Drayton Wiser Smart Heating Radiator Thermostat Works with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, IFTTT
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App controlThe Wiser app takes your heating to the next level of smart. With winter on the way comfort is key. Save up to 50% on your energy usage and maximise comfort by controlling your heating and hot water on your phone. | Insights and Heat ReportInsights help you to make wiser decisions when it comes to controlling your home heating. The Heat Report lets you see exactly what your system is up to – anytime, anywhere. Helping you to save energy. | Energy savingsOver 80% of a home’s energy consumption is used for heating and hot water, so when it comes to heating your home, Wiser will have a big impact on your energy usage. Wiser smart heating controls could save you almost 50% on your energy usage. |
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Smart speaker compatible“Alexa, turn off the heating in the kitchen†Connect your Wiser Thermostat to Amazon Alexa or the Google Assistant to enhance control and comfort. Use voice commands to check the status of rooms and make simple changes to your system. | IFTTT compatibleIFTTT automates your heating using geofencing, turning it off when all members of the household leave home, whether it’s for a day or for a fortnight. You’ll never need to think about turning the heating on or off again while you’re home’s empty, just sit back and enjoy saving more energy and money with Wiser. | Wiser smart modesFeel warm and cosy exactly when you want to be in Comfort Mode; let the system turn off the heating at the best time in Eco Mode; and instantly reduce all setpoints while you’re away to avoid over-heating an empty home, using Away Mode. |
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| Boiler Type | Combi | Conventional (boiler with separate hot water tank) | Combi or Conventional with two heating zones | Combi | Conventional (boiler with separate hot water tank) |
| Heating and Hot Water? | Heating control | Heating and hot water control | Heating and hot water control with two heating zones | Heating control | Heating and hot water control |
| Radiator Thermostats Included? | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Can I add Radiator Thermostats & Smart Plugs? | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant & IFTTT? | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Energy Saving Smart Modes? | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Easy to install? | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Weight: | 240 g |
| Size: | Radiator Thermostat |
| Dimensions: | 5.1 x 5.1 x 9.5 cm; 240 Grams |
| Model: | WV704R0A0902 |
| Part: | WV704R0A0902 |
| Colour: | White |
| Pack Quantity: | 6 |
| Batteries Required: | Yes |
| Batteries Included: | Alkaline |
| Manufacture: | Drayton by Schneider Electric |
| Colour: | White |
| Quantity: | 6 |
| Size: | Radiator Thermostat |
This is great literally took 5 minis to install, the app is very easy to use , would definitely recommend
Easy to install and set up. Does just what was needed with the Wiser app.
Alexa not tried as don’t use it.
Love this. As valve is fully open, or fully closed, ensured a rapid warm up, or no heat at all, unlike tradional trv which open of close slowly
These are great. They’re silent and the batteries seem to last for ages. I use mine with a room thermostat and the temperature seems to be kept constant which is just what I need.
I researched a lot of products, and although this one looked really good, I couldn’t help but wonder why the TRV heads were 40 rather than others which were around 60. I thought they may be inferior. I need not worry. They are brilliant. I’ve worked in IT for 30 years, so setup was a doddle. Even installation was one screw and just swap my old timer for the Wiser hub. It fitted on the old backplate so no wiring required. I just turned my old thermostat to max so it just kept the thermostat permanently switched on, giving control to the new Wiser kit.
Once installed, I set up the schedules for each room individually. On an old system, you set all radiators to switch off at a certain temperature, but if you have all radiators set to 20 degrees, for example, then if the temperature is 18 degrees, then obviously all radiators will switch on. With the Wiser Smart Heating system, you then go one step further by saying (for example). I want the bedroom and bathroom to come on between 6 and 8.30 at 20 degrees with all other radiators OFF. I want the office radiator to come on at 8am at 21 degrees, and the bedroom and bathroom to go off at 8.30. I want the office then to turn off at 5pm, but I want the lounge and hallway to come on at 4pm till 11pm. And I want the bedroom to come back on a 9pm. Stuff like that. It basically means that I am running 1 or 2 radiators all day (or until they reach the required temperature), whereas before I would have been running 10 all day. I can only assume that with the horrendous price increases in the UK for gas, this has made a huge difference. We have a reasonable sized 4 bedroom detached house, and after April, our monthly gas and electricity bill will rise from 100 per month to 130 per month. This is the lowest of anyone we know. We are on standard tariff as our supplier went bust, so we had to change supplier recently to a new one, and they had no fixed price deals going, so we ended up on standard which is one of the highest, and we have smart meters, so they know exactly how much we use. People we know in smaller houses than us are paying far more than us (in some cases more than double). I can only assume it is the Wiser system making the difference. But it makes sense, as having 2 radiators on instead of 10 is a big difference.
The only negative. The app needs some more thought and some work. It’s great at setting basic schedules, but they need to listen to customers more. I think it must have been designed by a developer. When I first had it, I gave them some feedback saying it is really good, but you should be able to have overrides to the regular schedule for specific dates (like on Microsoft calendars). E.g Aunt Ethel is coming to stay next Thursday for 2 nights, so during that period keep the spare room at 21 degrees. The only way I can see is to wait until the day of arrival and then amend the regular schedule to suit or set it a constant temperature and tell it to ignore the schedule. But with both of these options, you have to remember to undo it afterwards. I heard nothing back.
Overall though, this is an exceptional system, far better than I could ever have hoped for, which I believe is saving me a lot of money, and probably paid for itself a long time ago. It just needs (like all apps) ongoing customer engagement and development. I would be happy to perform this role for free as I have been heavily involved in mobile app development and I love this product, and I would love to be able to help others save money with the fuel price crisis in the UK.
I hooked mine up easily, connected to my Home Assistant instance with ZigBee2Mqtt. It paired quickly and easily. Great that I can use it locally and without needing their hub. Home Assistant has a panel that can be added to the dashboard for setting the desired temp easily.
There is one snag currently in that it diverts back to 20C after an hour or two. It can be overcome be scripting to repeatedly send the desired temp. That’s the only major flaw with using it with Home Assistant.
The unit is well made. Comes with a Danfoss TRV adapter too which is handy.
I’ll be buying more and hoping the snag gets ironed ou
I hooked mine up easily, connected to my Home Assistant instance with ZigBee2Mqtt. It paired quickly and easily. Great that I can use it locally and without needing their hub. Home Assistant has a panel that can be added to the dashboard for setting the desired temp easily.
There is one snag currently in that it diverts back to 20C after an hour or two. It can be overcome be scripting to repeatedly send the desired temp. That’s the only major flaw with using it with Home Assistant.
The unit is well made. Comes with a Danfoss TRV adapter too which is handy.
I’ll be buying more and hoping the snag gets ironed ou
We bought this nearly 2 years ago when it was on Black Friday deals for 47 and thought for that money it’s worth a shot. This thermostat and app have not let us down. It was a bit hit and miss when we first got it but the app was quite young. Now we have zero problems. It was easy to install (you may have to get an electrician or boiler technician to install it if you don’t have any experience). Setting a schedule is so easy and you can just ask Alexa to turn the heating off when you go out and no longer need it or ask her to bump the heating or turn it down There is a feature where if you leave the house it will turn off automatically but I have not been able to work this out. The ECO MODE has been getting better and saves us some money every month as the thermostat learns how your house heats up and cools down and sets the temperature accordingly. We haven’t changed the battery in nearly 2 years and it has only lost connection to the app twice. A quick restart of the app fixes this. It’s not as pretty as a hive thermostat but it’s half the price, even at full price! Highly recommended.
We bought this nearly 2 years ago when it was on Black Friday deals for 47 and thought for that money it’s worth a shot. This thermostat and app have not let us down. It was a bit hit and miss when we first got it but the app was quite young. Now we have zero problems. It was easy to install (you may have to get an electrician or boiler technician to install it if you don’t have any experience). Setting a schedule is so easy and you can just ask Alexa to turn the heating off when you go out and no longer need it or ask her to bump the heating or turn it down There is a feature where if you leave the house it will turn off automatically but I have not been able to work this out. The ECO MODE has been getting better and saves us some money every month as the thermostat learns how your house heats up and cools down and sets the temperature accordingly. We haven’t changed the battery in nearly 2 years and it has only lost connection to the app twice. A quick restart of the app fixes this. It’s not as pretty as a hive thermostat but it’s half the price, even at full price! Highly recommended.
We have committed to Drayton wiser after leaving Hive. Wiser with its opentherm compatability uses the TRV to call for heat. These are really easy to install and maintain the room temp well. They automatically update firmware so are fairly future proof. Battery usage is good. Very happy with the investment.
Works perfect. I replaced my old honeywell, which was never accurate and i was losing money of my gas bill.
Hopefully now with the drayton it will be much more economical.
I love the fact that i can control it remotely. I can start heating the house before i get home.
I was looking to stop heating rooms that we don’t routinely use and the radiator valves connected to the Wiser app have achieved this just as I wanted.
We already had manually operated Drayton TRVs and so it was an easy swap to install the automated versions.
We needed to replace the backplate for the hub, disconnect the existing wired thermostat and substitute a permanent link in its place but this was straightforward for a competent DIYer following the wiring diagram.
Some of the radiator valves were too far from the hub to connect reliably and so I needed two extender plugs which addressed the problem but added to the installation cost.
The app has a few minor niggles, but generally works pretty well and integrates with Alexa. Graphs that plot each room’s temperature over time are useful to confirm that things are set up properly.
The major downside that we have experienced is not related to the Wiser system. When several radiators are switched off by the system, water is not necessarily following the route through the pipes that applied when the system was “balanced” at commissioning. This has created a hissing type noise in the “open” radiators that is noticeable but not outrageous.
When the radiator valves open and close there is a very short buzzing noise from the motor.
Finally there can be unexpected noise at night when a room gets too cold relative to what is programmed. The boiler will then fire up and, while it can be annoying, this is what should happen. The solution is to set the room temperature even lower during the night!
It remains to be seen how quickly I might recoup the high costs of the system from reduced heating bills but a month after installation I’m happy enough.
I now have 4 of these plus the Wiser room thermostat and hub. The set up was easy using the App on the iPhone and iPad. I can now control the temperature in individual rooms rather than having a single thermostat in the hall control everything. With this system it’s much more flexible and controllable. I need to buy a few more so that I can replace the remaining TRVs.
I’m very pleased with this system. The control box was easy to install- I had to change the back plate to the one supplied but this was not difficult for a reasonably competent DIYer. I’ve got an existing wireless thermostat connected to a motorised valve and I set that to max to keep the valve open until it’s closed by the Wiser thermostat.
The valves are very easy to fit to the radiators with the adaptors provided, and easy to integrate into the system.
I read from other reviews that it’s not fully functional through Alexa so I haven’t tried, but it’s so easy to control the temperature in each room from the app installed on my tablet and mobile phone that I don’t think I’ll bother.
It’s been installed for about 2 weeks now and although it’s early days I reckon it’s going to oay for itself in heating bills pretty quickly.
BTW customer support is excellent if you need it.
I’m very pleased with this system. The control box was easy to install- I had to change the back plate to the one supplied but this was not difficult for a reasonably competent DIYer. I’ve got an existing wireless thermostat connected to a motorised valve and I set that to max to keep the valve open until it’s closed by the Wiser thermostat.
The valves are very easy to fit to the radiators with the adaptors provided, and easy to integrate into the system.
I read from other reviews that it’s not fully functional through Alexa so I haven’t tried, but it’s so easy to control the temperature in each room from the app installed on my tablet and mobile phone that I don’t think I’ll bother.
It’s been installed for about 2 weeks now and although it’s early days I reckon it’s going to oay for itself in heating bills pretty quickly.
BTW customer support is excellent if you need it.
This radiator stat works incredibly well.
Strong WIFI signal reaches to the dim far away parts of our house. Parts that other systems do not touch, and that is without enabling the repeater function of the system.
I can’t comment on Alexa interface as I do not use it.
All in all a very good and easy to understand and fit heating control system.
These do everything that teh other well known brands do, and at a much more affordable price. Reliability is good.. I have had teh 1st system for just about a year now, never let me down. ECO mode is a bit hit and miss, in early Autum and late spring as it monitors the outside temperature and ovverides whether the heating should on or not. try telling that to somebody that lives in a North facing house!
The app could be improved, but its adequate, and you still get more info from it than the other well known brands. Can be integrated into IFTTT, but I dont.
All I will say, is dont hesitate, buy it, especially when its on sales prices… cheaper than a regular wireless thermosta
Easy to install, easy to use, works great with Google. Only small criticism I have is it sometimes looses wi-fi signal but quickly regains it so it doesn’t bother me that much. It really is that good for the money I’ve bought a second system for my aunt for Christmas and plan to get one for my parents
I have had a basic switching unit that Google can turn on/off via Smarter Things and Home app. It didn’t have a thermostat so heating is either on or off.
So I took a punt on this after having lots of problems matching Hive units.
It took 5 minutes to install. I added the short link wire as it doesn’t have an internal link.
Now some people have had problems with connecting to their home wifi router. However mine saw both my router and the extender I have downstairs. I’ve a large 4 bed house.
You can’t blame this unit if your house WiFi signal is weak, just get a cheap extender.
The Wiser app loaded easily and has good responsive controls. The thermostat is neat and small but easy to read the data.
I have had a basic switching unit that Google can turn on/off via Smarter Things and Home app. It didn’t have a thermostat so heating is either on or off.
So I took a punt on this after having lots of problems matching Hive units.
It took 5 minutes to install. I added the short link wire as it doesn’t have an internal link.
Now some people have had problems with connecting to their home wifi router. However mine saw both my router and the extender I have downstairs. I’ve a large 4 bed house.
You can’t blame this unit if your house WiFi signal is weak, just get a cheap extender.
The Wiser app loaded easily and has good responsive controls. The thermostat is neat and small but easy to read the data.
Having read reviews of this and other systems I decided to change the programmer and thermostatic valves. The system was easy to fit and the valve tops fitted on 20 year old Danfoss and Drayton valves, I had to replace a couple of very old ones. The setting up was fairly straightforward with a couple of glitches but Wiser have a very helpful helpline – answered quickly by knowledgeable people. It’s now working very well and we can set the temperature in every room at every time. I’m expecting good savings in gas usage, which is welcome with rising prices.
This product is easy to install and easy to use with the phone. It saves messing around with timer plugs which are always a pain to change. I use it to control the electric oil heater in the conservatory and another one for the towel rail in the bathroom. However, in the summer I will it to control the valve for the garden watering system whilst I am on holiday. Not dirt cheap, but well worth the money. I should get that back with the amount of money I save on electricity.
I had a new heating system installed this year which came with a Honeywell TR3 programmable wireless stat.
No smart connectivity or app.
I did a bit of research and went for the Drayton because of the cost and reviews.
I’m absolutely delighted.
I bought the starter kit which had a thermostat, control box and 2 wireless TRVs.
After an hour of thorough googling I decided to wire the control box myself, which was easy enough after going through a few forums.
The set-up was a doddle, as was adding the TRVs.
I ordered another 5 TRVs on the spot.
All my rooms are now wirelessly connected to both the app and Alexa.
So I can set room temperatures by voice.
The app itself is easy to use and links to IFTTT, so it’s geofenced and switches off when I leave the house, and back on when I get home.
Handily the app can aggregate temperatures, so where I have 2 radiators in one room it uses an average temperature.
The bathroom radiator is the only one that doesn’t have a TRV on it so I put the thermostat in the bathroom.
Basically I can individually heat any room in the house as long as I leave the bathroom radiator on.
At this price I couldn’t be happier!
Highly recommended.
I had a new heating system installed this year which came with a Honeywell TR3 programmable wireless stat.
No smart connectivity or app.
I did a bit of research and went for the Drayton because of the cost and reviews.
I’m absolutely delighted.
I bought the starter kit which had a thermostat, control box and 2 wireless TRVs.
After an hour of thorough googling I decided to wire the control box myself, which was easy enough after going through a few forums.
The set-up was a doddle, as was adding the TRVs.
I ordered another 5 TRVs on the spot.
All my rooms are now wirelessly connected to both the app and Alexa.
So I can set room temperatures by voice.
The app itself is easy to use and links to IFTTT, so it’s geofenced and switches off when I leave the house, and back on when I get home.
Handily the app can aggregate temperatures, so where I have 2 radiators in one room it uses an average temperature.
The bathroom radiator is the only one that doesn’t have a TRV on it so I put the thermostat in the bathroom.
Basically I can individually heat any room in the house as long as I leave the bathroom radiator on.
At this price I couldn’t be happier!
Highly recommended.
Excellent product. Easy to set up and use. Only 2 minor issues mentioned below other than that delighted with it.
One issue is the wiring diagram didn’t match my 3 zone oil boiler system.
Another issue was you have to select the channel each room stat works with in the app but there didn’t seem to be any mention of this anywhere. So both room stats were turning on the upstairs heating until I figured it out.
Very impressed.
Ordered yesterday. Arrived this afternoon and all setup within an hour, including removal of existing wireless heating controls.
Really couldn’t be simpler. Only needed the paperwork to check the wiring to the boiler. Once the base was powered up and the app was downloaded from the App Store, the rest of the installation was walked through via the app, including putting the batteries in each device, finding them on the network, then fitting them and calibrating them.
The longest part of unpacking the box was checking which radiator adapter included in the box were needed for my 2 bedroom radiators. Everything else was exactly as described in the walkthrough installation in the app.
Added to Google Home without any grief too. I don’t own an Alexa device, so can’t comment on that yet.
Highly recommended
I’ve had two control systems from the boiler manufacturer, neither were cheap and both failed within two years. Won’t mention the manufacturer but they are one of the higher end domestic boiler manufacturer. The boiler is a combi but the wiser system would easily integrate with a heat only boiler system ( one with a hot water cylinder).
The system was very easy to install, the thermostatic radiator units simply unscrew and the wiser radiator unit screws straight on. I was replacing my old honeywell Thermostatic radiator controls. The kit comes with and adaptor which will allow the unit to fit most makes of radiator TRV’s without the need to drain the system. I found the unit very easy to set up and pair the TRV to the system. The only criticism is the system isn’t opentherm compatible so its simply a on/off but the way the system performs is very much like a opentherm system.
With standard thermostatic radiator valves these simply shut the water off to the radiator, this doesn’t interface with the boiler, only a room thermostat and time lock can turn the boiler on and off. With this system it is possible to turn the boiler on and off when any of the TRVs are calling for heat which is fantastic. For instance if your working from home and only want to heat say the living room and kitchen this system will allow these rooms to be controlled simply and efficiently without trying to heat the whole house, as long as each radiator has a wiser unit fitted. Instead of heating the whole house you can now control each room however and whenever you wish.
We have noticed a drop in the gas bill which is really why this system was fitted an long with reducing the CO2 footprint.
The house is small but WiFi is always an issue, ro the point the computer upstairs has trouble with WiFi so its hard wired, to date I’ve not had any issues with connectivity at all, this isn’t to say if you have a larger property or a poorly placed router a range extender maybe needed.
We have had this system. I have had to change the batteries in one or two units in that time, to be fair these are the ones that come with the unit so I don’t expect them to be the best, changing the batteries and reconnecting the TRV back to the system only takes a few minutes and probably will take less time now I know the procedure to rediscover the TRV.
Lots of data can be accessed in the app, so the tech minded gadget lover can see what the system has been upto.
Initial cost is a bit high but compared to the benefits this system provides is comparable to fitting a control system to a existing system, without the need to run cables to time clocks, room thermostats etc.
All in all I can’t recommend this system highly enough.
Purchased this item really to use as a range extender for the wifi. I used it to replace an existing standard plug-in timer which was okay but being in an area that is susceptible to power cuts I had to keep resetting the timer, with this unit it never loses time not as bulky as my original timer so its another plus point. I am really pleased with its functionality and the control in conjunction with the Wiser App. The downside in my opinion was the cost. I hope some Wiser Geek could explain and justify the cost, probably down to the wifi, Alexa, and Google compatibility. I have also contacted Drayton and asked them on their next upgrade to show how good the signal is on the plugs through the app otherwise how do you know you have them in the best place.
Purchased this item really to use as a range extender for the wifi. I used it to replace an existing standard plug-in timer which was okay but being in an area that is susceptible to power cuts I had to keep resetting the timer, with this unit it never loses time not as bulky as my original timer so its another plus point. I am really pleased with its functionality and the control in conjunction with the Wiser App. The downside in my opinion was the cost. I hope some Wiser Geek could explain and justify the cost, probably down to the wifi, Alexa, and Google compatibility. I have also contacted Drayton and asked them on their next upgrade to show how good the signal is on the plugs through the app otherwise how do you know you have them in the best place.
I was originally going for the cheap Chinese radiator set, which you get them for about half the price. But the backplate requires different wiring and I am not too certain.
I decided to go for drayton, as this was the same as my old British gas one. It was so easy to fit (only unscrew and screw, 1 min job). And then the app is very smart.
I use alexa to control on/off, heat my towel for 30 min after shower for example. turn on hot water before showering etc. its realllly nice!
Bought a few of these , had to buy an range extension plug to get 2 to receive stable signal at a distance of around 10 metres through one brick wall, I do love this system ,after playing with rad balancing and thermostat valves for years never getting the balance perfect, this system did it easy
Drayton wisely smart thermostat
Already had kit 1 installed on combo boiler which worked as expected
When we had a new extension to house built decided I would put underfloor heating in but would need it to work separate from rest of house, so would need Drayton wiser kit 3 with two channels, one to open valve for house and other to run underfloor heating in new extension, once in system worked a treat
Would definitely recommend product as they work really well and can monitor on smart phone from anywhere
Worked perfectly for me, there’s a little messing around to set up, just do your radiator thermostats one at a time, once connected the system has trouble differentiating between the two. Also, you must register an email account with the app, if you don’t you can’t connect to the smart controller, an have to go through the entire set up again.
However, once set up, it’s easy to use, works perfectly with the Alexa, you will have to learn on the fly about your temperature, 1-5 on the old knobs means nothing to Alexa.
Also bare in mind, the thermostat on the radiator doesn’t give an accurate representation of the temperature for your room,
For example 15*C is the temperature of the thermostat on the pipe at the radiator not the whole room, you’ll have to dial it in to your own needs.
Easy installation, smart room TRV thermostats are a great addition to my earlier purchased Wiser heat hub, I now have smart TRVs all over my house, so far so good if purchased with the wiser smart plugs which are required to help extend the signal, otherwise these radiator smart TRVs will not be picked up and heat will not be triggered.
We have a 10 radiator heating sytem with Wiser thermostats. They communicate back to Wiser hub with Zigbee technology. Three of the thermostats were on the cusp of signal range from the hub and were using their batteries much too quickly. This Smart Plug has bridged the gap really well. The Wiser tech support people are VERY responsive to emails and very helpful. They were able to connect to our hub remotely and confirm the original signal problems and when I tried the Smart Plug in different positions in the house they could check to see which radiator thermostats were connecting OK to it. Very happy customer.
Sorry I don’t use it with Alexa so can’t comment on that aspect.
Good upgrade for our manual Drayton timer system – easy to use and set up via the app. Backplate fitted our existing plate – setting the water and heating schedule via the app took me a little time to work out but easy now . My wife happy that she can overide the system from work making sure she is warm when she gets home. Have not set it up with Alexa as yet as using the wiser app is easy to use in the first instance
I bought this as my baby needed to have hIs room at a constant 20 degrees (according to midwife), but meant heating was constantly on all year round all throughout the house. No need. Got this installed by a local plumber. All radiators in the house now have the Drayton Wiser TRV’s on and it’s very easy to use and control using the app. Not really sure what the benefit of the room thermostat is, but I would highly recommend. We have set all sorts of schedules for all of the different rooms of the house, never need to be too hot or too cold, and it never has to affect any other room in the house!
Relatively easy to fit – some rewiring needed for controller though which needs care. Set up is really straightforward. Work well. My one reservation is the radiator valves are quite noisy when they open / close so not best suited to bedrooms if you want the heating to come on before you wake up.
I will admit I’m not using many of the smart features, but so far this has exceeded expectations.
It came as an Amazon return, which meant I soon had an opportunity to interact with customer services. Despite it being Christmas Eve afternoon the phone was promptly answered and the device reset within 10 minutes with the help of a friendly and knowledgeable gent. Another 10 minutes saw the whole thing up and running. The install itself was a simple matter of following the instructions.
I love the fact it has an Opentherm module even though I cannot use it in my system as it is split into upstairs and downstairs zones. They didn’t cheap out. Both stats paired without issue and have stayed connected ever since. Numerous system changes (heating and wifi) and power outages have failed to upset it.
So far everything works exactly as intended. I am also impressed that it does indeed seem to be quite smart. It measures humidity, which is required for accurate heating. Most impressive has been the way it now chooses to boost the heating early in the evening, while it has less work to do, and then just let the temperature drift down to the set level by the time it is scheduled to set back for the night. The ability to keep track of weather and heating patterns from since it was installed is also great. As I’m just zoned for downstairs underfloor heating and upstairs radiators I haven’t had any of the range or battery problems others have reported when using radiator smart valves.
Overall: Excellent performance so far and the only Smart Device that has proved less trouble than its non-smart equivalent. I’d happily buy another.
We have a house with solid walls. Some rooms are warm and stay warm, others go cold really quickly.
We had a Worcester 34cdi with old drayton RF controller built in, and at night the bedrooms used to drop way below the setpoint of the wall thermostat – not great for kids bedrooms – especially when mold started for form in the colder rooms, so had been looking at Smart control systems. (Insulation is a few k so trying this option first)
This kit came on a treasure truck offer few months ago so bought it, plus 3 additional radiator valves.
Had to arrange an electrician to install the wall plate and the hub to the boiler… 60ish and less than an hours work.
The rest is done via the app on your phone.
Positives:
-Responsive accurate control of the system
-Able to have a temperature zone everywhere you have a sensor
-You can create a schedule of times/temperatures and assign multiple rooms to that schedule, or you can have a schedule per room (as we do as our use of each room fluctuates).
– Radiator valves (TRVs) *very* easy to install and setup (just observe the battery polarity markings!… as the typical “springs” arent the same as other appliances… I spent 30 mins trying to figure out why none of my valves was powering on…to see that the batteries were in wrong!). TRV up/down can trigger a 2c boost for 1hr for that zone.
– If you have a TRV and wall control in a single zone then the wall control automatically overrides the heating-demand on the TRV itself.
– TRVs are simple in that there is no pull out display like the honeywells. Just boost up/down twists to change current setpoint.
– Not too loud… slight whir for split second when temps adjusting… eg if too cold you hear the valve open, then the heating comes on. If the boiler is on and they dont want heat… then they whir shut.
– Make sure your valve-body pins are free… get pair of pliers and shift up down a few times with a little wd40 so the motors dont have quite as much work to do.
– We have solid walls, but didnt need the range extender. Furthermost valve needed to be connected to hub a bit closer, but always responds to control now connected.
– android app is intuitive and easy to make changes in; there are now also battery status bars for each device and alerts when getting low. Plenty of insights of how your house behaves thermally, compared with say the outside temperature and what rooms heat when. (Mine is saying to install a TRV in our lounge as we are overheating it constantly as its an “always on” radiator – which had suspected).
– comfort mode works out over time what your room takes to heat vs outside weather and turns on the heating before scheduled time so it reaches the set point when youve told it to. Works pretty well IMO.
– there is a “eco” mode but not tried it out. Apparently its turned our heating down quite a few times when not needed… time will tell if reduces bills, but we bought it more for comfort so that we didnt have to wake up in middle of night to turn heating up for the kids.
– hub range pretty decent. Our hub is in our outhouse round back of house and we still get 2/5 signal upstairs at front of house; the rad valves seem to maintain decent connection just the app sometimes struggles.
– each of the smart TRVs can be “locked” so can only be changed via the app… useful if you have little hands that like to fiddle with things that whirr and flash
Negatives:
ipad app:
– layout… doesnt landscape when you turn the screen
– doesnt have the “settings” options… for that I have to use my android phone… so wouldnt have been able to setup using our ipad. Also doesn’t work with older ipads (we have a mini it wont install on, which might have been useful to just put on a wall in the hallway)
Android app:
1. latest update… if low signal to the hub it sits waiting to connect to the hub before you can change any settings… previously you could go in, review and only when you came to change something would it complain about hub connection… now… it just blocks everything. Loathe to buy the range extender given its 1 corner of the house that has the problem and we are moving our boiler soon.
2. Initial setup – I couldnt create an account without the app being connected to my hub… so as such I couldnt do that side of things before my hub was actually installed
All access is via the “app”… that is you have to have a phone/tablet to control the system with any granularity; there is no way to login online and make changes, even though you can control the system via the app when away from home.
Only things missing IMO from the infrastructure are:
– TRVs dont have a temp display on them (see honeywell).
– a more advanced display control unit to upgrade to (see honeywell)
– underfloor heating manifold (again…Honeywell) (we are planning this on our extension next year, so if not available will have to change systems, but for the price “right now” this is a no-brainer)
– ability to login via a web-page and do all the same things the app can do
So far so good. Id **thoroughly** recommend and would buy again.
Update: replaced my lounge radiator lockshield with a wiser trv (for some reason this was our pass-thru, so moved them to the bathroom rad instead). Head registered then lights would randomly start flashing. +/- worked in opposite direction and then it disconnected and lights were flashing at random. Clearly a dud. Raised with Amazon who sent out next day replacement (which works perfectly) and now our lounge wont be epicly overheating whenever any other room demands heat.
If you have a smart meter you can also integrate with that, but my supplier (BG Evolve) doesnt do smart meters – not sure how it looks on the app.
I like the insights view shows you when heating was turned on or off during setpoint cycles. It shows external temp (from weather forecast) and internal temp in the room vs setpoint so you can see how outside temp influences internal temp and then when the system triggers. I guess it means you can look and see if its triggering when you arent using that room and adjust the schedule for that room – which I had done up front as our activity is fairly predictable
Where to start. Well swapping over the controllers was an absolute doddle, and the smart room thermostat did all the work itself. It all seemed so simple. And then the problem hit. Trying to connect the controller / hub to my WiFi. So many times it said it connected but then the app couldn’t find it, red lights flashing, green lights flashing. It nearly went back in the box and to the UPS returns point. However I swapped some emails with Drayton Support and they suggested I try a different phone to the Huawei P30 I had been using. I tried an old Samsung S7. This time during the connection the setup light went solid red so I contemplated an unopened bottle of whisky. As I contemplated for about 10 minutes, the light went solid green. The app still wouldn’t connect. I had set the guest wifi to 2.4GHz having previous experience of smart things. Eventually in despair with thoughts of a hefty hammer I changed the 2.4 GHz WiFi back to 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz auto. Closed the app, restarted. At first it still refused to register / find the hub. And then a miracle – it found the hub after a few tries. It all works now. Only 6 hours later.
So the secret to not spending 6 hours. Set your guest WiFi to 2.4 GHz. Run through the connection routine as far as the register page and remote control. At this stage you are directly connected to the hub on a temporary network. On your phone “forget” the passwords to your home WiFi networks or your phone may switch networks when it shouldn’t. At the end of setup, tell the hub the name and password of your guest WiFi. It should turn solid red. Make sure the hub setup light changes to solid green – can take 10 minutes. At that point, change your Guest WiFi back to 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz auto. Give it a few minutes to settle. Connect your phone to the guest WiFi. Complete the registration and click to remote connect. You may need to try a couple of times. If not return to the register screen, skip, logout, restart the app, try again. Perseverance seems to be required. Put your hammer and bottle of spirits away, relax with a nice cup of tea. You can now reconnect to your main WiFi and test whether the hub can be controlled from a different WiFi. Test with mobile WiFi too. Drayton support come back quickly if you need them but hopefully my experience will help you complete the process a lot quicker.
Once set up you can control both central heating and hot water remotely from your phone. On that basis I would give the product 5 stars but the setup instructions only 2 because whilst it is easy when you know what to do someone needs to tell you how when it doesn’t work first time. Switching WiFi networks around a couple of times – not in the manual, not intuitive unless you’ve gone through the pain before. Changing phones – never would have thought of that. Drayton support were good, 4 stars. So overall a 4 I think.
The basic functions of this thermostat are good and most will be happy with them as they are out of the box. I was however looking for a system I could integrate into the home automation system Home Assistant. Many systems claim to be able to do this but they are via web links meaning that if your internet connection goes down you loose the link. Some systems I was shocked to find even require the internet for basic on/off schedules that you have programmed.
This system allows you to programme temperature and time profiles for each thermostat and then even if the internet goes down they work. Even better, someone has written an integration for Home Assistant that also doesn’t need internet connection.
So far been very pleased with how it works, and my wife is happy that she now has an easy way to boost the house temperature when she’s cold.
It is the best kit on the market for home smart heating. Fairly easy to install but VERY important to change your home WiFi ssid settings, so that the hub AND the phone that you are using it with are both on the 2.4ghz channel.
Fairly easy to do with a quick bit of googling. Mine connected OK first time automatically, but second time, I was ready to smash it with a hammer.
As soon as I’d renamed the network AND connected phone to 2.4 channel, it was fine
Drayton WiFi TRV easily fitted to existing TRV mounts. Although the backplate to the Drayton hub is universal it didn’t fit directly to the backplate of my existing Honeywell controller (althoug hteh electrical connections were identical) -the Honeywell backplate to my controller stretches to the entire length of the controller). Pairing of the hubs was reasonably easy, but make sure you have the latest Wiser app. I did view the Wiser installation videos prior to installing the equipment, which were very helpful and informative. Linking to my broadband hub was easy but the Alexa link was not particularly intuitive -but i hadn’t used Alexa before so perhaps it was me rather than the link.
Once the system was insatalled it took me a little while to determine the best temperature settings, but it’s great being able to maintain a specific temperature to all rooms at their individual settings. Overall I’m very pleased with the system, which compares favourably with other similar systems.
I got this as a Black Friday deal last year, and am incredibly impressed by how this has improved my central heating control. The house has 8 radiators – each of which now has a Drayton Wiser room thermostat (where I bought 6 more in addition to the two that come in this package) – with the room thermostat in the lounge.
I’ve noticed that the temperature in each room is a lot more stable than before – and the boiler fires up a lot less too – which should hopefully save me quite a lot on my gas bill! And the house has been lovely and warm during the recent cold snap, where the outside temperatures have averaged around -5C for a week or so.
Best of all, there is an integration available for Home Assistant – this is an open-source home automation system that I run on a Raspberry Pi 4. So I can control all my Wiser thermostats from within Home Assistant – as well as keeping track of signal strength and battery levels for each thermostat – and graphing the temperature in each room over time in Grafana.
So, to summarise, an excellent system, and fantastic value for money to boot!
I got this as a Black Friday deal last year, and am incredibly impressed by how this has improved my central heating control. The house has 8 radiators – each of which now has a Drayton Wiser room thermostat (where I bought 6 more in addition to the two that come in this package) – with the room thermostat in the lounge.
I’ve noticed that the temperature in each room is a lot more stable than before – and the boiler fires up a lot less too – which should hopefully save me quite a lot on my gas bill! And the house has been lovely and warm during the recent cold snap, where the outside temperatures have averaged around -5C for a week or so.
Best of all, there is an integration available for Home Assistant – this is an open-source home automation system that I run on a Raspberry Pi 4. So I can control all my Wiser thermostats from within Home Assistant – as well as keeping track of signal strength and battery levels for each thermostat – and graphing the temperature in each room over time in Grafana.
So, to summarise, an excellent system, and fantastic value for money to boot!
This is a great controller and really does represent a major upgrade to an aging heating system. I used it to replace my existing Drayton controller and it was almost a direct plug in replacement. A cautionary note – the installation instructions require that any existing room thermostat is disconnected – regrettably, having complied with this instruction the heating system failed to function. The controller behaved exactly as it should but it would not fire up the boiler or cycle the motorised valve (over a 24 hour period). I tried various ways to correct this before reconnecting the original thermostat and setting it to maximum when everything functioned. I suspect this was an anomaly with the original wiring and no fault of the controller. I’m very happy with the product now.
After many months of research, I settled on Wiser because it seems more specifically designed for traditional British DCH and HW systems. I fitted the system in half a day, replacing the old wiring centre with a 16-way Drayton unit (recommended), and adding the controller in place of the four(!) time clocks and two wired thermostats that controlled the old system. I connected the controller to the wiring centre with a length of 5-core cable from Wickes, and added two extender plugs from Amazon and nine radiator valves from an Independent plumbers merchant. The install was straightforward, although the instructions could be clearer for DIY installers. Allow extra time to make sure you understand everything before you start removing the old system. All the items paired perfectly and provide exact control of every room individually, minute-by-minute, for each day of the week. A massive step forward from what we had before. Since installing I asked one question to Drayton’s tech support, which was answered quickly and helpfully. Highly recommended.
Very happy with this, but I’m not using it with the radiator valves, so that’s probably why. Replaced a basic programmable timer and Sunvic radio-based thermostat controller – and that change has been great. A thermostat that can now be anywhere in the house instead of needing to be close to the boiler, fine-grained temperature controls and a level of intelligence in ECO mode, multiple temperature settings per day (instead of one) and convenient app control have meant that we now have much more stable and comfortable temperatures in the house. I tend to use the app more to change the temperature than the thermostat unit, and the app graphs are a nice touch. Would recommend as a controller upgrade without the radiator valves. Problem free, haven’t needed any tech support.
Not sure why this product is not so well know, compared to other makes on the market. After reading reviews on all of them, i decided Wiser was the one for me and I am glad I made that choice.
It was so easy to fit, I had a old Potterton EP programmer, so had to change the backplate, disconnected the old room thermostat, all done in less than one hour. Downloaded the app, followed the online instructions and was up and running in about 20 minutes. I then fitted 5 wiser radiator thermostats, that took about another half hour, all was up and running, altered a few settings on the app and sat back.
The system has been running for about a week now and everything is working fine, the system only heats up the rooms you require, I understand after a while, the system works out your heating habits and adjust its-self.
The app is so easy to use anyone could do it. Because i have full control over the system, I hope to start saving some money over the years.
Well done Drayton, first class product and made in the UK, cheaper than the rest.
Ran into a few problems with the installation of the Hub. I have no experience of wiring and my original Controller did not have a back plate as shown in the Wiser instructions. But on phoning Drayton Wiser one of their experts sorted it for me while I was on the phone. Their support is quick in answering your call and really the best call centre I have ever encounted. The system was up and running in half an hour and I have since purchased and added Thermostats to all my radiators. The control the system gives you over your heating costs and the ease of control is great. No more getting up and altering Trv’s I now get more heat where is needed for less money.
Having already set up the Drayton Wiser Smart boiler control hub with just the thermometer I was interested to see how well the thermostats worked.
Initially I had issues in fitting to existing old TRVs which necessitated buying separate 3rd party adaptors. But after that it was literally a 2 min job per radiator to register and set up the valve. Very simple and easy with clear instructions and guidance through the mobile app.
I can also recommend these based on the excellent tech support service which Drayton provide that answered a phone query regarding the hub immediately without being placed in a long queue.
The system allows for each thermostat to be controlled with separate daily schedules which means that each room can be tailored to our needs, and avoid wasting energy. They are also quiet, and unobtrusive.
I haven’t had them long enough to review battery usage though
Having already set up the Drayton Wiser Smart boiler control hub with just the thermometer I was interested to see how well the thermostats worked.
Initially I had issues in fitting to existing old TRVs which necessitated buying separate 3rd party adaptors. But after that it was literally a 2 min job per radiator to register and set up the valve. Very simple and easy with clear instructions and guidance through the mobile app.
I can also recommend these based on the excellent tech support service which Drayton provide that answered a phone query regarding the hub immediately without being placed in a long queue.
The system allows for each thermostat to be controlled with separate daily schedules which means that each room can be tailored to our needs, and avoid wasting energy. They are also quiet, and unobtrusive.
I haven’t had them long enough to review battery usage though
It took me a while to get it working with help from the support team. The thermostatic valves had trouble with my old TRVs – the internal motor was plenty powerful enough to open and close the valve but not enough to actually operate it in normal use. It took a lot of fiddling to get some of them working. However it is worth the effort the house is comfortable but I am not heating rooms I don’t need so I guess it saves money. It is nice to be able to tell Alexa to control room heating if say the room is set to turn off but you decide to stay up to watch a film. Or tell Alexa to turn the bedroom radiator on if you decide to get up before the bedroom rad is set to come on.
It took me a while to get it working with help from the support team. The thermostatic valves had trouble with my old TRVs – the internal motor was plenty powerful enough to open and close the valve but not enough to actually operate it in normal use. It took a lot of fiddling to get some of them working. However it is worth the effort the house is comfortable but I am not heating rooms I don’t need so I guess it saves money. It is nice to be able to tell Alexa to control room heating if say the room is set to turn off but you decide to stay up to watch a film. Or tell Alexa to turn the bedroom radiator on if you decide to get up before the bedroom rad is set to come on.
I found this an excellent product and simple to install. Just turn up the house thermostat to the highest setting or if you prefer add a wire to short circuit the thermostat all together and remove it. Replace the boiler programmer with the Wiser HubR which is just a matter of removing 2 screws and attaching it to the standard back plate. That’s installation complete unless you want to start replacing your radiator TRVs with the Wiser controlled ones. I decided against this as reading the bad reviews they all seemed to concern the Wiser TRVs losing WIFI connection to the HubR, or being too noisy and battery life not that good.
Setup was also simple enough. That basically involves connecting your Wiser product to the HubR and the HubR to your home network.
Basically I wanted the Wiser system for my mums house so she could easily control the hot water and heating using Alexa. The Alexa skill is OK but for the technically challenged may be a bit complicated involving setting temperatures etc. So for all you people moaning about the Alexa Skill all you have to do is create your own routine its simple enough. For example from the Alexa App I created a routine called ‘Heating On’ and This routine has three actions
1 House thermostat set temperature 27C
2 Wait 30 minutes
3 House thermostat set temperature 5C
to activate this routine mum says ‘Alexa, Heating On’ and she gets heating for 30 mins without having to remember to turn it off.
I found this an excellent product and simple to install. Just turn up the house thermostat to the highest setting or if you prefer add a wire to short circuit the thermostat all together and remove it. Replace the boiler programmer with the Wiser HubR which is just a matter of removing 2 screws and attaching it to the standard back plate. That’s installation complete unless you want to start replacing your radiator TRVs with the Wiser controlled ones. I decided against this as reading the bad reviews they all seemed to concern the Wiser TRVs losing WIFI connection to the HubR, or being too noisy and battery life not that good.
Setup was also simple enough. That basically involves connecting your Wiser product to the HubR and the HubR to your home network.
Basically I wanted the Wiser system for my mums house so she could easily control the hot water and heating using Alexa. The Alexa skill is OK but for the technically challenged may be a bit complicated involving setting temperatures etc. So for all you people moaning about the Alexa Skill all you have to do is create your own routine its simple enough. For example from the Alexa App I created a routine called ‘Heating On’ and This routine has three actions
1 House thermostat set temperature 27C
2 Wait 30 minutes
3 House thermostat set temperature 5C
to activate this routine mum says ‘Alexa, Heating On’ and she gets heating for 30 mins without having to remember to turn it off.
I installed the hub over a 3 channel system and never had to look at it again. Instructions are straight forward to install the hub.
Added the smart trv to the radiators that are least or never used. I had an issue with one trv and it was replaced by their return policy.
The app had numerous updates and works fine. Works flawlessly with google home using the command “raise the temperature” or “turn on the hot water”. Scheduling through the app is quick and responsive. Just be aware by default everytime hardware is added to the app it automatically adds a schedule which you need to delete or your system turns on.
The support team are fab too. Happy with my purchase alone just for the customer care.
Very convenient system and will recommend to friends
I installed the hub over a 3 channel system and never had to look at it again. Instructions are straight forward to install the hub.
Added the smart trv to the radiators that are least or never used. I had an issue with one trv and it was replaced by their return policy.
The app had numerous updates and works fine. Works flawlessly with google home using the command “raise the temperature” or “turn on the hot water”. Scheduling through the app is quick and responsive. Just be aware by default everytime hardware is added to the app it automatically adds a schedule which you need to delete or your system turns on.
The support team are fab too. Happy with my purchase alone just for the customer care.
Very convenient system and will recommend to friends
Plug in, set up, done.
I assume that the reviewers who’ve had connection issues must live in mansions or have lead in their walls. The thermostat, which is all we’ve got connected at the minute, has had zero connection issues and it’s three rooms and several brick walls away from the hub.
Also, set up was a breeze, just plug it in, press the button and follow the instructions on the app.
It’s not rocket science. It’s not even ‘Operation’ level brain surgery.
Just follow the instructions.
Will update when we’ve installed the TRVs.
After 13 years we have a thermostat controlled oil heating system thanks to Drayton. Having previously owned houses that were built with thermostats wired in, I had forgotten how effective these can be. Leap-frogging over the lack of wiring has been accomplished using this smart Wi-Fi device setup. So, you need the controller on the wall that replaces whatever timer device you have been using. This links via your Wi-Fi router to your thermostat which sits in your room. The water pump can now continue to pump water that circulates but the boiler fire system only uses oil at the rate it needs to maintain the temperature you set using your thermostat. This temperature control can be modulated via the Wiser app on your iPhone or Android device or Amazon Alexa. More than one person can have the app on your phone controlling the boiler over the internet via your Wi-Fi router. If the internet fails, your heating will not because the Wiser system simply uses your router whether or not it is connected to the internet. Our internet failed across the country (Ireland) after I installed the device but our system heating kept going and was connecting perfectly throughout the 4 hour outage. I had read where another user had praised Drayton for this ability to directly connect to the controller. Of course you still have an override button on the wall controller. So, finally you will need a 2.4ghz router to make this work. If you have a modern 5ghz (5G) router you will need a bit of help in the form of a bolt on additional 2.4ghz router. This is simple to set up and will enable all Alexa devices to work such as smart sockets or bulbs. I highly recommend the ASUS router which sends out both 2.4 and 5ghz signals and allows VPN to be added as Smartvpn —Amazon sells this! Anyway we love our Drayton system- our boiler central heating is oil fired and single circuit. The heated water always travels around the water immersion heater and around the radiators. Dual circuit systems have separate control for water heating-simples!-enjoy!
Firstly, don’t listen to the negatives, they’re clearly from rival brands or people who didn’t quite understand the installation.
Replacing the old thermostat with the new one was a breeze! It took less than 5 minutes. 4 screws.. The wires were already in the right order, so it was a quick swap from the old back plate to the new one. (Requires a screwdriver)
The installation of the android app and linking up the hub was done in 2-3 minutes. It was straight forward and the instructions were displayed on screen.
Installing the radiator valves was really quick. I was dreading doing this because although I’d class myself as a bit of a geek, I’ve never played with radiators before. But it was as simple as unscrewing an old valve and replacing it with a new one..
I’ve seen a few people moaning about the app, saying it was impossible to use.. well I’m confused because it’s just as good as any other smart app. It’s just like smart life with extra heating options.
All in all it’s brilliant and if anyone gets stuck installing it, give us a shout.. Everything you need is in the box aside from a screwdriver, but who doesn’t own a screwdriver?
Make sure you turn off the power to the boiler before doing anything!
**10/10**
Firstly, don’t listen to the negatives, they’re clearly from rival brands or people who didn’t quite understand the installation.
Replacing the old thermostat with the new one was a breeze! It took less than 5 minutes. 4 screws.. The wires were already in the right order, so it was a quick swap from the old back plate to the new one. (Requires a screwdriver)
The installation of the android app and linking up the hub was done in 2-3 minutes. It was straight forward and the instructions were displayed on screen.
Installing the radiator valves was really quick. I was dreading doing this because although I’d class myself as a bit of a geek, I’ve never played with radiators before. But it was as simple as unscrewing an old valve and replacing it with a new one..
I’ve seen a few people moaning about the app, saying it was impossible to use.. well I’m confused because it’s just as good as any other smart app. It’s just like smart life with extra heating options.
All in all it’s brilliant and if anyone gets stuck installing it, give us a shout.. Everything you need is in the box aside from a screwdriver, but who doesn’t own a screwdriver?
Make sure you turn off the power to the boiler before doing anything!
**10/10**
Firstly, don’t listen to the negatives, they’re clearly from rival brands or people who didn’t quite understand the installation.
Replacing the old thermostat with the new one was a breeze! It took less than 5 minutes. 4 screws.. The wires were already in the right order, so it was a quick swap from the old back plate to the new one. (Requires a screwdriver)
The installation of the android app and linking up the hub was done in 2-3 minutes. It was straight forward and the instructions were displayed on screen.
Installing the radiator valves was really quick. I was dreading doing this because although I’d class myself as a bit of a geek, I’ve never played with radiators before. But it was as simple as unscrewing an old valve and replacing it with a new one..
I’ve seen a few people moaning about the app, saying it was impossible to use.. well I’m confused because it’s just as good as any other smart app. It’s just like smart life with extra heating options.
All in all it’s brilliant and if anyone gets stuck installing it, give us a shout.. Everything you need is in the box aside from a screwdriver, but who doesn’t own a screwdriver?
Make sure you turn off the power to the boiler before doing anything!
**10/10**
Firstly, don’t listen to the negatives, they’re clearly from rival brands or people who didn’t quite understand the installation.
Replacing the old thermostat with the new one was a breeze! It took less than 5 minutes. 4 screws.. The wires were already in the right order, so it was a quick swap from the old back plate to the new one. (Requires a screwdriver)
The installation of the android app and linking up the hub was done in 2-3 minutes. It was straight forward and the instructions were displayed on screen.
Installing the radiator valves was really quick. I was dreading doing this because although I’d class myself as a bit of a geek, I’ve never played with radiators before. But it was as simple as unscrewing an old valve and replacing it with a new one..
I’ve seen a few people moaning about the app, saying it was impossible to use.. well I’m confused because it’s just as good as any other smart app. It’s just like smart life with extra heating options.
All in all it’s brilliant and if anyone gets stuck installing it, give us a shout.. Everything you need is in the box aside from a screwdriver, but who doesn’t own a screwdriver?
Make sure you turn off the power to the boiler before doing anything!
**10/10**
I had installed a Drayton Wiser heating hub controller into my home with wireless radiator thermostats but one thermostat kept on dropping out of the App due to its location in distance away from the hub. I therefore knew I needed this range extender to solve the problem and it did no more loosing signal from that radiator thermostat. Bonus is this range extender also operates as a smart plug so it can be switched on and off via a button on the top of the unit or via the App either manually or timed settings so when a lamp is plugged into the smart plug it can be programmed to come on/off at set times to act as a burglar deterrent. I will be buying more in the future.
After purchasing the Drayton Wiser Heat Hub with 2 room thermostats, I purchased 8 of these radiator thermostatic valves to add more control to my heating system. I have only installed these on the radiators in rooms that we spend time in such as living room, kitchen and bedrooms etc any other room that we pass through like hallways and corridors have the manual thermostats fitted. One tip if you remove one of these thermostatic valves after installation remove the batteries and refit them prior to refitting thermostatic valve back onto radiator, it backs off the plunger inside the thermostatic valve that pushes down on the radiator valve so makes it easy to fit. Otherwise you are trying to depress the rod on the radiator making it difficult to refit the thermostatic valve, I found this out. I find that I can’t get the valve to stay tight on the black locking ring, which is why I removed the thermostatic valve, I might have to superglue the black ring to the thermostatic valve body to stop it from turning when I operate the valve when in situ on the radiator. It does make a little noise when it operates but nothing too loud or distracting.
After purchasing the Drayton Wiser Heat Hub with 2 room thermostats, I purchased 8 of these radiator thermostatic valves to add more control to my heating system. I have only installed these on the radiators in rooms that we spend time in such as living room, kitchen and bedrooms etc any other room that we pass through like hallways and corridors have the manual thermostats fitted. One tip if you remove one of these thermostatic valves after installation remove the batteries and refit them prior to refitting thermostatic valve back onto radiator, it backs off the plunger inside the thermostatic valve that pushes down on the radiator valve so makes it easy to fit. Otherwise you are trying to depress the rod on the radiator making it difficult to refit the thermostatic valve, I found this out. I find that I can’t get the valve to stay tight on the black locking ring, which is why I removed the thermostatic valve, I might have to superglue the black ring to the thermostatic valve body to stop it from turning when I operate the valve when in situ on the radiator. It does make a little noise when it operates but nothing too loud or distracting.
After purchasing the Drayton Wiser Heat Hub with 2 room thermostats, I purchased 8 of these radiator thermostatic valves to add more control to my heating system. I have only installed these on the radiators in rooms that we spend time in such as living room, kitchen and bedrooms etc any other room that we pass through like hallways and corridors have the manual thermostats fitted. One tip if you remove one of these thermostatic valves after installation remove the batteries and refit them prior to refitting thermostatic valve back onto radiator, it backs off the plunger inside the thermostatic valve that pushes down on the radiator valve so makes it easy to fit. Otherwise you are trying to depress the rod on the radiator making it difficult to refit the thermostatic valve, I found this out. I find that I can’t get the valve to stay tight on the black locking ring, which is why I removed the thermostatic valve, I might have to superglue the black ring to the thermostatic valve body to stop it from turning when I operate the valve when in situ on the radiator. It does make a little noise when it operates but nothing too loud or distracting.
I have Drayton Wiser system for more than a year, and I love it, I can thank it enough for the comfort it added to my life. I have done another review of the entire system.
For the thermostat, I think they are essential for comfort. Each bedroom has one, and I think this is how it should be!
The automated radiator heads from this system are great, but they are not precise with the temperature. Of course, they are 2 cm from the actual heat source. It is impossible to be precise. It is like trying to measure your kitchen temp with a thermometer inside a heated oven.
I placed those 2m from the radiator, and when you add it in the system and select the room, the system knows that from now on it will use this thermostat temp instead of the radiator head. And oh boy, it does make a difference. The temp control is far more stable and smooth. No more getting too cold or too hot. If you set 21C, it will be 21C all the time.
The thermostat itself is not the best piece of hardware; it is sometimes slow; there is no visibility of the temp without clicking on it and has minimum functionality for the price. It is only to change the temperature or give a boost. Nothing more! For the price, it should offer more, in my opinion.
So, I do recommend this piece, as it makes the system as good as it can be and definitively adds a lot of comfort to the room that it is located.
This would have been a very straightforward installation had not the electrician who installed our original CH controller made such a dog’s dinner of it. I carefully read the installation instructions and determined that it was going to be easy. However… firstly, my original model controller did not have a compatible back plate which I knew before I started. Secondly, what I did not expect was that it had been installed by someone with a penchant for connecting a wire (or two) to every single one of the nine terminals. Some led to a dead end at a junction box next to the boiler in another room, others simply doubled back on themselves and were connected back at the same terminal. The good news was I found a local electrician who came out, scratched his head, took some photos (which are probably on some electricians blog somewhere) and stripped out all the extraneous leads. After that the installation was a doddle.
The controller found my internet first time and set up was really easy. As the room thermostat was some distance from the heat hub with several thick brick walls between, I knew I would need a Smart Plug to facilitate a decent signal path. Finding the best location for the plug was ‘interesting’ due to the nature of the building layout, but here Drayton Wiser support proved to be excellent. As I tried various locations for the plug they were able to see the strength of the connection being made and their advice, patiently delivered, was invaluable. A few weeks later when I had a query, a call to their support was answered promptly and professionally.
The Wiser system has now been running flawlessly for several months and the control from the hub, thermostat or app has been very straightforward. Setting schedules is easy, and the variable boost function has proved far more useful than I imagined.
Downsides? As I spend hours each day at my computer it would be good if there was a web-based app to control the system rather than my iPad or phone and given that customer support could see the signal strength between the heat hub and thermostat it would be useful if this facility could be extended to users. Maybe a future enhancement.?
In summary, I’m really pleased with the unit. The thermostat is small and neat (and mobile), the app such a doddle to use that my technophobic wife (who never managed our previous ‘old-school’ controller) is very confident to use and the customer support has been exemplary.