Loxone House Plan

[Nick Barton-Wells]

Hi all
I think I’ve finally worked out a house plan for my Loxone install, along with a draft kit list. I’d really appreciate any feedback.

Kit List:
15 x Valve Actuator Tree
19 xTouch Tree White
13 x Flush-mounted Presence Sensor Tree White
7 x Install Speaker 7 Master
3 x Install Speaker 7 Client
1 x ModBus Extension
2 x Energy Meter 1-Phase Tree
3 x Relay Extension
2 x Dimmer Extension
4 x RGBW 24V Dimmer Tree
1 x Tree Extension
1 x MiniServer
1 x 1-Wire Extension
1 x AI Extension
1 x Intercom White
1 x NFC Code Touch for Nano White
1 x Weather Station Tree
1 x Alarm Siren Tree

Tree Turbo (Audio):
I’ve gone with a master speaker in every bedroom, and two client speakers in the master bedroom.
On the ground floor, there’s a mix of master and client speakers.

Relays:
I’ll be controlling UFH (underfloor heating) on both floors, as well as towel rails. I’m also using the Velux KLF-200 interface for five Velux windows.

The boiler will be controlled via the AI Extension, connecting to the eBUS module on the boiler.

[Nick Barton-Wells]

Lighting:
Lighting includes a mix of RGBW modules for low-power zones, Dimmer modules, and some Relay outputs.

Tree Drevices

There’s also a pool shed where the Modbus Extension and a Relay Extension will be located. This will handle pump control, the air source heat pump, and some external garden lighting.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking through what I want to control, and this is my first proper draft—so I’m very open to feedback, good or bad!

[Paul Watkin]

Hi Nick,

I will point out a few things I think you may have overlooked or not added in that list (obviously you haven't mentioned what kit you already have so this may not be correct), but I am sorry but it would be unfair to paying clients if I was to go through your design in detail as that design work is built into the costs they pay.

So, with that said

- you don't appear to have bought any kind of power supply

- no cable?

- No mounting brackets for NFC or Intercom

- NFC is for Nano rather than tree?

- Alarm Siren - I would get a decent alarm like Texecom and interface it via RS232 

- You don't specify which Miniserver version

- No audio server?

- Have you considered the backwash valve for the pool to automate filter cleaning

- No AV integration via RS232 or other

Regards

Paul

[Clegger]

If you're decently insulated and using UFH (ground floor only?), there's no need for separately controlled zones. Run the ground floor as a single big zone. If you think a room will need more heating, run denser UFH pipes. You can tweak temperature control per room by manually setting the flow rates when it's up and running. You only need to get that right once then it's set and forget.

That approach will save you the cost of several valve actuators, several thermostats, and the wiring/control to connect them all.

If you're really worried, you could run the wiring but not buy thermostats/actuators/etc until you're sure you need them.

I run my downstairs slab as a single zone, heated and cooled using an ASHP. I have one in-slab thermostat under the kitchen island (1-wire sensor in a shallow hole in the surface of the slab), and another in the upstairs hall (1-wire sensor behind a light switch). I fully expected ending up having to do something complex with those inputs, the flow/return temps on the UFH manifold, weather prediction and more, but the whole thing's run perfectly for 10 years based on some simple logic applied to the upstairs and downstairs sensors. The logic includes things like focusing on the cheap rate for heating, allowing slight overheating when power is cheap, and making sure the upstairs temp doesn't drop too much (we don't have upstairs heating). 

Take a look at buildhub.org.uk. Lots of us over there have taken this approach. I'm not aware of anyone who's regretted it.

[Clegger]

Just spotted you have UFH upstairs and down. You might want some finer control upstairs, so perhaps consider actuators/thermostats for bedrooms, but again, I'd consider giving it a try without.

[Simon Still]

Seconded on this.  

Ours is a slightly different approach but the same basic theory.  

We've two zones, one downstairs, one upstairs.   

Downstairs is concrete floor, upstairs wood (so needs to run at a higher temperature) 

We've found some of the upstairs rooms don't need heat input so just manually switched them off at the manifold.

The only control is an external temperature sensor.  That inputs to the Viessmann boiler control and varies the flow temperature for each circuit based on the outside temperature based on a heating curve.    You can set up something very similar in Loxone.  

The pumps normally run constantly during the day but turned off between 10pm and 4am, and when the outside temperature is above 13C.  The first and second winter there was some minor tweaking of the heating curve but since then it's been fully automatic.  Never need to touch it, it just keeps the house at a comfortable temp at all times.  Flow temperatures are super low - most of the time the flow temp is only a few degrees above the target and the whole range is between 21C and about 28C (at sub zero temperatures) so you don't get overheating

[Nick Barton-Wells]

Thanks to all who replied.

You don't appear to have bought any kind of power supply: I havent looked at the power requirements yet so will be adding this.

no cable: Using cat6 for Tree and ethernet to all rooms with TreeTurbo for the speakers.  Each room will have a dedicated tree run where the devices will be wired in serial starting from the switches
No mounting brackets for NFC or Intercom: Great shout, i forgot that, thank you

NFC is for Nano rather than tree: You are correct, its NFC Tree, not a nano, typo

Alarm Siren - I would get a decent alarm like Texecom and interface it via RS232: I havent looked at that, something i will take away and look at, thankyou

You don't specify which Miniserver version: I have a Gen2 Mini Server

No audio server? I have the latest Audio Server:

Have you considered the backwash valve for the pool to automate filter cleaning:  I have but it seems so much money for what it is.  Reading this group, the AquaStar doesnt get a great review.  I might be something i look at though.

- No AV integration via RS232 or other:  I havent looked at this yet.  

Regarding the UFH zoning, thats really interesting and i havent thought about an approach like that.  I will have a look

Thanks

[Paul Watkin]

When it comes to heating, especially when using an ASHP, there seems to be a thousand and one different ways to do it and even more opinions on why to choose a specific method.

I would suggest rather than starting with what you are going to control, start with what you want to achieve for your lifestyle, for instance is the house regularly unoccupied either wholly or part, are all the bathrooms reguarly used, do you have a part of the house that will have huge solar gain, do you like all rooms the same temp etc etc.

It will also depend on your attitude to running costs, do you want the system to be the cheapest to run or the most comfortable to live in? 

For instance in the house we are building one whole floor will get minimal use so doesn't need to be heated all the time, but conversely we want the bathroom floor warm when we have a shower in the mornings even in Summer, (and as its a wetroom we want it to dry thoroughly as well) therefore running the heating as a block across the whole house doesn't work for us.

We are going to have a mix of rads and UFH, with the rads fed from a seperate UFH manifold where we will also electronically control the loop temps to make sure that in really cold spells those rooms with rads are properly warm

What we have done is design a heating system with a sufficiently large buffer tank ( and can use the buffers immersion heater to increase the main flow temp if needed) that there would be no short cycling even with the smallest loop open (one of the ensuites) and zoning such that if we want to have specific control we can have it - how much of that zoning we will eventually use I don't know but given the relatively small cost of the buffer tank and zoning at this stage I would far rather put it now than find out I can't at future date.

Some people say zoning is expensive and impractical due to heat loss between rooms etc, others say it can be done easily in a modern house - I don't know the right answer currently but will be monitoring our energy usage closely once we commission the heat pump!

Paul

[Paul Watkin]

"That approach will save you the cost of several valve actuators, several thermostats, and the wiring/control to connect them all.

If you're really worried, you could run the wiring but not buy thermostats/actuators/etc until you're sure you need them.

"

The Loxone Switches are the thermostats so most rooms will have more than one in already and the wiring / control would already be there as it is built into the MiniServer so the only real delta would be the valve actuators and depending on whether you go with the Loxone Actuator or simple mains actuators controlled via a relay the cost can be kept easily under control

On Saturday, 12 July 2025 at 12:33:41 UTC+1 Clegger wrote:

[Jonathan Dixon]

>  When it comes to heating, especially when using an ASHP, there seems to be a thousand and one different ways to do it and even more opinions on why to choose a specific method.

My experience agrees  with this. I went through the journey described in this thread, originally installing ASHP+UFH with no zones/actuators. I think this is a great initial setup not just for cost/complexity saving but makes the commissioning process very clear, if different trades are responsible for UFH vs ASHP vs Loxone (as was the case in my install).

I have a very low energy (passive) home so it worked well running the system as one zone, one target temperature and using ASHP "low and slow" to maximise the COP.

However!  this is not how I use it now. There's a plethora of overnight cheap-rate electricity suppliers in UK now (I'm with eon Next, previously Octopus Go). With 1/3 prices electricity it makes sense I "batch charge" the heating system maximising usage of the 5-7 hours of cheap power available to run the UFH at the highest flow rates I'm comfortable to (to extract as many kWh as I can in the cheap window), but to do this I need to zone off individual rooms that heat up faster than others (in particular, our downstairs snug/occasional guest room will badly overshoot if someone is sleeping in it). I have ~80mm screed slab which is enough to act as a storage heater but slim enough I can still use room-by-room air temperature sensors (Loxone Touch switches) to avoid overshoot. People with UFH set into thicker (structural) slab get more storage, but risk more room temperature overshoot if they're not also managing zone-by-zone slab temperature rise (essentially using it as a proxy for quantity of heat energy delivered to each are)

I have an ecodan ASHP controlled via the modbus interface, to allow Loxone to dynamically control flow temps based on numerous variable: heating vs cooling mode, current price and CO2 cost of energy, internal and external temperatures (load compensation and weather compensation), etc

tldr - at build time keep it simple, but with a plan for future proofing: plan for room-by-room air temperature sensors (and slab temp if relevant), ability to easily add zone actuators if needed

> Alarm Siren - I would get a decent alarm like Texecom and interface it via RS232: I haven't looked at that, something i will take away and look at, thankyou

I agree with not bothering with the Loxone alarm siren, but I wouldn't recommend a graded system like Texecom unless you have hard insurance requirements for it.  I had a professionally installed & monitored Texecom system, but I found the tech antiquated and the maintenance was a constant PITA.  I've taken over maintenance and monitoring of it (via Loxone rather than Texecom cloud) and this is much more reliable (and much lower running costs).

If a graded alarm is needed, I'd start with a look at https://ajax.systems/ ( I've not heard of any full Loxone integrations for it, it is at least a product fit for 21st century expectations)

Anyway both of the above are my personal views based on experience, and are  subjective with no "right answer" .  As Paul say it all depends on goals, what is your lifestyle etc.

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[Paul Watkin]

"I agree with not bothering with the Loxone alarm siren, but I wouldn't recommend a graded system like Texecom unless you have hard insurance requirements for it.  I had a professionally installed & monitored Texecom system, but I found the tech antiquated and the maintenance was a constant PITA.  I've taken over maintenance and monitoring of it (via Loxone rather than Texecom cloud) and this is much more reliable (and much lower running costs).

If a graded alarm is needed, I'd start with a look at https://ajax.systems/ ( I've not heard of any full Loxone integrations for it, it is at least a product fit for 21st century expectations)"

Texecom has got it's act together in the last few years and the sensor offering and Texecom Cloud have improved a lot - Texecom Cloud has a free level that allows end users to monitor the alarm themselves or you can add a paid subscription to monitoring, but the free level of cloud access has no requirement for a service contract etc.

I only use the Texecom Connect's to remotely control the alarm if the customer wants to be able to disarm it from outside the house (mainly it is there as it makes programming via Wintex so much easier as you don't need to crawl around in a loft or equally ridiculous location to open the panel up) - in loxone house all status updating is done via RS232 and Loxone is able to arm the system as part of the leaving house routine but whilst it is possible to control the alarm fully and therefore disarm it via RS232 I have never done this as I believe it introduces a vulnerability as someone could in theory disarm the alarm without needing the code via the Loxone ecosystem.

Another manufacturer to look at is Orisec - they are based around the corner from Texecom as the person who started Orisec was the orginal founder of Texecom as far as I am aware

Paul

[Jonathan Dixon]

Yeah, I'm using the RS232 interface from Loxone to Texecom. I also use a couple relays to drive zones set to "key switch" inputs to manage night arm/disarm as I really don't like the idea of having the Loxone fake user input to the alarm system. It's doable, but really not something I would recommend to someone I wanted to keep as a friend - especially not one looking to maintain it themselves.

If you're not going to be paying the service charge for a graded/monitored alarm (with URN for police call out) then I really can't see much Texecom offers that you can't do directly in Loxone.  Admittedly using loxone presence sensors for security can be fraught, especially if there are pets but TBH it's not trivial with any alarm system, and you can always add some Pet-proof PIRs or Unifi Protect CCTVs with object detection as additional inputs to the Loxone native alarm, and probably get as good or better end result.

I actually just updated to the v2 Texecom cloud connect, and can't see much has improved (the app is perhaps slightly less flaky, so far). Totally agree the Connect is most useful for Wintex connection though! 

To avoid repeating myself any more, here's what I shared on this a few years back ... https://groups.google.com/g/loxone-english/c/-p4RzvsYIqU/m/Rzbm2afCAgAJ

> Another manufacturer to look at is Orisec - they are based around the corner from Texecom as the person who started Orisec was the orginal founder of Texecom as far as I am aware

That's interesting to know. Orisec was my installer's preferred system, but back then I couldn't find any info on local API for HA integration, so I skipped.

Cheers for sharing - it is useful to hear others experiences on this.

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[Deac99]

An interesting discussion.  Not sure if you have thought about smoke detectors & system but I'm curious what people's opinions are for my own project slowly in the works.  I get the feeling that the UK regs are much stricter than those in Austria (where I am) where we need a smoke in each bedroom, but they do not have to communicate with each other or be hard wired.  

[Paul Watkin]

" An interesting discussion.  Not sure if you have thought about smoke detectors & system but I'm curious what people's opinions are for my own project slowly in the works.  I get the feeling that the UK regs are much stricter than those in Austria (where I am) where we need a smoke in each bedroom, but they do not have to communicate with each other or be hard wired."

Firstly I should start this by saying that the regulations aren't necessarily uniform across the UK due to devolution of powers, so I am only looking at this from the perspective of the rules as I understand them in England.

Also bare in mind that the rules change depending on the occupancy status of the property - i.e. owner occupied, rental, HMO, assisted living, disability and when it was last substantively altered  (there is no ongoing requirment to uplift to the latest standard past a major renovation) and the number of stories/ floors in the property.

In addition to coverage / detection level (LD1, LD2, LD3) there is also a grade of alarm, most of the time for modern residential it is either D1 or D2, older properties may be F1 or F2,  sometimes but rarely grade A alarms (fire alarm panel) but these come with positives and negatives

D1 means it is main powered with a sealed backup battery

D2, mains powered with removable battery

F1 means sealed battery power

F2 means removable battery power

You can get away with a D2 setup in owner occupied properties but any rental properties need Grade D1 at whatever is the mandated coverage or detection level.

The absolute minimum is a smoke detector on every floor in the escape route i.e. hallway, landing etc and if the kitchen is not seperated from the escape route then a heat detector needs to go in there as well - in reality everyone just fits a heat detector in the kitchen, this is referred to as LD3

Next up is LD2 which basically adds risk rooms - so lounge and Kitchen if not already done

Next up is LD1 where you put a detector in all habitable rooms plus the escape routes and cupboards either on the escpae route or are not regularly used (can't remember the wording). Some interpretations of LD1 include putting detectors in the loft space even if unconverted.

Increasing the coverage level can also potentially mitigate the need for other protective measure such as fire doors / sprinklers / misting systems etc especially in properties with loft conversions.

As a minimum, for new build in England, the core detectors of LD3 must be mains powered with a battery backup, i.e. minimum grade D2, and interconnected (wireless interconnect is allowed) after that it is dependent on whether the increase of protection level is mandated due to occupier mobility or for another  resason or whether you are doing because you want to, if doing LD1 because you want to, then the additional detectors can be battery only wireless like the Aico 600 series units.

If a property is for rental then the requirements shift slightly again and it would be D1,  HMO's might be different again and may need Grade A depending on how they are set up

To illustrate the difference location in the UK makes -  in properties in Scotland you don't necessarily have to have mains powered detectors but they do have to be sealed battery 10 yr units and not have removable batteries.

Most of the smart multi sensor detectors (Nest et al)  on the market struggle to meet the UK regs due to needing both parts of the detector to trigger before anything happens which makes the heat detector part essentially null and void for a Kitchen.

There is also a bunch of other stuff to take into account such as travel distances and audabilty at the bed head which influence the number of detectors and which coverage level you end up with.

As you can see from above the regs on this are a bit of a patchwork quilt of rules depending on circumstances

Coming back to your question, I would say that whilst a legal minimum is a great baseline I would always strive to have the highest level of coverage possible - smoke detectors aren't that expensive when compared to a system like Loxone and lives are worth a whole lot more.

Also factor in things like do you smoke, if so where do you most often smoke? High risk hobbies, 3D printing, laundry room etc. make sure these rooms have detection in them such that any fire risk originating from them is minimised.

I wouldn't consider any kind of system without interconnect, there isn't much point in a having a detector in a bedroom chirping away but nobody can hear it because the door is shut!

If in any doubt ask someone qualified to do a Fire risk assement (FRA) or fire engineering report and this will recommend the correct level of detection.

Paul

[Deac99]

Paul - thanks for the input.  I agree with you completely about not going by the local laws, but rather what makes best sense.  Our local requirements would be the equiv. of F2 individual alarms not interconnected for residential.

I currently have a D1 system - a self contained ABUS / Terxon control panel with the sealed battery backup which does nothing but monitor for a fire.  There is a central siren in the house that will alert even a sound sleeper no matter which smoke was triggered.

We are in the process of renovating a building that is connected to our home which will contain a few apartments for our children.  I agree, I would still want everything interconnected.  My gut feeling tells me the D1 system similar to what we have is the safest alarm system since it's all hard wired to a control panel that does nothing else.  

The Loxone system is tempting as we can incorporate it into the audio server to tell where the offending smoke is located very easily.  However, with some relays, I believe I could also integrate my existing ABUS system to do the same (at least for the 3 zones I currently have, but I have not done that yet).  

The problem I have with Loxone smoke alarms for the addition is that in order to work properly they rely on the Loxone software.  I have a Gen1 miniserver, and I admit, this issue was 5+ years ago, but for whatever reason, it re-booted itself and it did not load the current program but rather some older one.  It was no big deal as after a day or so I noticed things were not working properly and realized it had an old program and reloaded the correct one.  

This is where I have been obsessing - it's new construction, so putting in another dedicated D1 system is physically easy.  But the Loxone smokes are somewhat tempting for ease of use / control - the downside being Loxone has a lot of overhead and is not dedicated to the smokes.  

I've been leaning toward the dedicated D1 system.  

That being said, I'm very interested in other people's opinions, and also, does anyone have any opinions of a brand of D1 system that has outputs for specific smokes that could be integrated with Loxone easily so I could have the audio server announce where the offending smoke is? 

Basically - what are people doing these days to integrate fire protection with Loxone?

Thanks / Mark

[Simon Still]

That's an excellent and very clear summary - thanks.

the only bit I didn't understand was "Most of the smart multi sensor detectors (Nest et al)  on the market struggle to meet the UK regs due to needing both parts of the detector to trigger before anything happens which makes the heat detector part essentially null and void for a Kitchen."  

[Paul Watkin]

" the only bit I didn't understand was "Most of the smart multi sensor detectors (Nest et al)  on the market struggle to meet the UK regs due to needing both parts of the detector to trigger before anything happens which makes the heat detector part essentially null and void for a Kitchen." 

In the main those detectors require both detector elements to be in alarm before they will sound - i.e. both the heat detector AND the optical smoke need to detect something. Which means they don't comply with the regs as a heat only event won't trigger the alarm. They are multi sensor essentially so it isn't going off if you burn the toast!

There are multi sensor detectors from manufacturers like Aico that will alarm on either Smoke OR Heat, which are therefore compliant.

Again with all of this, this is my understanding based on what was available at a point in time, so please double check, but I haven't seen anything from any of the manufacturers saying anything new.

[Simon Still]

Thanks. 

I thought the advised approach was to use a heat only sensor in a kitchen to avoid it going off with every minor toast burning event.  Is that no longer best practice/regs compliant?

(also, what sort of fire event would cause sufficient heat to trigger alarm without any smoke?).

(just dull man interest - you seem to know this stuff)