Robert McQueen

Dad, CEO @Access_Endless, @GNOME Vice President, green energy, digital equity & free/open software geek @[email protected] / @ramcq.bsky.social

[Steven Deobald @deobald]

it's been a very difficult year or two for @gnome and, to continue to exist, the foundation really needs you.

however, we first want to ask you to *donate less*:

https://t.co/Ppt9uKtpN2

#gnome

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

@RichMWPHS Much appreciated, thanks. Will drop you a DM.

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

@RichMWPHS I've got these UFH manifolds with a pump & manual mixer on the side: https://t.co/PSVJiRJmWs

Is it possible to retrofit an actuator onto this valve, or get a motorised valve that would fit in the narrow space? Or should I fit a valve upstream to control temp?

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

@RichMWPHS Open to suggestions! A bit nervous about whether the Evohome signal from different parts of the house would reach one controller as it's a very old solid stone at one end, and new extension at the other (bodged in to the existing basically S-plan system).

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

@RichMWPHS There might be some middle grounds where I just use one mixer for all the heating (ie the rads zones) and bring the UFH into the Evohome system somehow (as just zones) so I have a level of app control? But I need to at least mix down the buffer tank and set up PDHW to use WC.

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

Alright so how do I find who to follow on BSky? https://t.co/j6GT2QCGKu Hands up if you're on there but not on Mastodon.

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

@plumbers_urban Absolutely love this. Keep up the amazing work!

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

@theolodian @tomasmcguinness @Openenergymon I'd just buy all those bits and follow the recipe as far as it applies, then diverge when it comes to the analysis. If you go off with Modbus, MQTT, etc you will just need to arrange your own time series store and waste a bunch of time "plumbing".

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

@theolodian @tomasmcguinness @Openenergymon I'd just get OEM in place to measure, aggregate and store everything. You can at worst just export the data into your Excel model, or you could write a plugin like the heatpump one, if very enthusiastic.

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

@theolodian @tomasmcguinness @Openenergymon https://t.co/TpdcY7SlcI adds a bunch of CTs. https://t.co/vj3YCazLsE is a base without CTs.

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

@theolodian @tomasmcguinness @Openenergymon The CTs are wireless, you can get as many as you like ans put them anywhere. Main tails, specific circuits, monitor temperatures on pipes, etc.

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

@theolodian @tomasmcguinness @Openenergymon Openenergymon doesn't eat the SF card, they've thought of that. Or, put an SSD into your Pi which is what I did. OEM software is a very capable time series data capture and visualisation framework. You can pull in MQTT, Modbus, etc and graph, apply functions, etc.

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

@theolodian @tomasmcguinness @Openenergymon And even if you want to go on and do your own analysis or graphing or whatever via MQTT you can. But it's a really uniquely powerful gateway / aggregator of so many devices and sources, even if you don't automate much of anything.

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

@theolodian @tomasmcguinness @Openenergymon I was also very anti Home Assistant originally but my NodeRed stuff was a hot mess, and some really compelling cloud only and local integrations won me over. Tesla Powerwall via LAN for monitoring, cloud for control, Solar Edge local, Octopus cloud, Heatmiser local, etc etc.

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

@theolodian @tomasmcguinness https://t.co/hLYvffV0Oz is what you want for Vaillant to read it over MQTT with the appropriate dongle

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

@RichMWPHS @Damon_BPHR @swebster56 (The board on the boiler can control a mixer directly and can do PDHW so planning to use the boiler controls for the rad zone / DHW, but the UFH zones would then be cascaded off this. Trying to compare cost/benefit of separate controllers versus a 2nd boiler wiring centre.)

[Robert McQueen @ramcq]

Looking at adding WC mixing to 2x UFH and 1x rad zone to try and use up biomass+electric buffer tank more slowly. Anyone got suggestions for good standalone WC/mixer controllers for UFH systems? @RichMWPHS @Damon_BPHR @swebster56