Experiences with remote-controlled thermostats?

Hi everyone,

Does anyone here have experience with radio-controlled thermostats for underfloor heating? Viessmann offers something like that, but other manufacturers surely have similar products as well. There are few to no reports on experiences with these online.

I find the idea of these devices very appealing; you don’t have to run 12/24/230 volt cables between the heating circuit distributor and room thermostat. That should already offset the additional costs of the radio thermostats and the receiver at the distributor. And later on, you can easily change the position of the thermostat in the room if you want. Just drill it into the wall wherever I want, and that’s it.

Only two questions come to mind:

1. These devices run on batteries/accumulators. How long do they last? If I have to change the batteries every week for 12 radio thermostats in the house, that would be annoying.

2. What is the range? For the underfloor heating upstairs, the heating circuit distributor will be upstairs, so only the attenuation through the brick walls will apply. That should still work. But the second heating circuit distributor (for the ground floor and basement) will presumably be in the technical room in the basement. So the radio thermostats on the ground floor must transmit through the concrete ceiling between the basement and ground floor. And reinforced concrete is usually very bad for radio waves…

So has anyone installed something like this here and can report positive or negative experiences?

Thanks and best regards,

Andreas

Why do you assume that the distributor for the ground floor is located in the basement? That would not be beneficial for the ventilation either... normally each floor has its distributor on the respective level. That would immediately solve a problem for you.

Right, you are correct. That would make three distributors, one on each level. That should work then.
The question remains about the endurance of the batteries/accumulators?!?

Best regards,

Andreas

Just ask Viessmann themselves - I suspect that the batteries need to be replaced every 1-2 years, as anything else hardly makes sense. But as I said, just a guess.

Of course, the request is being sent out right now. However, there are usually significant differences between manufacturer specifications and real-world usage experiences... ;-)

Best regards,
Andreas