Netatmo Smart Thermostat for Individual Boiler, NTH01-EN-EC

Product Information

In short, hysteresis cuts the boiler off once your house is within the threshold of the set temperature (by default 0.2C). Even so, hot radiators can push your heating beyond the set point. PID is smarter, and learns how your home heats up and how long it takes, so it can cut off the heating at the right point so that your home doesn’t exceed the set temperature. PID constantly updates and learns, making it better over time. In my tests, my house barely exceeded the set 19C when PID was used. An investment that soon pays off: according to ADEME, prices for programmable and/or smart thermostats range between 60 and 250 euros and buying one can save you up to 15% in energy costs**. To give you a practical example, the saving works out at about €210 per year off a €1,400 bill for running a gas boiler. Another reason to say yes to a smart thermostat! Once the relay and thermostat are in place, setup moves to the app (Android, iOS and Windows Phone), which takes you through connecting to your wireless network (2.4GHz only) and setting up a Netatmo account, if you don’t already have one. To aid with heating, the Netatmo Smart Thermostat also takes into account the local outdoor temperature, so that it knows when to turn on the heating: earlier, when it’s really cold; later, when it’s warmer. The temperature can be pulled from the internet, using your home’s location, although more accurate readings can be taken from a Netatmo Weather Station if you have one linked to the same account. Netatmo Smart Thermostat – Smart Radiator Valves

Switching capacity max 120 VA (4 A load @ 30 V, 1 A load @ 110 V/120 V or 0.5 A load @ 220 V/240 V) Scheduling becomes more complicated when Smart Radiator Valves are involved. Netatmo applies one schedule to every room, setting the profiles you choose at the times you choose. You can adjust a profile’s temperature for each room, say having the Comfort mode set to 19C for your living room and 18C for your bedroom. This isn’t as flexible as being able to set a dedicated schedule for each room, as you can do with both Evohome and Tado. However, since the thermostat doesn’t have a touchscreen, temperature changes last for the default setpoint duration only. The Tado Smart Thermostat offers greater control; it can set thermostat changes to last for a set period, forever or until the next period. From the app, you can override any set temperature for the period that you define. And there are two special modes that set a constant temperature until they’re turned off, or the timer you set runs out. It's no secret that there are plenty of other smart heating options on the market. I think Google Nest is the best-looking solution, which I've installed in a former home and really liked, it's got more features but does also need subscription costs for best use-case.Note, however, that there's no automated geofencing control, so this system isn't smart enough to, say, know when you (and family) have left home and automatically switch it off. As such, the Netatmo system isn't as 'smart' as something like Google Nest, which not only learns your patterns but follows your movements if you let it (creepy, eh?) and offers more controls. It makes sense that the temperature in different parts of your home should be slightly different, depending on what you use them for. Take the bedroom and bathroom, for instance - you’re unlikely to heat them both to the same temperature. Once you’ve attached a valve, it needs to be added into your existing Netatmo system via the smartphone app. The Smart Radiator Valves need to be placed in a room, but you can have multiple valves per room, which is handy for those that have multiple radiators. You can also place the valves into the same room as the main thermostat, letting it act as a remote temperature sensor; this is handy if you’ve got a radiator behind furniture and the Smart Radiator Valve is giving incorrect heat readings. As Google Nest users in a previous property, the idea of Netatmo was appealing on account of its simplicity and lower price. For many users you'll be able to self-install the thermostat where your previous model once sat (without necessarily needing to open up your boiler at all), or sit it in whichever room you choose on its mobile stand.

Overall the Netatmo Smart Thermostat isn't as fancy-looking (it's got an E Ink display after all) or as overall 'smart' as some of the competition (there's no geographically-based austomation features, for example). But that doesn't necessarily matter: it has no subscription model to worry about, it's easy to install, and it handles your heating with ease whether via the thermostat itself or by using the app wherever you are. For me that makes this smart heating system well worthy of consideration, and one I wouldn't have wanted to live without these last couple of years. Also consider A radiator valve is actually a part of something called a thermostatically controlled valve. It’s a product that lets you control the heat of each radiator precisely. The Netatmo Smart Thermostat is heating-only, so is ideally combined with a combi boiler. If you have a separate hot water tank, you’ll need to leave your old controls in place, or use a different smart heating system, such as the Tado Smart Thermostat. Netatmo Smart Thermostat – Performance The competition is also tough. The more expensive Tado Smart Thermostat has the same range of features, but I prefer its app, plus it has brilliant geofencing. For a more advanced, room-by-room system, the Honeywell Evohome is excellent. VerdictAs such, it’s important to be able to control the heating levels in your home, so you can set the right temperature for each room as and when you need to use it. That’s key to achieving thermal comfort within your home, as well as making the most efficient use of the energy consumed by your boiler. More than ever before, with rising gas and electricity prices, being able to manage your heating remotely can help you avoid high energy bills. Beyond the financial aspect, there’s also an ecological aspect, because a house that’s not overheated is a house that emits less CO2! The second option is to wire the relay into the boiler via the bundled boiler connector kit. In this mode, the relay takes power from the boiler and uses its own relay to switch your heating on and off. The thermostat unit becomes completely wireless and communicates directly with the relay. Given that the relay has to be physically connected to your boiler using mains power, you may want to get this installed by a professional . It’s the battery-powered thermostat that’s really attractive: this small cube (83x83mm) can either be wall-mounted or attached to a stand, so you can place it where you want or even move it around your home. Netatmo ships the thermostat with five colour “accent” strips: white, red, orange, green and blue, enabling you to match the thermostat to your decor. Netatmo Smart Thermostat – Features Also it would be remiss of my to not point out that the Netatmo system is smart, in that it can learn using what's called the Auto-Adapt function. This, says Netatmo, "uses your home’s insulation and the outdoor temperature to programme when your heat should switch on". The theory there being it can assess outdoor temperature and pre-heat ahead of schedule time depending on environmental factors, so it'll adapt through the seasons.

The thermostat’s clear E Ink screen displays the current and set temperatures. Using E Ink means that this information is onscreen all of the time, using little power (the three AAA batteries should last one year). However, the display is hard to read in a dark room since it isn’t illuminated.

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Just like smart thermostats, some smart radiators can be used for monitoring your heating or detecting open doors and windows. Whichever option you go for, it makes configuring the thermostat a little more fiddly than with either the Honeywell Lyric T6 or Tado Smart Thermostat, both of which have geofencing built in.

The first mode, Away, is set to 12°C and is used when you go out. It’s a shame that geofencing isn’t built in to do this automatically, although you can create a similar feature using the excellent IFTTT channel. The second mode, Frost-guard, sets the temperature to 7°C and is there for when you leave your home but don’t want the pipes to freeze while you’re away.But with so many established smart thermostat systems already on the market - Nest, Hive, Tado, to name but three - does Netatmo's simpler battery-powered offering provide enough features to keep up? While DIY installation is a popular option if you have the time and want to save money, you might want to call a professional to connect your smart thermostats, so be sure to factor that expense in. Whether you go through the manufacturers themselves – such as Hive, Ecobee or Nest – or through retailers, you can usually choose to buy them with or without installation.