Salus ERT20RF Electronic Thermostat with RF

Bought this to replace a 12 year old malfunctioning RF thermostat. My wife could never get the hang of the rather overcomplicated settings on the old one, so we’ve gone for the simplicity of this. It was very easy to install – in our situation I was able to disconnect and remove the old unit, then mount and connect this one on the existing wiring.The signal between the thermostat and receiver seems very good and the receiver switches on and off almost instantly accordingly. The issue with these type of thermostats though is the lag between the set temperature being reached (rising or lowering) and them reacting to it (hysteresis). This will generally be different within a tolerance, even between individual units of the same model and it’s down to luck as to whether the one you have is more or less accurate. The one we’ve received seems to have quite a large hysteresis and on initial observation using an accurate thermometer, it’s only switching off at around 2 degrees above the set temperature, then switching on again at around 2 degrees below it. That’s probably not unusual, but inevitably means that you’re always going to have to twiddle with the thing or decide whether you’re happy to be a bit too hot or cold for the longer period between switching cycles!

Between my builders and myself (more me !) we accidentally decided to get rid of the old thermostat that was in my house which never gave any trouble at all. By the time we realised the mistake it was already smashed and on the skip. I bought this Salus thermostat based in reviews. In a nutshell, it works perfectly well apart from the 10 minute delay which I can live with. What I find frustrating is the constant need to change batteries every couple of months. I use top rated batteries so this surprises me. If your hot water or heating does not click on one day, before calling out servicemen, check the light on it and if it is out, then it needs replacing. Keep a ready supply too.

instalation .. easy if you follow the intructions but if your not confident in working around boilers then ask a spark, just for safety sake. ease of use .. we had a digital cisplay controler with all the bells and whistles, we wanted to be able to simplify and thats what this does, to turn on the heating (or air conditioning cause itl work 1 or the other) ust smply turn the thermostat to the temprature you want, or to turn off the heating then turn the thermostat to 5 c. its that simple. value .. for a a cable free controlor its the cheapest iv found.

Simple thermostat, easy setup.Downsides: wide hysteresis i.e. slow to switch on and sluggish to go off. I wish it was a bit snappier with closer tolerance.The battery only lasts 2 months.I'll end up keeping it because it's so simple that it won't break but I'll be annoyed when I have to keep changing the batteries every other month wishing I'd just bought a better one with tighter temperature regulation and longer-lasting batteries.

Works great when in use, but be aware that every time the power to the RF receiver is lost, you have to go through the process of pairing the two parts together again. Not difficult to do, but in this day and age, and at this price , I’d certainly say it’s something you shouldn’t have to do.