Automated home and Honeywell have teamed up for a live webchat with the inventors of the Honeywell evohome smart Thermostat in our Chat Room from 8:00pm to 9:30pm BST on the 15th April 2015.
The Honeywell team will be answering your questions regarding all things evohome and the wider connected homes landscape too. In attendance we will have
European Programme director for evohome
Senior Engineer, Heating and evohome (residential)
Senior Heating consultant (residential)
Experienced Heating Installer (Honeywell HIN member)
In addition, participants will have the chance to win an evohome connected pack kit. To enter, simply like and Share this Facebook post and submit your question for the system inventors there too.
Alternatively, you can enter by tweeting @ottomate and @Hon_Home_EU with your question using the hashtag #HoneywellAH or by posting it in This thread in our Forums. entry is limited to one per person. The winner will be picked at random and announced on the 16th April 2015. good luck.
(Honeywell: The purpose of this webchat is to help people learn more about their system and optimise their experience. We will certainly help with advice on heating systems in general and try to impart what we know about heating the home effectively. additionally we can provide advice on other Honeywell products within the skillset of the team.)
[UPDATE] Transcript of the webchat now added below
Automated home live webchat with Honeywell evohome Panel
Wednesday 15th April 2015 (lightly edited for better readability)
[8:02pm] Otto-Mate: welcome everyone and thanks for joining us in the Automated home chat room.
[8:02pm] Otto-Mate: Tonight we are delighted to have the inventors of the Honeywell evohome heating system with us to answer some of the questions that have been put to them over the last couple of weeks via the Automated home Forums, Facebook and Twitter.
[8:02pm] JohnHoneywell: hello all
[8:02pm] Otto-Mate: **We will also be announcing the winner of the evohome system here at the end of this chat at 9:30pm**
[8:02pm] Otto-Mate: but first a few points of order. I will be chairing the chat tonight and it will take the following form.
[8:02pm] Otto-Mate: The Honeywell panel will answer as many of the questions as we can get through in the time. After each answer there will be a brief opportunity for a couple of questions from you the audience for clarification on any points before I move us all on to the next main question (please hold your questions until I ask for them). This chat is moderated for everyones enjoyment.
[8:03pm] Otto-Mate: Can I now ask each member of the Honeywell panel to introduce themselves…
[8:03pm] JohnHoneywell: Hi there – I’ll be introducing each of us from Honeywell
[8:04pm] JohnHoneywell: We have 5 members of the team joining:
[8:04pm] JohnHoneywell: Krzysztof Portfolio director EMEA, long background in heating & homes products, and responsible for bringing category to market
[8:04pm] JohnHoneywell: Rob: senior Sales support & technical Account development – Liaison and trainer for Honeywell Installer network
[8:05pm] JohnHoneywell: Andrew: product Manager, homes business – Heating engineer and background in product and software engineering
[8:05pm] JohnHoneywell: Rich: Honeywell installer and evohome specialist, runs The evohome shop and advises customers along with performing installs
[8:05pm] JohnHoneywell: James: marketing Liaison for homes business
[8:06pm] Otto-Mate: thanks guys, so onto the first question…
[8:06pm] Otto-Mate: Why do two rooms feel a different temperature even though evohome reads the same temperature? (Mavis, Automated home Forum)
[8:06pm] JohnHoneywell: good question! Andy will take this one…
[8:07pm] James: (from Andy) temp is not quite the same thing as comfort or feel, cold surfaces
[8:07pm] James: will pull heat from you and radiators will
[8:07pm] James: transfer hear, drafts will cool and activity level will alter peoples perceptions
[8:08pm] Imran: Why do some rooms heat above the temperature they’ve been set for ..
[8:08pm] Otto-Mate: imran – please wait until we call for questions
[8:08pm] James: we will detail who is answering what in the answers from myself and JohnHoneywell
[8:12pm] James:
[8:12pm] James: rooms can have additional heat injected into them. This is sometimes the most logical and common cause.
[8:12pm] Otto-Mate: are there examples of this?
[8:12pm] James: A human can give off over 150watts
[8:12pm] James: for example
[8:13pm] Otto-Mate: ah, ok
[8:13pm] James: A heating load on a small room can be 2-300watt
[8:13pm] James: so this can make a big impact
[8:13pm] Otto-Mate: will rads overshoot then ?
[8:13pm] James: additionally the thermal mass in the water will also heat a room after the valve has been closed
[8:14pm] Imran: I sometimes have a temperature difference of 5’Cbetween set 15’C and actual 20’C
[8:14pm] James: again we have seen examples where some customers have wrongly sized radiators
[8:14pm] James: Imran – how are you measuring the temps?
[8:15pm] James: Something that can cause this is a leaky valve (ie the valve head is not fully closed)
[8:15pm] Imran: The radiator feels warm even though I’ve set it to 15’C ..
[8:15pm] James: Danfoss vales are prime cultprits
[8:15pm] James: for example
[8:15pm] Otto-Mate: OK, time for next question….
[8:15pm] Imran: really ..
[8:16pm] James: yes really
[8:16pm] Otto-Mate: ** are there plans to enable remote control of the evohome system via a web browser? (John Spittal, Facebook)
[8:17pm] DantheHeatingMan: I have a question on the last topic
[8:17pm] James: At this time we are not working on anything ‘exactly’ like this. We are focusing our attention to improving other areas
[8:17pm] JohnHoneywell: At present this isn’t something that Honeywell is looking into given the mobile-first nature of our users.
[8:17pm] James: however the future may be different
[8:17pm] James: as we are developing the platform
[8:17pm] Otto-Mate: personally I’d really like to see a web interface – can u pass this on to the team please
[8:18pm] James: We have
[8:18pm] PGaleIpad: +1
[8:18pm] Otto-Mate: thanks
[8:18pm] Otto-Mate: next question – ** can you please give an option to set a zone or a selection of zones to boost to a given temperature for a set time. Living room and lounge 23 degrees for 3hrs 15 mins???
[8:18pm] JohnHoneywell: Yes, we have – thanks
[8:18pm] Otto-Mate: (Glen Griffin, Facebook)
[8:18pm] muzz: +1
[8:18pm] James: and just to re-iterate that the future may be different – but at this time we are focusing on other areas and functionality
[8:19pm] JohnHoneywell: The override function will do this for a single room. If a group of rooms are used together then they could be grouped into a zone. The EVO button on a sensor like DT92 can also be used in this way.
[8:19pm] Gl3n: I have 12 zones
[8:19pm] Gl3n: would like to select say 3 to boost easily
[8:20pm] Gl3n: seems like a good option!
[8:21pm] mib_lcw79c: will there be Apple HomeKit integration with Evohome?
[8:21pm] RobHoneywell: other option is to create a custom quick action that can apply to several zones
[8:21pm] Gl3n: This is where people use the system differently
[8:22pm] Otto-Mate: guys – PLEASE HOLD YOUR QUESTIONS
[8:22pm] Otto-Mate: HomeKit next please guys
[8:22pm] JohnHoneywell: thanks for your question mib_lcw79c on Homekit
[8:22pm] Gl3n: great thx will try
[8:22pm] JohnHoneywell: Andy – evohome does not currently work with Homekit. Honeywell is a proud partner of Apple for Homekit with integrated products to become available over time. The Apple HomeKit would need a special RFID chip and will bring little to integration with other systems.
[8:23pm] James: Re: homekit
[8:24pm] James: that does not mean to say that the evohome system
[8:24pm] James: may or may not be able to interface via an intermediary
[8:24pm] James: either from another member of the connected home eco system which honeywell partners with
[8:24pm] James: or via a honeywell product
[8:25pm] James: right now evohome is not natively going to work with Homekit as John says it requires a physical piece of hardware not present
[8:25pm] Otto-Mate: OK, any other quesrtions on HomeKit anyone?
[8:25pm] Otto-Mate: No, OK… moving on…
[8:26pm] JohnHoneywell: next question is from the Automated home Forum, via Mavis:
[8:27pm] JohnHoneywell: “How does a radiator work, and why is it under the window?”
[8:27pm] JohnHoneywell: The call for heat is not directly related to an actual temperature value. When a room is ‘at temperature’ it is still losing heat so the radiator still has to be on to compensate for this.
[8:28pm] JohnHoneywell: Our radiator controls are modulating so they regulate the flow of water to each radiator as well as fire the boiler This is like an accelerator and the engine in a car the engine is on when you are moving and to maintain speed a small amount of acceleration is needed even when you are at the correct speed.
[8:28pm] JohnHoneywell: To answer Mavis’ question on the radiator:
[8:28pm] JohnHoneywell: Installers place radiators there to counteract the cold air falling from the window. This is felt as a cold draft so the warm air rising from the radiator prevents any discomfort. Over time, double glazed windows have reduced the impact of these air flows, but the window will still be an area of higher heat loss.
[8:29pm] Otto-Mate: OK, anyone got quesions on rad placement?
[8:29pm] Otto-Mate: OK, next one
[8:30pm] PGaleIpad: Do the newer controllers have the draft compensating function?
[8:30pm] JohnHoneywell: next question is from Helen from Facebook: “how does optimisation work, both through the learning phase and once learnt?”
[8:30pm] James: @ PGalelpad – do you mean the window open function?
[8:30pm] PGaleIpad: yes
[8:31pm] JohnHoneywell: It’s complex! The control has no idea how large or small the heating system is nor how much heat the fabric loses – they are always different, so the time it takes to heat up and how long it needs to fire the boiler to get to control at a certain temperature has to be learned. Each temperature level, the outside temperature and the efficiency of the radiators
[8:31pm] JohnHoneywell: The unit stores the heat demand for each setpoint and each zone, notes if there was an error and will gently make small corrections for the next time. initially this can take several weeks to get to the correct values but once correct the system will make small adjustments caused by the seasons quite quickly.
[8:32pm] JohnHoneywell: The system leans fastest when it is at a stable temperature. An hour of heat once a day will take longer to adapt – similarly a quick blast of heat as an override won’t tell the system much.
[8:33pm] Otto-Mate: how long should it take to ‘learn’ your home ?
[8:33pm] JohnHoneywell: Optimisation works with the adaptive control and will calculate the rate of temperature rise and fall in each zone, and then look at the start value and requested temperature to know how long it will take to get to the correct temperature.
[8:33pm] James: @ PGalelpad – yes they have this. There is a wired contact option (if you really want to used this) – but the Logic now is built into the HR92
[8:34pm] RobHoneywell: in answer to the question about initial learning
[8:34pm] RobHoneywell: typically 7 to 10 days to complete the coarse learning
[8:34pm] RobHoneywell: then fine tuning is ongoing
[8:34pm] DantheHeatingMan: Why when I set my room temp to be at a certain temp in the morning at 6:00am the boiler fires up at 6:00AM? It doesn’t seem to be learning.
[8:35pm] James: Dan – we think you have optimisation turned off?
[8:35pm] RobHoneywell: it is turned off as default, you need to enable in settings
[8:36pm] Otto-Mate: how is that turned on ?
[8:36pm] DantheHeatingMan: OK. I presume i have to enable this in the settings. Thanks.
[8:36pm] RobHoneywell: installer setting, system parameters, optimisation
[8:37pm] DantheHeatingMan: ok thanks
[8:37pm] Otto-Mate: thanks
[8:37pm] Gl3n: Which option
[8:37pm] Imran: What temperature should a room be optimally heated to in Winter, autumn and spring ..
[8:37pm] Otto-Mate: next question
[8:37pm] JohnHoneywell: next question is from watchforstock from the Automated home Forum:
[8:37pm] smdheat: is optimisation turned on per zone or globally
[8:37pm] Gl3n: optimum start?
[8:38pm] JohnHoneywell: “Are Honeywell going to open up the API to third party developers (including the OAuth as used for IFTTT)?”
[8:38pm] James: @ Imran – whatever you feel comfortable at (?)
[8:38pm] Otto-Mate: ah, API, good question
[8:38pm] Otto-Mate: we love integration
[8:38pm] JohnHoneywell: On APIs – we have already released APIs for selected partners. We will continue to work closely with selected market partners first to ensure that our APIs are functioning correctly before opening them to larger groups of developers.
[8:39pm] Otto-Mate: any time scale on this?
[8:39pm] Otto-Mate: will individuals get access?
[8:40pm] James: Re API
[8:41pm] James: At the moment we do not actively shut down or close any API calls on the servers which are not via the partnership methods
[8:41pm] RobHoneywell: @smdheat Optimistaion is settable globally, it is also able to be turned off on individual zones under edit zone
[8:41pm] smdheat: Thanks
[8:41pm] James: We cannot disclose right now our API plans. but we have plans
[8:41pm] James: for greater opportunities for more people to integrate with products from Honeywell
[8:42pm] Otto-Mate: OK, thanks
[8:42pm] Otto-Mate: next question is from FaceBook…
[8:43pm] Otto-Mate: Jennifer Kilcullen
[8:43pm] Otto-Mate: My question – Does the evohome smart Thermostat connect automatically to my wifi at home to reenable me to use an app on my phone when I am out, to make changes, or is a wifi connector needed to use this function?
[8:43pm] JohnHoneywell: evohome uses a wireless gateway to connect to the internet.