tin number the Quick Actions disposable connected 1 manus and it would beryllium bully to person much oregon to person geo-fenced enactment that could observe whether you’re retired of the location for the time and truthful crook everything off. You tin enactment this successful with IFTT, but it’s not an retired of the container feature.

Baby it’s acold outside

Honeywell Home evohome besides features thing it calls Cold Weather Boost, that understands the somesthesia of a country isn’t ever straight related to however lukewarm a country feels.

According to Honeywell Home “By proactively speechmaking the extracurricular somesthesia and detecting factors similar draughty windows, evohome changes the programmed setpoint, keeping your comfortableness levels precisely wherever they should be.”

Again, it’s each astir the heating strategy moving for you without you having to truly interest astir it and the strategy tin beryllium acceptable connected a room-by-room ground – perfect if you cognize a definite country successful your location feels drafty compared to say, that caller room hold you’ve had enactment in.

As you mightiness person guessed, there’s the other diagnostic excessively – a Warm Weather Boost, which ensures the radiators don’t footwear connected a blistery time adjacent though you’ve requested them to due to the fact that you’ve forgotten to alteration the schedule.

Writing by Stuart Miles. Originally published connected 11 March 2014.