New option goes live alongside new money saving features at IFA 2023
Tado has unveiled the latest option in its ever increasing arsenal of connected devices designed to smartly heat (and cool) your home: the Tado Heat Pump Connector.
The Tado Heat Pump Connector does exactly what it says on the tin – it connects to your heat pump.
Tado has been able to control heat pumps in the past, but only on an air-to-air system; i.e. when pumping hot air through vents or a HVAC system in your house. It did this by adding a Smart AC controller to the mix, which effectively sent smart signals to an IR receiver
However, the new Heat Pump Connector is designed to heat homes using air-to-water systems; those are systems that have radiators in rooms around the house but are powered by a Heat Pump, rather than a boiler.
Read this: Comprehensive Tado smart heating review
It works with a wide range of brands including Vaillant, Atlantic, Saunier Duval and Fujitsu, for both new purchases and as a retrofit. Tado states that compatibility with other brands arrive in the coming months.
Like a Tado system in use with a traditional boiler system you can then control individual room temperatures using the company’s industry leading TRVs.
You will need to have a Tado internet bridge in place too, but this also provides access to the Tado app, for creating smart schedules and getting granular control over your heating and hot water.
Heat Pumps are, once you get over the initial cost at least, one of the most affordable and eco-friendly ways of heating your house.
They are becoming more popular as energy companies and governments are known to offer subsidies to have them installed, and they are often used in new build projects.
Tado has also, alongside the new Heat Pump Connector, launched the Tado Balance Heat Pump feature in the Tado app.
This allows you to more efficiently control how your heat pump operates, choosing when to pre-heat rooms or fill water tanks based on real world data.
In mainland Europe especially, where dynamic variable energy price tariffs are common, this could mean massive savings.
In fact, at IFA 2023, Tado also launched its own aWATTar electricity tariffs in its homeland Germany.
Tado users will be able to, if they opt for the Hourly tariff, have their electricity consumption billed precisely on an hourly basis, benefiting directly from price fluctuations on the European Energy Exchange.
The Tado Heat Pump Connector can be ordered direct from Tado in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and other markets in Europe for €299.
The Balance Heat Pump app feature is a premium after a free first year of use. It’s €49.99 per year or €5.99 per month – but the likelihood is you’ll save more than this by using it, and you can probably work that out during your free year.
Tado is also using this live pricing to fuel a new free app announced at the Berlin based expo: Smart Charging, an intelligent solution for home electric vehicle charging stations.
Tado tells us it could save users €300 a year and it’s compatible with a wide range of electric cars from the likes of Tesla, Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW, Skoda, Seat and Land Rover.
Tado Smart Charging can be found in the Apple App Store and on Google Play now (in certain European markets).
