Need Programmer/Timer/Thermostat for new Baxi 600 Boiler

[shallo_j]

Hi there , I would appreciate your advice.
I have just had a new Baxi 600 24kW Boiler installed but the Engineer did not install a Programmer/Timer/Thermostat and this is making life difficult for me as I need to preset the on/off on the boiler otherwise I would have to leave this on thereby burning a lot of gas. The question is do I need a Baxi make of timer or thermostat as I find these too expensive? All I need is a simple 7-day programmer. Is this difficult to install?

Many thanks

[D Hailsham]

Why didn't the Engineer install the programmer/thermostat? They are required for the system to meet Building Regulations and for the Benchmark documentation. At the moment you have an illegal installation.

[shallo_j]

Thanks D Hailsham,
I thought it was odd that he didn't install the thermostat and the timer, and I correctly pointed this to him as even my old boiler of 20 years old which is not a Combi has a programmer on it. He said it is extra and that I would have to pay for it. Then he said it should be a wireless thermostat. I checked the price of wireless Baxi thermostat and it is way above £100. I don’t need a fancy thermostat/programmer. Given the choice I would have bought Heatline Capriz2 which comes with its programmer. Baxi was his idea and I thought this was all inclusive.
I thank you for this piece of advice. I will call him back to complete his job as he charged me for full installation of a central heating system.

[ericmark]

Instructions Page 35 state it is OpenTherm enabled, so to control to maximum economy you want an OpenTherm controller, which will depend on the home.

The whole idea is the boiler turns down and up rather than on/off, however the (Thermostatic Radiator valve) TRV will also turn the boiler down and up using the return water temperature, so in the winter electronic TRV heads would do the same or better than the wall thermostat.

As to zones, if there are electronic TRV heads they do the same as any zone valve, in fact better as the TRV head turns the valve down and up, where a zone valve is simply off/on which does not really go with a boiler which turns down/up.

Where it all goes wrong is when Spring/Summer arrives, it will not turn completely off, it will continue to cycle off/on so either manually switch off, or use some simple thermostat to turn it off on warm days, note thermostat with off/on is to stop cycling not to control room temperature.

Each radiator has two controls, the TRV and the lock shield valve, the TRV controls max temp, the lock shield max speed, if the speed is too high then the lock shield will likely adjust too slowly and it will over shoot.

So cheap options, the Terrier i30 electronic head is around £20 and will allow you to set times, as well as more precise temperature, and really easy to fit. As you go up in control methods, so you go up in price, and complexity.

[shallo_j]

Hi ericmark, thanks so much for the manual and the explanation on the OpenTherm. While I find this very useful and educating, I am just an end user who doesn't tamper with electricity or circuits for the fear that it might blow up LOL! Honestly, I think the idea of keep the boiler running all day with the hope that the OpenTherm will control the room temperature sounds expensive to me. I wake up at 6am and I get home at 6pm. All I want is for my boiler to fire up at 5am and switch off at 7am, also fires up at 5pm and switch off at 7pm. Heating my house for 4 hours a day is enough rather than keeping it on all day. Is there a way I can accomplish this as there is no programmer on this Baxi boiler at the moment? Many thanks

[D Hailsham]

Opentherm does not mean that the boiler is running all day long, even if you don't need it to. All it does is control the water temperature during the 'on' periods, which you determine. The water temperature will depend on how cold it is. So high, say 75C, when it is freezing outside, reducing to low, say 30C, when it is hot. The thermostat will still turn the boiler off when the house is up to temperature.