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Have had a *budget smart thermostat running flawlessly since January, which has noticeably reduced our heating oil consumption and kept temperature pretty consistent all year.

I decided for this winter I’d expand on this with some trv’s in the bedrooms and living room, so we’re not heating rooms unnecessarily or when windows were open, so I picked up an Aqara e1 trv and linked it to zha yesterday.

Initial findings; linked up to zha pretty hassle free, but only exposes a climate entity and no state change to indicate when it’s calling for heat, no big deal, set up an automation to check every 5 mins of actual temp is lower than target temp, and to switch the boiler on/off based on that. The bigger problem arises with the accuracy of the trv temperature sensor, which appears to only move in 1 degree intervals (which is probably fine for most), but to me feels like it’s not tight enough. I could of course use the more accurate xiaomi Bluetooth temperature sensors in every room to control them, but doing that means more devices and therefore batteries to monitor, and if I was going down that road it would probably be just as effective to use a minimum sensor value so the coldest room is always calling for heat, rather than fitting an expensive trv in every room.

Has anyone else gone down this rabbit hole?

*xiaomi Bluetooth temperature and humidity sensor with atc firmware reporting values to home assistant via an esp board with esphome, located in the babies room as that’s the most importantly room, and a Shelly 1pm controlling the boiler on/off switch - total cost ~€40

Firstly - ok to hang from the shoulders like a jacket?

Secondly - why talc?

Storing wetsuits for winter (because I’m a winter pool swimmer): how and where?

Currently have mine and the wife’s folded carefully and stored in a plastic storage container, both fully dry before storing. Last winter I’m pretty sure I just left my wetsuit in a bag somewhere, but I’ve a new expensive orca I haven’t used yet and would like it to last the full season next year!

Shall we change tack a bit and do Miele next?

Tv was at eye height while standing as our greyhound occupied the entire sofa and we couldn’t sit down

Yeh it’ll be mostly books, but also needs to hold my printer, and be able to house general clutter on the bottom shelves behind doors. We done the built in billy hack in the living room of our old place (pic attached*) and it was great (learned many lessons, better prepared to do it again**) but something with more depth would be great for printer/clutter etc.

The havsta units look like a good option as they have a nearly 50cm deep lower cabinet, and are pine as opposed to particleboard. That’ll probably end up being the route we take, if we don’t stick with the faithful old Billy.

*ignore gammy desk leg, was waiting for an Alex cabinet to arrive

**would build a proper plinth at the bottom and extend all the way to the ceiling

I didn’t even consider range because I just put one in every room and use them to power plug in lamps

Yes, I have ikea outlets dotted around my house and they work perfectly extending signal from my hub at one end of the house to lights at the opposite end

Appreciate that vitsoe are the gold standard, and I’m all for buying the best up front, but unless I’m pleasantly surprised by their response to my spur of the moment inquiry, I can’t imagine that will progress any further.

String was an option, but the fear of buckling shelves for what will predominantly be a bookshelf is certainly enough to put me off.

The exercise started with ikea options, Billy, Ivar or boaxel, but are there any other good, affordable options I’m missing? I also liked the look of the sklum modular shelves but there isn’t much information about them from owners.

Very good but definitely not a bungalow!

Been looking at string a lot too but is it that much cheaper than vitsoe?

Wife has finally come to the realisation that I’m full time working from home and given the nod to turn our spare bedroom with a desk into a dedicated office, so before she could change her mind I dismantled the hatefully uncomfortable ikea hemnes day bed and stored it away in the loft til we get more rooms up there.

First on my agenda is to sort shelving for the wall opposite the desk as we currently have almost no storage space for books or otherwise in the house, meaning all our books are still in storage since we moved out of our previous house in July 2020! I’m totally paralysed with decisions!

I started out with a plan to do the old built in Billy bookcase hack, but that has quickly escalated to an enquiry with vitsoe on some 606 shelving (likely 3 bays to begin with, just shelves because budget won’t stretch to cabinets up front), but I’d love to hear from the masses on my options. Blank wall about 3.5m in width, 2.5m high, but I don’t want to use the full width as there’s a door on the perpendicular wall on one end, and want to keep it symmetrical on the opposite end.

House is a mid-90’s Irish seaside bungalow, so I’m a bit concerned that vitsoe might look wildly out of place.

No just the 1pm, been running my central heating for the past year

Only the relays, not the pro models

Wide rims is indeed a concern, I have hunt carbon wheels on my road bike, which I think are 27mm external, and have been meaning to try them on the boardman for size.

So with limited experience (2 sprints and 1 Olympic) under my belt, I’ve decided to throw my hat in the ring for 2 bigger events next year; TriAthy double Olympic, and IM 70.3 Cork.

Why?

Swim is my strongest discipline, followed fairly closely by bike, and I’ve gotten around a couple of half marathons this year at 4:55-5:00/km, so hoping the longer distances will suit me.

The events aren’t til 03Jun and 19Aug respectively, but the latter is very much peak holiday season and with full IM on the 20th I wanted to get accommodation locked in asap. They should help frame my winter training though!

Try linking it via the nearest repeater. I’ve never had any issues pairing with zha using the 6 times on and off method and never noticed doing it at different speeds

Oh yeh it’s fully functioning, we used it all last winter

It’s a new enough build, mid 90’s, but I guess it’s hard to tell short of just pulling it out and assessing the situation.

As a follow on from the above, my intention would be to plaster up to the opening for the fire, leaving a clean edge around the opening, tile whatever bit of the floor doesn’t have timber, and put a stove there instead. Or if there is timber flooring all the way to the wall I’d consider blocking up the opening and putting a media unit there instead with the stove in the corner of the room at the gable end.

Has anyone ever removed a fireplace surround? Have been looking at this ugly thing since we bought our house 18 months ago and now that baby is crawling I’m thinking of tearing it out to get rid of the sharp edges (we have a fireplace guard around it but it draws your eye to how ugly it is even more now), but not sure what to expect behind it.

Oh that’s good! Which blinds did you go for?

I’m trying to narrow the protocols in use in my home to WiFi and zigbee to make everything a bit easier to troubleshoot, and just have one Bluetooth temperature sensor left, which will be switched out as soon as a battery arrives for my Shelley h&t.

I have a variety of ikea switches, motion sensors, buttons, sockets and bulbs working flawlessly with HA now using a conbee II stick and zha.

Recently added an aqara e1 blind motor and it’s been working perfectly with a Roman blind for a couple of months now, so I’ve bought one for every blind on the front of the house. We don’t yet have blinds on the back but might try the ikea smart blinds system.

Next step though is to try some smart trv’s (either Shelley or Aqara) to complement my Shelly 1pm boiler controller and make my heating more zoned rather than all on or all off.

Yeah I was lucky one came up nearby me, but I’ve to do some work on the fit and spend winter getting comfortable on it! Oh and some new wheels!

Noticed this morning some tears forming on the left armpit of my <4 month old zone3 advance suit, but thankfully the shop are refunding it as they have none in stock as replacements.

I had read about zone3 suits wearing prematurely but I’m quite shocked at how quickly it’s worn.

Any suggestions on a tougher alternative? I have an entry level orca suit that’ll be back in action for the remaining few weeks of leisurely swims but keeping an eye out for something for next season.