Honeywell evohome THR993RT Thermostat Starter Package

I can believe its coming without English manual only German even it says on the box made in England!

This is a review of the Honeywell Evohome system. As there are several Evohome packages on Amazon this is similar to another review I have given elsewhere.There are quite a few smart central heating controls but most are a clever single thermostat paired with an app for out-of-home control. First thing you need to know is that Evohome can be a room-by-room system with a separate hot water option. Unlike the smart thermostats then it can make a huge difference to the way you heat your house and not just how you adjust the temperature. It is a major investment though as in addition to this unit you really need to buy a valve controller per radiator for most radiators for the system to work its magic. You also need yet another kit for the hot water. Fortunately fitting these valve heads are easy to fit if you already have thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) with a compatible base.In use you schedule zones separately. For us, most rooms are their own zones so for example the living and dining rooms. As this system is limited to 12 zones and we have more rooms than that we combine en-suites with their respective bedrooms and the utility room is paired with the kitchen while the hall and landing are not controlled. You can set on times and off times throughout the day for each zone, the limit is six changes per zone. When you need to override the schedule then you have three choices. Firstly you can use this unit (the central controller) if it is nearby. Temperatures are set by selecting the zone on the touch-screen and then incrementing the value. Alternatively you take local control and set the temporary temperature on the valve itself by turning its large knob and seeing its new temperature on its own illuminated display. Finally you can take control through the app. The app has a different interface but similar capability to the controller but just for the "now" changes so without the set-up and scheduling control. Whichever method you use to set the temperature all these devices then reflect the change. Be warned though that the valve control is slightly different. If you change the temperature on a valve it only changes that valve and not the whole zone - rather odd that.Being able to see the temperature of each zone on the app when you are out-and-about is fun. I noticed just how much difference the direct sun made as it went around our house. The real advantage though is being able to do things like turn all heating down or off if you are staying out or turning it on early if you are returning ahead of time and even turning the water heating on if you want an early shower. There are dedicated controls to make these whole-house settings easy.As we enter winter properly I note that the temperatures are so much better controlled than they used to be using TRVs. Once you get the room temperature schedules right they simply remain comfortable with much tighter control. Never too hot and never too cool. If only one room drops below its set value then the boiler turns on just for that zone. If you want extra heat then that is easy to set. The other thing that makes a noticeable difference is the experience of going into a room which is not normally needed at that time of day and feeling the cold so knowing that you have not paid to needlessly heat an empty space. One extra and important discipline is that we have to keep doors shut now to isolate each zone and make it all work.In terms of downsides I would say that it is expensive and while the wireless signals between the different parts have worked for me they are plainly a bit more fragile than would be ideal. The controller is also the main brain so has to be kept running at all costs. The uncomfortable aspect of this is that its batteries last just 20 minutes or so meaning that you can only ever take it off its charger for the briefest of periods. If you have lots of zones then you will need to change lots of AA batteries every year or two which is an expense to bargain for. Finally the valve controllers make some noise when operating so light sleepers might find that an issue. For me though the alternatives like Nest and Hive, while a curiosity, look like toys compared with Evohome. I just hope that this system proves to be reliable but as I have not had issues with Honeywell before I am optimistic there.UPDATE - Battery LifeAfter a few months, the battery life for the rechargeable AA cells in the controller fell to zero so I bought new ones. Being able to swap the batteries gave me the chance to recharge the originals in a separate dedicated charger. The charger I used is able to diagnose bad cells and gave these ones a clean bill of health. Hence I put these originals back in the unit and lo and behold, we now have more battery life than ever. I now believe that it is an idea to remove and recharge the batteries every few months in a dedicated charger if you can. Still leaving this as five stars though if there were any competent competition I would think about reducing that to four.Messages to Honeywell... Changing the temperature on a valve should affect the complete zone. If a room has multiple radiators it is nonsense that you have to change all of them. The battery life thing is reported by everyone who reviews these controllers. Why should it be necessary to take the batteries out and recharge them externally like this? Finally; this system really works brilliantly if you install loads of radiator valves. What about more of a discount for bulk-buying as it is in your interest that the system is installed across the whole home?

System works well, use it with TRVs and underfloor heating controller. Major down side is that the controller has to be perminantly plugged in as the battery life is literally 5 minutes which is long enough to take it to a tvr to add it to the system, but not long enough to program 5 or 6 on one charge

(Updated review) I had Evohome installed in my house about 18 months ago.Pros:-Controlling individual radiators is very handy. Much more useful than I'd expected.-I spent quite a lot of time comparing systems and Evohome is well-featured relative to the competition.-When it works it's very good.But:- it doesn't work properly. I have had many days, seemingly at random, where there has been no heating and no hot water. The installer gave up trying to fix it, and Honeywell advice line don't pick up the phone. All seemed to be better this summer, but with the arrival of winter the Evohome has started to fail again and I'm getting cold water and no heating again. Absolute sh*te.- it cost a heck of a lot.- Leaving aside reliability issues, the control panel and user interface is pretty rubbish (feels like technology from 1980), especially for the premium pricing.- The product has various technical limitations which are not mentioned at all, or are in small print, before sale: for example, it may not work in large houses.Overall, my expectation is that in two or three years this piece of kit will be obsolete and will look very dated compared with its replacements or competition. If you're in no rush, i'd suggest leaving your purchase until the technology catches up with 21st century standards.I wish I'd bought something else.

This was returned for a refund because it is does not have a U.K. Mains plug and no instructions in English. Warrenty at a later date may be an issue as not U.K. All of the above I could have lived with at the right price.What really got me was the starter pack would have expected to install it and add extra Trv's later. This was not the case as it did not inclued the wireless reciver/relay, without which it wouldn't work. Also another kit is required to control the hot water cylinder. On speaking with a U.K. Supplier they said they were aware of these issues and told me this version is a previous model. I have to fit at uk kit myself so this is not a review on the actual product.

Top product beats all the others

Have a 10 zone system (11 including water), had it installed as part of a heating and water overhaul in our 1930’s house. It really is an excellent system but not sure if it’s a DIY thing.