Danfoss living connect question

[christiand]

First let me expain what my problem now is. My central heating system is connected to one central thermostat in the livingroom. This thermostat measures the temperature in the living room and controls the central heating boier. When the the temperature is reached in the living room the boiler stops. This works ine for the livingroom.

Now the problem is that i have 5 other rooms also with radiators conncted to the cental heating system and they automaticaly stop with sending out eat when the temperature is reached measured by the thermostat in the livingroom.

My question is if i fit a danfoss living connect thermostat crane on my radiators can i control the temperature individual from my livingroom. So even when the temprature is reached in the livingroom my boiler wont shutdown but continues functioning for the other rooms until all the set temperatures are reached? Or do i have to do something else replacing the current central thermostat?

[Rene]

You should install something that tells the boiler to keep heating the water and pump it around. The cranes won't do that.

[r_255]

i think the problem is that your central thermostat is controlling the boiler.

What you need is a relay or something ( dont know about the danfoss range ) that switches on your boiler/valve/kettle ( or what ever is connected ) when there is some demand on one of the thermotstats / radiator valves.

you got to see every crane/valve as a individual thermostat that switches on or off by demand.

[christiand]

I did see zwave controlled room thermostat that control the boiler. If vera can give it a signal to raise the temperature it should activate the oiler. If i can then let vera close the danfoss radiator thermostat there will be no heating in the livingroom done and the temperature set to the room thermostat is never reached and so it will let the boiler run.

When vera Has reached the set temperature in the other rooms where i will also install danfoss radiator thermostates it can lower the room thermostat in the loving room again so the boiler is stopped again.

Is this a plausible scenario or is vera not capable of doing this?

[r_255]

Skip the idea of a main thermostat, ( as your valves will be ) and see vera as device where you can set the temprature.
As far i could see the danfoss link cc can swich on a relay or off. But one of the z-wave experts could clearify wich danfoss device can be used best.

you need a central system that talks to your valves and the kettle, so it needs to be z-wave and most likely danfoss to use all the features.

[Henk]

The setup of your heating system should be drastically modified. The boiler must operate and controlling the temperature of the boiler water instead of the temperature recorded by the livingroom thermostat. This will require a temperature sensor on the incoming boiler water (retour leiding)your boiler may have already such a sensor inside. You may also need an outside temperature sensor which will control the level of the boiler temperature otherwise you will have to set this manually.
Finally you will need somewhere in the system a bypass so the boiler pump can circulate the water even if all the radiators are closed. So the boiler will provide continuously hot water circulating in the backbone pipes and each radiator may take some hot water from the backbone if needed to heat the room. You may switch this off during the night. This type of control will require more energy.

On each radiator at least a manual thermostatic valve to control the individual room temperature should be installed.
You can select for an automatic thermostat valve .... Danfoss has Zwave based valves, Honeywell and also Conrad has FS20 based valves. The last two are operating by a secret protocol so not easy to integrate it in a domotica system. It has a drawback that the roomtemperature will be based on the temperature measured close to the radiator. Be aware of curtains that will block the airflow - some valves has extende sensors or using an offset. Another option are stand alone valves with an inside clock so you some time programming. You may turn a manual thermostatic into an automatic by placing a resistor inside and by heating this resistor a little so it will fool the sensor.

Henk

[Justin]

Hi,
Here we have the same problem. Only 3 different rooms and in only 1 there is a unit that controls the kettle.
We are already a half year further so are there any solutions?
What gateway do you recommend for mainly controlling the radiators?
And are there other options for the Danfos or Honeywell controller?
The main purpose is to save energy.

Greetz Justin.

[lake]

Justin,
You asked for another option. As far as I know, there are three off-the-shelf wireless systems:
Honeywell EvoHome
Elektrobock PocketHome elektrobock.cz/en/pockethome-174-/categ ... tml?cid=12
Danfoss Living Connect

With eight radiator valves and a gas boiler, I also need to control the room temperatures (different settings, different day/night heating scenarios). The boiler must be switched ON whenever ANY of the eight valves asks for extra heat, and switched off when the heads are happy with the room temperature. The pump must be running all the time, of course.

As far as I know, Elektrobock can do this. This is a closed system and the head (valve actuators) are huge. Danfoss, on the other hand, has slim and elegant valve actuators. However, their technical documentation is full of marketing s**t with little information. It is so poorly written that it is impossible for me to guess whether their thermostat heads can start the boiler independently. Moreover, their central unit costs more than a fully-blown tablet PC with a very limited functionality. Closed system, no connection to the computer, no computer programming, closed data protocol (and they do not plan to release it). Hope this helps.

[pvdspek]

As far as I know, Elektrobock can do this. This is a closed system and the head (valve actuators) are huge. Danfoss, on the other hand, has slim and elegant valve actuators. However, their technical documentation is full of marketing s**t with little information. It is so poorly written that it is impossible for me to guess whether their thermostat heads can start the boiler independently. Moreover, their central unit costs more than a fully-blown tablet PC with a very limited functionality. Closed system, no connection to the computer, no computer programming, closed data protocol (and they do not plan to release it). Hope this helps.

You're right the Danfoss system is quite expensive and uses for some reason a !@#$%^&* proprietary version of the Z-Wave protocol, but it can be useful to solve the problem of switching the boiler on/off when heat is needed in a particular room.
Have a look at the Danfoss Link system (here explained in Dutch: http://verwarming.danfoss.com/PCMPDF/Da ... FZC110.pdf ).
It uses the open Z-Wave radiator thermostats Living Connect, which can be controlled by 3rd party Z-Wave controllers. In the meanwhile the central control unit Link CC, the floor heating controller Link HC and room thermostat Link RS are closed Z-Wave devices.
This means you can switch the boiler for heating each room with a number of Living Connect radiator thermostats, and control them with your computer.
The floor heating however can only be controlled with the Link CC
Finding a solution for an open Z-Wave controlled floor and radiator heated system (with a boiler) is a quest I'm after for a looooong time now and there doesn't seem to be a real answer as long as companies like Danfoss keep their Z-Wave devices closed.

Let's keep hoping for an open future!