Honeywell Evohome User Review

There are many smart thermostats on the market, but the Honeywell Evohome system stands out in its ability to control the temperature in multiple zones independently. This is what makes the system a lot smarter than other thermostats. Of course there is also an app to control temperature of each zone remotely.

In this review I will discuss my experiences with the Evohome system since I installed it at the end of 2014.

Introduction

The Evohome system was introduced in 2010. The 1st generation controller was equipped with a monochrome touchscreen, and used the rather bulky HR80 radiator controllers. It was updated in 2013 to include a colour touchscreen and sleeker HR92 radiator controllers. In september 2015 the 3rd generation was launched, which includes wifi, eliminating the need for an access gateway.

The system under review in this article is the 2nd generation, but since not much has changed besides the integration of wifi in the controller, most of the contents should also apply to the current generation.

First I will cover the installation process and at the end of the article I will discuss my experiences with the system in daily use.

Installation

For homes with an existing central heating system, including radiators fitted with thermostat valves, the Evohome system can be installed without the need to drain the system. It works with most existing radiator valves. It may seem a bit daunting perform the installation yourself, but when following the provided instruction manuals the process is not that hard. It consists of the following main steps:

  • Connect the controller and Opentherm module to mains power and place batteries in the HR92 controllers.
  • Bind the following components to the Evohome controller:
    • R8810 Opentherm module
    • RFG100 Internet Gateway
    • HR92 radiator controllers
  • Create zones and connect the base unit to each HR92 controller.
  • Replace existing radiator valves with the the HR92 units.
  • Perform communications test with radiator valves when installed at final location.

There are a couple of additional steps I had to perform to let the system function correctly in my situation:

  • Connect Nefit EMS-OT Opentherm converter to the boiler (Nefit HRC 30/CW5)
  • Install ATF300 Wall Mount Kit
  • Install bypass (Comap 872B) to prevent damage to the pump when all radiator valves are closed.
  • Install T87RF2025 Round Wireless Thermostat for Improved temperature control

Power up the Controller other system components.

The main controller comes supplied with a table stand with built in AC adapter. The benefit of using the table stand is that there are no holes to drill in the wall. It is just plug and play. Make sure you place the unit away from radiators and door openings where drafts may affect the temperature reading.

Table stand for controller
Table stand for controller

Honeywell also offers a wall mount kit. Since I prefer a wall mounted controller (less clutter) I used the ATF300 wall mount kit. This has to be purchased separately. If a switch box is available at the position where you want to mount the controller, the AC adapter from the ATF300 kit can simply be placed behing the controller inside the wall. However, sometimes only an electric tube leading to the boiler is available.

Install wall plate and power supply cable
Install wall plate and power supply cable

In that case the AC adapter can be placed near the boiler and connected to the controller using a low voltage supply cable. I placed the AC adapter in standard electrical box next to the boiler, as shown below with the lid removed.

ATF300 Adapter and R8810 Opentherm module
ATF300 Adapter and R8810 Opentherm module

The controller also has 2 chargeable AA batteries, which serve as power supply when you take the unit off the wall for programming or other purposes. They can be replaced if necessary by removing the front cover.

Replace batteries in main controller
Replace batteries in main controller

The HR92 radiator controllers are powered by 2 AA batteries, which are supplied in the kit. Also the internet gateway and Opentherm module should be powered up before starting the installation procedure.

Installing components and binding them to the Evohome controller

The components in the Evohome system communicate to each other using an 868Mhz signal. They each have to be registered on the main controller in order for the system to work. Typically this involves pressing a button on the device and setting the main controller in reception mode. Details are covered in the instruction manuals, so therefore I will not go through them in detail here.

All available HR92 radiator controllers should be connected to the main controller. This can be done using a wizard, which guides you through the process of creating a new zone and binding the valve. It is also possible to manually add, delete or change an existing zone.

HR92 Radiator Controller
HR92 Radiator Controller

The HR92 unit has an internal temperature probe which can be used to measure the temperature of the room it is installed in. However, when the HR92 controller is mounted under a windowsill or behind a curtain it is better to install an external temperature probe. A round wireless thermostat can be used for this purpose. It can be configured through a simple procedure to act as a probe in the Evohome system instead of functioning as a stand alone thermostat. Initially I used the HR92 as temperature probe for all rooms except the living room, but found some bedrooms showed high fluctuations in temperature. For these rooms I later fitted round wireless thermostats and included them into their specific zone.

T87RF2025 Round Wireless Thermostat
T87RF2025 Round Wireless Thermostat

I found that I was unable to add the round wireless in an existing zone. The solution for this was to create a new zone, connect the HR92 to the new zone and add the round wireless. The old zone can then be deleted and you can rename the new zone to reflect the old name that you were used to. Since adding a round wireless is only done once I don’t see this as a serious issue.

Install RFG100 Internet Gateway

The internet gateway should be connected to the local area network using an RJ45 connector. When this is done the wireless connection to the main controller can be established. The gateway does not have to be near the main controller to function properly. Since the communication between the gateway and the controller is also performed using the 868Mhz signal, it has a large wireless range. I installed the gateway on the third floor, with a concrete floor and 2 walls seperating both components and still the reception is fine. This means you should be able to place it anywhere in your home where you have a wired LAN connection available.

RFG100 Internet Gateway
RFG100 Internet Gateway

Connect Nefit EMS-OT Opentherm converter to the boiler (Nefit HRC 30/CW5)

The boiler powering my heating system is a Nefit HRC 30/CW5. It is a modulating boiler, but unfortunately this boiler does not have native support for the Opentherm protocol. Nefit does offer an Opentherm converter module, the EMS-OT.

Nefit EMS-OT Opentherm converter
Nefit EMS-OT Opentherm converter

This module can be connected to the modulating input terminal. This is the orange terminal in the picture below.

Connect Opentherm converter to Boiler
Connect Opentherm converter to Boiler

The other end of the module is connected to the Evohome Opentherm module. The Opentherm converter does have it limitations with regards to the supported error messages (for example I do not get a message from the Evohome when the boiler pressure is low) but otherwise it functions perfectly straight out of the box. Actually, since there are no settings possible on the converter it either works or it doesn’t, so I was lucky it fell in the first category.

When the Opentherm module is powered up and connected to the boiler it can be connected wirelessly to the main controller using the binding procedure.

Replace existing radiator valves with the the HR92 units

The HR92 radiator valves come supplied with adapter rings to fit the most common radiator valves:

  • M30x1.5
  • M28x1.5
  • Danfoss RA
  • Caleffi
HR92 kit
HR92 kit

However, in my house some of the radiators were fitted with the older Danfoss RAVL type valves. Although it may not be advertised specifically for use with the HR92, there is an adapter set available from Honeywell that contains several adapter rings, including one that converts an RAVL valve to M30x1.5. It is the black ring on the right in the picture below:

EVA1-Danfoss kit
EVA1-Danfoss kit

The installation of an HR92 controller on a Danfoss RAVL valve is shown below:

The installation of radiator valves with the nowadays more common M30x1.5 connection is performed as follows:

In case you may wonder how large the HR92 valve controllers are when compared to the conventional vlaves they replace, I placed them side by side for a size comparison:

Danfoss RAVL, Heimeier M30x1.5, Honeywell HR92
Danfoss RAVL, Heimeier M30x1.5, Honeywell HR92

The HR92 is significantly bigger than the old RAVL danfoss type, but when compared to a new Heimeier M30x1.5 the difference is only about 1 cm in length. In practice the size difference does not really matter since you quickly forget about the valves controllers after they are installed. And of course it all depends on personal taste, but I think they look quite nice for a radiator valve controller.

Install over-pressure bypass

There is one more thing that should be considered when installing the Evohome system. Even when none of the zones are requesting heat from the boiler and therefore all valves are closed by the HR92 units, the pump may still be activated from time to time. From experience I can say this leads to a very unpleasant loud humming noise, which sounds very unhealthy for the pump. There are 2 ways to deal with this. You can either leave a manual radiator valve always open (which does not make s nse in most cases), or an over-pressure bypass can be installed between the outgoing and incoming water line in the heating system. I chose the latter option. The bypass was installed by a plummer, who mentioned that it should be installed around 6 meters from the boiler if possible. In my case it could not be fitted at that distance, so it is now located at only roughly 2 meters from the boiler, but it still functions correctly.

Bypass using Comap 872B
Bypass using Comap 872B

A Comap 872B differential presssure valve was used for the bypass. It can be adjusted to open at pressure differences anywhere between 0.1 and 0.5 bar, based in the system in which it is fitted. I used some trial and error to find the setting for my system at which it opened at the desired moment. If the valve opens too early it will cause the boiler to stop heating triggered by high temperature of returning water (which did not flow through a radiator but was directly fed back through the bypass).

User experiences

The system has been in use for roughly 1 year and 4 months at the time of writing. In this period I have not experienced any major issues. A couple of weeks ago the batteries of the HR92 in the living room needed to be replaced. All other units are still running on the original batteries supplied with the kit.

When installing the system I was afraid of insufficient range of the HR92 units or lost connections, but this has not happened, not even to the HR92 units which are furthest away from the main controller. (installed on the 3rd floor and 1st floor respectively)

I am not very enthusiastic about the android app. Although it has all the functionality that I need, it simply takes too many clicks and swipes to change the temperature of a zone.

With regards to the interface of the main controller I wish more advanced temperature monitoring was available. The interface only shows the current temperature but does not log any data.

Despite some minor downsides I am very satisfied with the Evohome system. I functions flawlessly at it’s core task, which is to control temperature independently in multiple zones. The main controller is also very user friendly. I would not want to return to a single zone heating system.

Rating: 4,5 out of 5

5 Replies to “Honeywell Evohome User Review”

  1. Hi Robin! Thank you for the great article! You’ve mentioned that it is possible to leave HR92 always open as an alternative to the installation of an automatic bypass valve. I’ve checked all the options on my Evohome controller and on HR92 itself and was not able to disable actuator feature and use it only as a temperature probe. Do you probably know how to do it exactly?

    1. Hi Andrey, reading back the text it does suggest that you can leave one of the valves open, which is unfortunately not the case to my knowledge. I probably meant to have a manual valve on one of the radiators and to leave that open, but this only works if you have a room with multiple radiators to even have this option, so it does not make sense in most situations. From my experience the valves do close when there is no demand for heat ( had this problem mostly in summer when none of the zones request heat) and to my knowledge the controller does not have the function to leave one of the valves open,which would be nice though.
      Sorry for the confusion, I have updated the text to manual valve. Robin

      1. Thank you for your reply!

        Yes, seems it’s not possible to achieve with HR92. I guess, there is an option to remove HR92 from one of the radiators and fully open the valve. Then put a standalone temperature sensor (e.g. Round Wireless Thermostat) in the same room and add it as a zone to Evohome. This room will be heated when one become too cold or when the boiler is turned on to heat any other room. This solution is okeish for e.g. a bathroom since it usually has a small radiator and still fine to use when overheated. Although the auto bypass valve is really the only true solution to the problem. I’m totally surprised that Evohome installation guide has no mention of bypass valve at all despite it’s a requirement in the UK and even the Honeywell making such valves by itself (https://heatingcontrols.honeywellhome.com/products/valves/bypass-valves/DU144/)

        1. Agreed, I think this should be mentioned in the installation manual, even though it might scare some people away from installing the system. Having said this, the benefits outweigh the cost for me.

  2. I realize this post was over a year ago, but if you are still looking to do more with EvoHome, I strongly recommend purchasing the HGI80 interface. This will allow you to interact with the system from your computer, controlling it and/or logging much more information that it natively can. This can be purchased online here (wifithermostaten.nl/honeywell-hgi80-interface.html) and you can pair it up with a software called Domoticz available for free download here (domoticz.com/downloads/). With this setup you will be able to gain much more insight into how EvoHome is working for you.

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