The Efficient Home Forum

Hi there,

I have been researching smart heating solutions and came across the Honeywell Home evohome system. It looks like a great way to zone my home’s heating and have more control over individual rooms but I am not sure if it’s the right fit.

My home has a mix of radiators and underfloor heating and the idea of being able to control the temperature room by room sounds fantastic for comfort and energy savings. However,,, I am curious :-

How easy is the evohome system to install: ?? Can it be done DIY or does it require a professional: ??
Does it work well with older heating setups or are there limitations I should consider: ??
How reliable is the app and connectivity: ?? I have read mixed reviews about some smart home apps.
Have you noticed a significant difference in energy bills after using it: ??

I have already gone through this https://theefficienthomeforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?tdatastage=502 but still need some more help. If you have used evohome,,, I would love to hear about your experiences. Is it worth the investment or are there better alternatives out there: ??

Looking forward to your advice !!

With Regards,
Marcelo Salas

I've been using it since 2016 and from the outset my gas usage dropped by about 30%. In 2021 when I started using the Scenes/Activities paradigm and the schedule delay/advance (shifting) features of Evocontrol (https://smartskills.tech/evocontrol) my bills dropped by another 10-20% or so but more importantly comfort shot up even more. Full disclosure: I'm the author of EvoControl

I also have a mix of UFH (downstairs) and rads (upstairs). I have the entire UFH as a single zone in Evohome by using a BDR-91 relay to switch the UFH pump on/off. No need for a UFH controller if it's all open-plan downstairs like in my house.

The best thing about Evohome is that zones not demanding heat have closed TRVs. You will not walk around the whole house every day to close rads manually, so this is a boon compared to a non-zoning system. Let's say you want to heat up the bathroom to take a shower in the case without Evohome. You manually open the bathroom TRV and set the thermostat downstairs a degree higher to fire up the boiler. That hot water circulates into any open TRVs and so takes quite a while to heat the bathroom. It also needlessly heats any other rooms it flows into. With Evohome any zone can request heat independently and fire up the boiler without having to crank the livingroom stat. All the 'other' TRVs stay closed so the hot water that starts circulating only has one place to go - the bathroom rad you just opened up. So it will heat up way quicker and use less gas to boot.

In all those years I never had any comms issues with the RF. The app is rarely offline but it does happen sometimes for a few hours. However, when it is offline the panel still works, unlike with e.g. Drayton Wiser which needs the cloud service or your heating will not work.