the keen eyed amongst you will notice we're back at our smart home takeover and in a previous video
we installed the netatmo smart thermostat if you haven't already checked out that video link in the
description to that one but why are we here today well we're going to take a deep dive into some of
the features of that thermostat gary how they can really save you energy and learn it's not really
just about an app where you can dial a temperature up and down when you're away from home there's
some of the great features in there that can really tune those energy savings to another level
hey siri turn the basement temperature to 20 degrees hey siri turn the living room to 18
degrees so how incredible was that we got siri to turn our heating system on yeah and actually
that was super easy to set up let's think about how you used to have to program the
central heating timer well you'd probably have to adventure upstairs there'd be a cupboard up
there perhaps full of stuff you'd move it all out the way you'd find the mythical time clock there
with sliding switches and maybe a digital display might even be a drawing in there of what you have
to do with the buttons and you'd look at it and you'd probably walk away yeah and that's that's
the problem though because of that yeah a lot of people never ever touch those timers they
don't alter it for the time of year possibly don't alter it because they're uh yeah their
uh work patterns have changed could that possibly be you gary hands up confession there my central
heating controller at home and hot water are both left on constant and the only way i control my
heat in in the summer i turn the thermostat all the way down to off and then turn it back up when
it gets to winter yeah all right is everyone else in the family just joining that for us yeah yeah
everybody pitches in to turn into the temperature yeah they do yeah okay so we've previously
installed a netatmo thermostat in our smart home takeover and uh check out that video if you
haven't seen it we gave you three ways of doing that didn't we we did yeah so we saw that three
ways but you didn't show me gordon and this is the bit that i'm always a little bit skeptical about
is how to set up the app yeah okay so that the system we installed we could get it operating as a
thermostat quite simply without the use of an app but now we're going to couple it with the app
and unleash some of those other features so let's get the app paired to the thermostat so
we're going to install the netatmo product so let's just find our product there we go
smart thermostat so i'm going to set it up as a home so obviously we need our wi-fi connected
so set up a new installation so this is the first product we have um so yeah just guide through
make sure the relay is connected it is because we hard wired it into the wago junction box
confirm the batteries are in place ready for your thermostat you've got a press a
button underneath gordon yeah so again we're going to put it into a programming mode so
we're looking for a green flashing led just follow those instructions and we're
adding to a new home in our home kit as well so we're just going to create this new home efix
let's call it the efixx smart wall i think Gary okay that sounds like a good idea
so that goes in have we gotta use the little qr code in a minute oh yeah yeah you're learning
this gary yeah yeah there you go so yeah we've seen this on other Netatmoo products we're
just going to scan that QR code with the form so there we go just looking for it there it is
and now we're just going to add that into our add to the home wow that's good yeah so give it
a name so we'll let's pick a one that's closest to us we'll think uh let's have a look basement
it feels like we're in a basement that's about right okay so we might want to obviously
change the name so it means something to us so just give it a sensible name
yeah you fix smart wall one just in case we had something else in the future right okay
so that's paired the thermostat yeah so that was us that's the that's the
pairing process done so now we can obviously look at some of the other settings on there
so we're going to where is our thermostat so again we're just going to put the thermostat
in the base oh it's an electrical cabinet there gary that's an interesting one we'll not go for
that where can we go let's uh let's see this is the office well my skepticism of apps is starting
to change over time it doesn't seem we ever get one that's difficult to do yeah well yeah well
let's let's see the next bit let's see how easy it is to set the schedule of our heating system
so let's run through the simple questions to set up the schedule for our smart thermostat
okay so he's going to ask me what time i get up and what time i go to bed that's all yeah so what
time do you like to get up during the week well as i'm working hard i tend to be a five o'clock
start oh nice and early so let's put that in okay next question what time do you go to bed
well because i start early i finish late so let's go for 11. next question done so that's uh during
the week so then that's uh yeah are you working at home during the day well i am at the moment yeah
lots of us are so yes yeah it's been very seems a popular option at the moment i'm working from home
yeah and then the weekend i'd like to have a little bit of a laying at the weekend let's go
for about 11 o'clock yeah and yeah i didn't have much sleep so perhaps what time you got to bed
oh yeah mate 8 o'clock yeah trying to cram all that sleep i didn't have any in a week
yeah are you usually at home on saturdays well uh yeah i do like to go out on a saturday uh back in
the day when i could go out so yes i would like to go on saturdays okay one o'clock where you're
off to a little bit of shopping yeah a little bit of shopping in the afternoon like a bit of that
tend to be more at home on a sunday yeah well again lots of people are not much else to do
on a sunday so then occasions what what's your comfort temperature you'd like when you're at home
so again we can just set that there and adjust that around a bit yep okay oh we've been there wow
saving a bit of money so we just need to confirm now that everything's working
there we go there's our there's our thermostat so obviously that's wirelessly connected via the
relay so let's adjust the temperature so again let's turn up to 18 degrees c now expect our
boiler to come on oh look at that okay so yeah and then the thermostat should change yeah it
does yeah off to 18. so that looks like that's successfully paired up so in our previous video
i also installed a thermostatic rad valve but how easy are they to add to the system oh well yeah so
we didn't want to mess around too much with that house because that was s plan plus but what we've
done behind us here set up a mimic of an s-plan system and we've got two of the radiator valves
here as if they were in the same room so let's see how we get those added to the system so we're
going to add some smart radiator valves to our system you fitted these already gary haven't you
yeah really simple just unscrew the original ones find the appropriate adapter and then obviously
just screw on the new ones and you're off and running so we're going to add the smart radiator
valve so let's hope it's as easy to commission as it was to install so select our product
and then we need to put them into a pairing mode so this is quite easy basically just remove the
batteries and then reinsert them and that will put them into a pairing mode so they can be discovered
by the app so again the app guides you through it so you do that and you push the next button
okay straight forward so yeah pop out the batteries put them back in so we can see me
doing it here so off we come if i do it on both of them and then reconnect them you're telling me
that will go straight into pairing mode and just a simple case of reinstating them and then we can
get that process underway yeah so we're looking for this blinking signal so there we go that's
in pairing mode so now the app is searching for the valves we're looking for two valves
they're gonna be in the same location uh well we need to add them to a room
now yes we've got our two valves so let's start configuring them
so let's pick a room uh let's have a look electrical cabinet well done that's that
anyone's working in a heated electrical cabinet let us know uh but we've put them in a lounge
so let's again just commission that we've done valve one so now let's look at valve two
okay exactly the same i'm just going to add them to that room we've just created
and as they're both in the same uh same location obviously they'll work uh together then we'll then
yeah so once we've fitted the thermostatic rad valve obviously each of the actual valve bodies
have a minimum and maximum position and they're pretty much all different gordon so how's that
going to work yeah you're right garrick and this is again a clever feature of this smart valve that
it will either calibrate itself once the system's initially been set up or if you possibly need
to recalibrate it in the future perhaps you've changed the valve or something like that you can
do that by the app so i'll just do that here so again just push the button in the app to calibrate
the valve and you can just see that mechanism there going through its calibration procedure
obviously, we're looking we're looking into the valve here because we haven't got a radiator
connected but that is clever so hopefully we showed there that actually the system is
incredibly easy to set up and very intuitive so perhaps now let's look at some of the things we
can fine tune in the system you've already got a thermostat a smart one as well and uh you've
had some uh challenges with it recently haven't you uh yeah okay so smart thermostats aren't
new yeah i've had a what's probably described as a learning thermostat for quite a while so you don't
set a fixed schedule like you do there it learns your sequence and that causes a few challenges
particularly in my house because there's a bit of a power play goes on obviously i like to turn the
heating down and mrs r likes to turn the heating up so you end up in an unhappy medium in between
but actually what i've really found happens with a learning thermostat it sometimes i'll
be lying you know wake up in the middle of the night the heating's on and somehow it's learned
a different or set the sequence up slightly differently so i have to go in and tune out those
learning features which again negate some of the benefits well we saw a set up one schedule is it
possible to set multiple schedules for different patterns yeah so that's probably one of the
big advantages with this netatmo system you can have multiple schedules so if you want to change
say your work routine changes you can set up a completely different schedule so i'm now going
to add another schedule a lot of working patterns change at the moment that's the one we initially
had during our setup but perhaps people working away or you might be yeah on phil or back at work
you don't know you might need another heating schedule so that's dead easy with this system so
you can either duplicate an existing one and edit it a little bit or start a new one so let's just
start a new one okay so let's call this working away and possibly i want to deprive the family
of heat while i'm not there nice touch easy way to save money yeah so again it's just going to
take us through those initial questions again so the ones we had earlier so what time do you
get up so are you at home during the day so in this case no it's a lot of time do we leave
so you can set those parameters so you're back at five o'clock second five
that's all what's back for lunch a nice touch no what is lunch and again the weekend again are you
at all the weekend so let's go yes we're pretty much at home all the time at the weekends nowadays
aren't we yeah again well if we're back home we might as well have the house nice and toasty so
let's have a higher temperature than we had in our previous schedule so low temperature when you're
not there and higher when you're back yeah like you touch so again that's done and then obviously
we can make that the enable that schedule okay that's the one that the thermostat is running
so again enabled through the app and then we can chop and change between schedules or indeed have
another schedule you might have one for say a holiday period when you're at home as well
all right okay that's good so yes you can flick back to the previous schedule that we'd looked at
yeah so we can also easily adjust our existing schedule so say on a monday i wanted to make
some adjustments looking at changing perhaps the time you you leave or arrive here yeah
again just go into the app make those adjustments and then so i'm going to be aware for most of the
day so i don't want the heating to come back on until i'm back at five o'clock okay so if
that pattern then happened on another day of the week is it easy to replicate that somewhere else
yeah so you can see we're there where i've taken that chunk of heating out in the middle of the day
so i'm now going to change obviously and add that to a friday so again just cut and paste it across
between the days and then simply altered that was easy so we're seeing that you can have multiple
schedules set but we've moved away from that old rotary thermostat what the benefits are of having
a digital one yeah so yeah rotary thermostat you have it's it's either on or off in your case
that's how we used to control the whole system but you know what you can do with a digital thermostat
is you get multiple temperature settings so you possibly don't need to fit a separate
frost thermostat you can have a setting for when you're at home you can have a setting when you're
away from home and that is yeah that's again one of the big energy saving features so it's a bit
disturbed this morning to come and find that the boiler had already switched on because the heating
had dropped below seven degrees with our frost setting yeah if you note there that we're working
in an ambient temperature of six degrees can you alter that temperature yeah i can so at the moment
we can't turn the boiler below seven degrees because it is limited by that frost setting but
we're just going to trim that down to five which again so we can do that now so this by altering
this frost setting we should now be able to turn the thermostat down to a lower setting okay so
the stats updated itself oh it's gone up to seven it's warm now well let's just turn the heating off
than if it's that warm gary so now because we make that adjustment i can adjust it down to a minimum
of five degrees and the boiler should switch off yeah we should see that boiler go off next then
oh it's warm so ebenezer gordon they're setting the temperature at five but we've had a little bit
of luck because actually the ambient temperature in here gordon is now up to 12 so we could say
this is my island in the sun with all your hot air gary i'm not surprised it's warming up in here
let's have a look at some of the great features of the thermostat so you might want to you know
you're working away but you might want to allow a trusted guest to have control of the heating
system gary member of your family have the ability to turn the heating up i would suggest that's a
dead simple process you just invite a user from the app and they'll either get a text message
or an email depending on how you want to send it to them that's really simple and
then obviously they can download the app and be in control of the heating system while you're
away yeah you could also remove them if they took advantage of the situation and i'm sure you would
so let's have another look at again another great little feature uh that obviously um
stops you accidentally wasting energy that's open window detection okay that sounds rather
clever but pretty uh self-explanatory then so somebody's you know foolish enough to come along
you know opens up a window with a heating system blaring away i don't think you'll find any people
that would do that gordon it happens more than you think gary yeah so again you've opened the
window and the heating system comes on detects an open window and obviously stops wasting energy
does that mean it's trying to get the world up to 21 degrees c with that window open yeah so then
let's have a look at heating prediction so this is the um obviously trying to work out how quickly
your house heats up a big difference between a radiator and an underfloor heating system right
okay and every house is different yeah so the app needs data to do this so this doesn't happen
straight away defaults at 30 minutes but over time we'll make adjustments to make sure you get the
right temperature when you want it okay the great feature here eco priority eco comfort so say you
have an office and you want that to be hotter than the rest of the house because you're working at
home you can enable that mode so that the comfort takes priority so that will run the heating system
on the instruction it gets from the valves rather than just the thermostat itself
here's a useful fine adjustment you can make in the settings for the thermostat so hysteresis
so how often does the set thermostat do a switching cycle so certain types of heating
they need to run continuously you don't want them flip-flopping on and off all the time
right so i've just tweaked that up from point one over degrees c to point five degrees c all
right okay anything else we can see uh well you can have a nice graph gary as well all right do
you like a graph i know you like a graph so let's look at what's been going on uh in the basement
since we switched this on last night you can see it was uh it was cold and it got colder
i can vouch for both of those and then you can see where we've been adjusting the set
point uh in the video as well so again you get a nice history of what's been going on
the app is incredible feature after incredible feature somewhere coming around to this new
world gary i think my days of having my heating system permanently on in the winter and off in the
summer are behind me yeah so hopefully we'll show you some great convenience features in this app
but obviously when you bring in everything it adds up to potential for big energy savings
which is great for the customer but what about the install again the installer you've got the
Netatmo pro installer program we're going to leave a link for that in the description but as always
we want your comments is there a great feature in there you want to share with the community please
leave that comment are you thinking about fitting this heating system in the future
please leave all those comments below and me and gordon will try and get back to as many as we can