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How does tado° X control heating setups with both radiators and water-based underfloor heating?
How does tado° X control heating setups with both radiators and water-based underfloor heating?
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Written by tado°
Updated this week

The tado° X product line offers a smart solution for heating setups that rely on a combination of radiators and hydronic underfloor heating. Here’s an overview of how it works and what you need to do to set it up.

Considerations for underfloor heating

Some Dutch homes are built without a zone valve to open and close the underfloor heating water loops. If you would like to independently control each room, a zone valve needs to be installed to the underfloor distributor. This lets the tado° system turn off the underfloor zone while the boiler still heats your Smart Radiator Thermostat X rooms.

If you don’t have a zone valve in your system, you’ll need to install one in the flow line of the underfloor heating system. You can wire the Wireless Receiver X directly to this valve. The Wireless Receiver X works with nearly all zone valves - high voltage, low voltage, normally open, and normally closed. If this setup requires making changes to your existing piping system, we recommend that you seek your local heating engineer’s help. Your installer can refer to our Professional Installer Manuals.

Please note that most underfloor heating distributors come with a water temperature measuring device that looks a lot like a radiator valve, but actually functions to keep the water in your underfloor system from exceeding a certain temperature. It can't be replaced by a tado° Smart Radiator Thermostat X.

Note that any radiator room that doesn’t have a Smart Radiator Thermostat X will receive heat when the boiler is turned on. To avoid heating these rooms unnecessarily, we recommend that you set any valves not equipped with a Smart Radiator Thermostat X to frost protection, and turn them up only when the room is in use.

If you have multiple underfloor heating zones, you can control them individually by installing individual zone valves that can each be connected to a Wired Smart Thermostat X or Wireless Temperature Sensor X on an available relay. Please ask your installer for any details.

Option A: Connect a Wired Smart Thermostat X to your boiler and a Wireless Receiver X to your zone valve

This is the most popular solution for heating systems with both radiators and underfloor heating.

You’ll need the following tado° X products:

  • 1x Wireless Smart Thermostat X - Starter Kit (includes Wireless Receiver X and Wireless Temperature Sensor X)

  • Smart Radiator Thermostat X for each room that you want to control individually

  • Wired Smart Thermostat X to replace each wired thermostat that currently controls underfloor heating

The Wired Smart Thermostat X replaces your current wired thermostat to control the boiler.

The Wireless Receiver X should be connected to your zone valve to control the underfloor heating.

The Smart Radiator Thermostat X can replace an existing radiator valve head.

The Starter Kit provides you with an additional Wireless Temperature Sensor X, which can be used in any of the Smart Radiator Thermostat X rooms as a remote sensor.

Option B: Connect a Wired Smart Thermostat X to your zone valve and Wireless Receiver X to your boiler

You’ll need the following tado° X products:

  • 1x Wireless Smart Thermostat X - Starter Kit (includes Wireless Receiver X and Wireless Temperature Sensor X)

  • Smart Radiator Thermostat X for each room that you want to control individually

  • Wired Smart Thermostat X to replace each wired thermostat that currently controls underfloor heating

The Wireless Receiver X should be mounted on the wall next to your boiler. It also acts as a Thread border router to connect your other tado° X devices to the cloud.

The Wired Smart Thermostat X can replace an existing wired thermostat.

The Smart Radiator Thermostat X can replace an existing radiator valve head.

The Starter Kit provides you with an additional Wireless Temperature Sensor X, which can be used in any of the Smart Radiator Thermostat X rooms as a remote sensor.

Option C: Create a completely wireless setup with two Wireless Receivers X

You’ll need the following tado° X products:

  • 2x Wireless Smart Thermostat X - Starter Kit (includes Wireless Receiver X and Wireless Temperature Sensor X)

  • Smart Radiator Thermostat X for each room that you want to control individually

The first Wireless Receiver X should be mounted on the wall next to your boiler and the second should be wired directly to your zone valve. These also act as Thread border routers to connect your other tado° X devices to the cloud.

The first Wireless Temperature Sensor X should be placed in a room with underfloor heating. The second can be used in any of the Smart Radiator Thermostat rooms as a remote sensor. The Smart Radiator Thermostat X can replace an existing radiator valve head.

Option D: Connect a Heat Pump Optimizer X or Wireless Receiver X to your heat pump

If you have a compatible heat pump (check our compatibility guide to confirm), you can choose any of the options above, but you can use a Heat Pump Optimizer X instead of a Wireless Receiver X.

You’ll need the following tado° X products:

  • 1x Heat Pump Optimizer X

  • 1x Wired Smart Thermostat X OR 1x Wireless Temperature Sensor

  • Smart Radiator Thermostat X for each room that you want to control individually

The Heat Pump Optimizer X connects to your heat pump and acts as a Thread border router.

A Wired Smart Thermostat X or Wireless Temperature Sensor X (depending on your setup) controls the underfloor zone valve.

The Smart Radiator Thermostat X can replace an existing radiator valve head.

If you have a hybrid heat pump that supports OpenTherm or relay interfaces but isn’t compatible with the Heat Pump Optimizer X, you can still set up tado° with a Wireless Receiver X as described in options A, B, and C.

Any other questions?

Step-by-step installation instructions are provided for each device in the tado° app. If you prefer to have a professional installer set up your devices for you, your installer can refer to our Professional Installer Manuals.

You can confirm your heating system’s compatibility with tado° X by checking the following guides:

If you need any further assistance, please contact the tado° team via chat and we would be happy to help you.

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