Drayton Wiser Smart Thermostat Heating and Hot Water Control Kit – Works with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, IFTTT

This is a good internet thermostat and the support was v good from Drayton. Unfortunately it doesn’t work with my Huawei B535 4g modem. The system works by pairing the hub to an account run on Drayton servers via your WiFi/Internet set up. Your mobile phone must also be connected to the same WiFi network. The system uses the 2.4g WiFi band so you will need to have separate 5g and 2.4g networks – usually a simple modem setting if not on by default. The support engineers explained this and emailed me some info for my Huawei modem on using channels 1, 6 or 11 rather than auto. Sadly this didn’t work so I have lost the ability to use the app to control the system. Not too critical for us as this is installed in a Static Caravan and not in constant use. We can however still use the desk thermostat which comes with the system.

A direct replacement for the old controller – simple removal and a replacement of the controller (hub). Followed the connectivity instructions and connected quickly and easily. App downloads & works OK, all features I need are there. I would like an ‘off’ setting for the heating (during the summer) but this is possible by using the ‘Away mode’ option with the hot water switched on. You can also use the ‘manual’ option but each device needs setting, so a bit more hassle. I found that the temperature readings on the TVRs (radiator valves) to be low but after contacting Wiser, did a reset and they are pretty good now. Thought about knocking off a * but as the support was quick and effective so I didn’t.
I have moved one of the TVRs around the house and it connects OK (with out an extender) at my furthest radiator ~8m away and through 3 walls. My walls are lathe and plaster. Will be buying further TVRs.
I have tested out of the house (3G) and it all works as if I am in the house.

I have used this product for almost a year now and like it. It is a lot better than Hive or Nest as it allows individual control of each room and does some real savings on heating. I live in a rented apartment, so I didn’t want to make any too significant changes in the current system. The building has a central boiler but is allows individual control in each apartment.
The wiser Central replaced the old thermostat in the wall, I needed only to add a power cord, as the previous one was battery powered, so I put a power cord and connected it to the wall socket. If this were my apartment, I would probably do something more elegant, but as I mention, I want to take this all out once I leave the apartment. That said, it is clear that I’ve installed myself; it is easy enough if you like DIY and have a basic knowledge of electrical installations.
This kit is a good start, but I bought more devices to expand the system. The radiator heads (Drayton Wiser Smart Heating Radiator Thermostat) do have a thermostat in it, but it is not precise for big rooms (as it is only centimetres from the radiator). What I recommend is have one of their digital thermostats (Drayton Wiser Smart Heating Room Thermostat) on each room as well. The Wiser system automatically assumes its temp instead of the radiator’s once they are mapped in the app to be in the same place. You should put the digital thermostat some meters from the radiator. I put one close to the baby’s crib, so the central controls the temperature in that place. By the way, if you have a newborn baby, this is amazing, as you can guarantee that you have the correct temp all the time in his room. It is peace of mind as the digital thermostat is very precise.
My set up: Radiators heads on 2 beds, 2 baths, living room(5 devices); 3 digital thermostats: 1 in the baby room, 1 in my room, 1 in the living room.
Wiser support is also very responsive via email; they genuinely try to help you, asking for more pictures and prompting you if the problem was solved or need more help.
My heating bill was definitively cheaper, as this winter I’ve only heated the rooms that I was in, all programmed to be on-off in different periods of the day and different temperature needs. Definitively worth the money.

I have installed this on my Bish Junior – straight swap of the control unit took me whole 5 min – amazing!!!

The radiators were super fast to change and pairing thermostats was super easy. I have this unit setup with Google home and it works like a treat. Hey Google, what’s the temperature in my loving room 😉 I love it. I can setup each radiator with separate schedules and different room temperature. If for some reason you need to boost heating in one or more rooms you can twist the radiator thermostat and it will power up or simply use app or tell your smart home to boost heating in any rooms.

I think this is way better than Nest or Hive – I had both of them in previous houses but Drayto (shneider) is super easy and you can install it yourself without a fuss.

Highly recommended and massive bill saver as you heat rooms that you want.

Short version
Drayton Wiser is one of the cheapest internet-enabled heating control systems available but in many ways, it is the best, regardless of price. I’ve only been using it for a few weeks, but so far it has been brilliant. Only 4 stars, as Drayton say it doesn’t currently support underfloor heating, but more on that below.

Long version
Why Wiser? At this time it appears to be the only system which can control multiple heating zones and hot water from a single controller. When I say “zones”, I mean truly separate plumbing zones, each with its own independent motorized value. The controller, or “Hub”, can also control many wireless thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs), giving individual room control, as well as offering wireless room thermostat control.
By contrast, the Honeywell Evohome seems overly complicated, requiring many components to make a comparable system work. The TRVs are too big, and while it might seem nice to see a temperature reading on the TRV, it isn’t necessary and will just cause the batteries to run down faster.
By contrast, the Wiser thermostats and TRVs are minimalist, but provide all the functionality you need.
The Hive thermostats also appear overly complicated and likely to drain their batteries quickly if you use all that functionality frequently. The Hive system would also require a second Hub to control a second zone. It also requires yet another unit to receive the wireless signal from the Hub and connect to your WiFi modem via a cable. The Wiser Hub connects directly to the WiFi modem wirelessly.
So Wiser was a clear winner for my needs. What tips would I give to anyone thinking of buying Wiser?

Hardware Installation
This was simple in my case, as I already had a Drayton LP722 controller for the hot water and central heating. I had a separate Danfoss TP5 controlling an underfloor heating zone. Wiser Kit 3 is required for two zones plus hot water. The Wiser Hub uses the same UK industry standard backplate as the LP722, so it was just a matter of removing the LP722 panel (2 screws), moving the two wires for hot water and central heating from terminals 3 and 4 to terminals 2 and 1 respectively, attaching the output wire from the TP5 to terminal 3, and finally attaching the Wiser Hub to the existing backplate using the same two screws. Drayton could have made this even simpler by using terminal 4 for a heating channel, terminal 3 for the hot water, and terminal 1 or 2 for the second heating channel. The screws are on the underside of the Hub, so you need some clearance below to get a screwdriver in. If there isn’t much clearance I recommend a mini-ratchet, like this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002VJ7K88/ref=pe_3187911_185740111_TE_item

After installing this I discovered a statement on the Drayton FAQ page that Wiser does not currently support hydronic underfloor heating. This was disappointing, as it wasn’t mentioned anywhere on their product selector or other pages at the time. The reason is that the software in the Hub uses a “load compensating” algorithm, designed for radiators. In other words, it will start to switch the demand for heat on and off as it gets close to the required temperature, whereas underfloor works best with a simple on/off algorithm. That said, I’ve left the Wiser controlling the UFH zone, and it seems to be working fine so far. Their support team also informed me that they will be adding official UFH support in a software update later this year.
I didn’t install any smart TRVs at this stage, but I have done this subsequently and they work well. It was easy to replace the old Danfoss TRVs as the Wiser ones come with a Danfoss adapter collar. One small hex key was the only tool required to remove the old TRVs and attach the new ones.
The Hub is in a cupboard and the WiFi modem is in a different room, so the signal has to go through three wooden doors and round some corners in a Victorian house with thick walls. I haven’t had any problems with WiFi connectivity to the Hub. One of the smart TRVs is 3 rooms away and just out of range. This was easily fixed by using a single Wiser range extender plug at half distance between the Hub and far radiator. The Hub communicates with TRVs, room thermostats, and plugs using the Zigbee wireless standard. This is completely separate from the WiFi but does use a similar carrier frequency. Its range seems to be similar to the WiFi in my house.
If you have a large room with multiple radiators it will work best if you also place a room thermostat in this room, as it will give a more accurate temperature reading than the TRVs. In this case the Hub will use the room thermostat reading to control the TRVs. You should also use a room thermostat if you have radiators with TRVs inside a radiator cover.
The price can start to mount up as you add more TRVs, room thermostats, and plugs; however you can do this gradually, and it is still much cheaper than trying to achieve the same functionality with other systems.

Software Installation
I read a lot of negative reviews about the software app set-up process, as well as many positive ones, so I was a bit worried about this stage. I shouldn’t have been. The process was very slick and the whole thing was up and running in 5 minutes. Having read some of the other comments I did a couple of things to prepare for the installation that might have helped make it a smooth process:

1. Make sure your phone is connected to the 2.4GHz carrier on your WiFi modem. Most modern phones will try and connect to the 5GHz carrier if they can, as it can potentially have a higher data rate; however most Internet of Things devices that don’t need high data rates (e.g. heating Hubs) will use the 2.4GHz carrier, as it has a better range than 5GHz. The Wiser Hub uses 2.4GHz WiFi to communicate with your WiFi modem. During the set-up, your phone will need to be connected to exactly the same WiFi channel as the Hub. You can check if your phone is connected to 2.4GHz by looking in the WiFi settings. If it’s 5GHz you might be able to get it to switch by moving the phone further away from the modem. The best way is to log in to your modem settings page and change the WiFi name (SSID) for the 2.4Ghz channel to something different to the 5GHz carrier. You can then “forget” the 5GHz WiFi in your phone WiFi settings and connect to the 2.4GHz WiFi. This should also give you the advantage of a more reliable WiFi connection around your house, as some phones don’t seem to be very good at auto-switching from 5GHz to 2.4GHz when they start to lose signal.
2. In your WiFi modem settings, make sure the modem is not blocking any ports.
3. Have another device such as a laptop close by with your email open. You will be sent an account registration confirmation email during the set-up process. You need to click something in this email but apparently this might not work if you try to do it on your phone during the set-up.
Apart from that I just followed the instructions on the app. Within a few minutes I had all the rooms and hot water configured with daily schedules. It has worked flawlessly since then.

Operation
The app seems intuitive to me. It is easy to set up schedules for different rooms and copy them from day to day. The heat report feature is nice to see graphs of temperature over time for each room. The graphs also show the schedule target temperature. It would be useful if the graph could display when the Hub is calling for heat as this isn’t as simple as when the actual temperature is below the target temperature. They could use a small icon on the header bar for the heat report rather than taking up a lot of screen space with the button for this, outside temperature, and reminder of where you are, in case you forgot.
I haven’t used the eco or comfort modes, which try to predict when to turn the heating off and on to reach your target temperature by the scheduled times. I have a good idea about this myself already and just set the schedule to come on early enough.
I use the app for all control and checking the room temperatures. It works well wherever I am in the world, on WiFi or mobile data. I find I never need to touch the room thermostats or TRVs. I suppose those controls might be handy if the internet is ever down, but it is also possible to connect your phone directly to the Hub WiFi by pressing the Hub setup button.
In summary, it looks like Drayton has really thought about the design of this system. It is very powerful, but very simple to install and use.

UPDATE: Drayton support actually reviewed the ticket and provided an advice about the valve. So my impression is much better now.

Purchased the version for heating only with two thermostatic valve heads.

Fitting the heating controller was easy as it only requires four wires to be connected to a standard wall plate. Connecting to the termostat is easy using the setup.

Now the not so great things. The device is about three meters and one thin wall from my Virgin media router. Despite this the hub has weak signal and the connection can take ages.

Contacted Drayton if they sell compatible valves with the thermostatic heads as they sell some other heads with valves was a kit. My current valves are not compatible with the thermostatic heads or any adapter. However their reply was that they only support the product and closed the issue.

So in general I find the product fine but the support quite useless.

Despite the issues which I will go through below ( it may be of help if you encounter the same) with the system up and running i’m delighted all appears to be working (ok not the TRV ) but think my old valve bodies are stuck and don’t want to drain the system in these temperatures to fit new ones. The app is easy to use and has just had an update great to control from anywhere.
OK so the problems and there were a few.
1) Ordered over black Friday week had dropped to 109.99 so ordered when it arrived it had clearly been out of the packaging so returned for a replacement.
2) Physical install was easy mounted next to boiler and 4 wires connected following the instructions and markings on the boiler and disconnected the old controls. Old boiler face plate re fitted but no connection
3) followed the instruction for setup found the hubs temp network followed instructions added to my WiFi no problems then it tries to connect to the cloud and fails.
4) Phone support are helpful but after almost 2 hrs still not connecting and they were to send me an email to test some ports . The tests come back OK so its not that and they are suggesting its my network causing the issue. AT this point I have control but only when connected to my WiFi
5) After what must of been 15 attempts at pairing this thing I email and get nowhere fast just wanting me to try the same over and over again.
6) I give up and decide to phone one last time I explain the situation and that my WiFi is not the problem as when logging into the router I can see the heat hub and its MAC address.
7) The new guy on the phone asks for the MAC address and once he has this tells me he knows whats wrong and that they need to run a script from that end but that it could take up to 24 hrs to get processed and that its a common issue.

However in under 3 hrs i’ve had an email to say it’s been done and I restart the app log in and complete the setup and now have a fully functional system that I’m delighted with.
Did I get frustrated with setting it up yes do I wish I’d got through to the 2nd tech support guy 1st time round you bet but even with those issues would I go through it all again hell yes and all because I want to say “Alexa set the lounge to 20 degrees” rather than get off my A*** and adjust the thermosta

This product is great competition for the more expensive players in this market. The build quality is great, as you would expect from a major company like Schneider. The TRVs are a cinch to install, as is the room thermostat. To install the boiler controller, you may need some help from and electrician/gas engineer depending on your level of expertise, but it is all very easy.
My only gripe with this product is that the TRVs only really “guess” at the room temperature rather than actively measure it, so for a really accurate temperature per zone or room, you will need to invest in additional room thermostats (at 80 a throw, that ain’t cheap).
Overall great value for money though and I would pay more for the competing brands.

This is really good system and installed in a 1930s bungalow with 13 radiators. Mistakes I made on the first install:

Trying to be clever and keep things tidy I initially installed the base unit very near the boiler. This was a mistake as you should put it in as central location as possible in order for it to see your router/TRVs. (and preferably away from large metal white goods that are going to interfere with signals).
Naively I assumed that the new smart TRV(thermostatic Radiator Valves) would be compatible with the old lockshield(tap) valve controls. You require compatible thermostatic Radiator valves and I had to install 4 new ones for the planned system. (cheap units are available for around 7 each – and you don’t seem to be able to buy just the valve body). These require the system to be drained and a bit of plumbing work.

Good points
While it takes a while to get used to the philosophy behind the new control, its great being able to switch individual radiators off. We have noticed that the system heats up so much faster and each radiator gets hotter.
I’ve found the app very intuitive and relatively clear.
The integration with Alexa is seamless and brilliant.
The thermostat is very accurate and the TRVs accurate enough.
You have the option for the system to switch on at fixed times (normal mode) or to be clever and use ambient temperature to determine start times (comfort mode)

Bad points.
Sometimes it takes a while for the boiler to be requested to fire despite the indication of Flame ON displayed on the app.
An indication of the position/status of each TRV would be useful.
It would be nice if the thermostat was non-backlit LCD with the display on all the time rather than having to wake it up to display the current temperature. I also assume that only the thermostat temperature is used in its assigned room rather than the associated rooms TRV — does the system just ignore the TRV temp?. (I also wonder if you can have a cheaper system without the thermostat as I’m not sure it adds much.)

Things that still confuse:
The app has too many ways to change room temperature. E.g
* There is a boost function which has a time limit. (also enabled from the TRVs control). Does enabling from one radiator automatically apply the same boost to others assigned to the same room?
* You can also change the room temperature without the boost time limit.
* You can also set the room to MANUAL (shown as a HAND on the app) control.

I’m still unsure if ALL or any of these settings are automatically overridden by a scheduled temperature change?

Word of warning for those with an older system. I had planned to smart control just 4 of 13 radiators in rooms only used part time. I did this but noticed how much warmer the whole house was. The problem being that 6 radiators/towel rails in my house do not have TRVs (just lockshield taps). The living areas would get up to temperature with bedrooms ‘smart controlled’ off, then prior to bed these would switch on but request the boiler ON for prolong periods to get them up to temperature. However, obviously the 6 radiators/towel rail with lockshield valves would then get very hot in rooms already up to temperature. So I’m now having to convert these to TRVs or smart. In summary — your house requires TRVs!

This is a very good system and I’m not entirely sure what features are missing or that you’d ever need. Only concern is the longevity of the motorised TRVs at 40 a pop.

Replaced the wireless (not internet enabled) thermostat that came with my boiler with this system. I was lucky enough that that my switch over from old to new was straighforward, requiring only 4 wires at the side of the boiler to be wired into the Drayton Wiser Hub. Once this was done, connecting to the new system and setting up the phone app took a matter of minutes. I was also able to get it to work with Alexa very quickly and easily. Now that it’s set up I can turn on, or adjust my heating from anywhere with an internet connection/mobile phone signal – not just in the house. Alexa can tell you how warm it is, and you can raise or lower the temperature with Alexa too. There are some smart features on the app, you have a weekly planner for how you want the heating to react, but you can also set it to eco mode where it adjusts itself automatically – I haven’t tried this yet. So far, I only have one thermostat and the hub. I plan to get the Wiser smart thermostatic radiator valves so that I can control all radiators in the house from my phone too, as this will obviously incur savings on my heating bill if radiators not needed can be scheduled to be off and automatically come on at certain times of the day. Overall very pleased. I also had to contact support as I couldn’t work out how to change the wifi (I have more than one wifi signal in my house and wanted to change the hub to a different one) – they responded within the day and were spot-on with their reply, and I was able to resolve my problem. Many thanks to Wiser Support! 😉

Got this up and running quickly, well I thought I had…
The main receiver simply replaced my existing timer unit next to the boiler – the standard UK backplate meant no fiddly rewiring (but do check that your backplate is wired suitably for it – there’s details in the box, or get a professional to fit it)
I easily connected 1x TRV and the room thermostat to the central unit, then created an online account through the app. I was turning on and off the heating and hot water from my phone in no time.
I had an issue with a faulty TRV – Amazon customer service was great – after a bit of nudging – to replace the TRV only, rather than un installing the whole kit.
I spent several days phoning and emailing Drayton’s Liverpool-based support centre because the TRVs, while appearing to operate correctly, were not physically opening the valve on my radiators. I have oldish Danfoss valves – their fitting type is supported (there’s an adapter in the box for such values), but eventually we ascertained that the very small distance of travel of the pin in my Danfoss values were incompatible with Drayton TRVs, which expect a distance of travel of >5mm or thereabouts.
I almost kept the system, but without TRVs. The online app is great, and the room stat worked a treat. But zonal control at a great price was what sold it to me, and I wouldn’t get zoned control without TRVs. Reluctantly I uninstalled the whole kit and returned for a refund – excellent customer service as always from Amazon. Looking to Nest or Hive as an alternative non-zoned system.
The price of this kit rises and falls quite dramatically – I was gutted when I realised it wasn’t compatible with my rad valves because I got this at a great price – 140 quid.
If you have Drayton values, or modern Danfoss valves on your radiators, I seriously recommend giving this a go, particularly if you can grab it at a good price.
Well made, UK support, solid wifi and proprietary communication. (and no separate unit requiring a mains plug and LAN-cable connection to your router like Hive, or some other systems. I think only this and Nest are the only systems which connect to your home wifi and don’t require hard-wired cable and a separate unit)

Originally had a 2nd Gen Nest thermostat, but it became problematic and was always losing connectivity to the Heat Link box by the boiler despite being installed practically right below it. Problem was when the thermostat lost connectivity, you had no heating which occured a few times. Also disliked the fact that despite the thermostat being wireless, it needed to be constantly plugged into the mains meaning portability was lacking (wasn’t like you could easily carry it from room to room for e.g.).

Being that the product cost alot of money and also wasnt that old, was very disappointed. Rather felt as though it was all show and no go.

In the end decided to rip and replace for the Wiser Heat system and on the whole couldnt be happier with it. Had some initial niggles with the control box losing connectivity with the WiFi but it transpired it was a WiFi problem (or not enough of it!). Once that was sorted its been pretty rock solid.

The system is pretty easy to set up (though the control box really needs professional installation), easy enough to configure and by and large does what it says on the tin.

We bought the pack with the single TRV included and used it in our main bedroom. To begin with I was disappointed as it didnt seem to fit the valve properly and subsequently failed to control the rad properly……several months later after trying it again have found that I hadnt installed it correctly and now seems to control the radiator OK. They arent the quietest things (if you are a light sleeper the opening and closing process could wake you) but do the job. Only issue I have encountered is that the TRV set temperature has a few times dropped down from what it was set to (was 18, falling back to 15 degrees) meaning we’ve woken cold a few times but having disabled Eco mode now seems OK.

I will probably eventually install the TRV’s in all the bedrooms, but at 40 quid a pop it’s not really a cheap exercise (though far cheaper than Honeywell’s offering) but it’ll be nice to have temperature control in the bedrooms in order to run the house a bit warmer and the rooms cooler for comfortable sleeping in the colder months. Test will be whether a range extender will be required as our house is fairly large….time will tell I suppose.

In summary, I imagine the Honeywell system is probably better but at the cost it ought to be. For the money this seems very good value for money as whilst arguably not quite as polished as the likes of the Honeywell offering it offers nice, reliable functionality at a relatively low price. Certainly knocks a single Nest thermostat into the weeds in terms of reliability and overall functionality, from my own experience anyway.

I searched all the different smart heating systems and decided on this, mainly due to the cost.

It was easy to install and get up and running, the system has been in for about 12 months now, the batteries last well in the devices and the noise of the thermostats turning on and off isn’t too loud (but they aren’t quiet by any stretch of the imagination)

The recent changes to the app are very welcome and were needed, well that’s all the good stuff.

Here is why i rated it 1 out of 5

I wanted to be able to control this from my phone and it just doesn’t work, the connection is so intermittent it can never be relied upon, the days when it does decide to work it’s just to slow and laggy connecting to the system.

I must have completely reset the whole system about 5 times in the past 12 months, i’m writing this today as yet again my phone is unable to connect to the system even though nothing has changed from yesterday and i find myself hitting the reset button once more, now even though i classed this as “easy” to install it’s defiantly not something you want to be doing every few months.

I’m just about ready to pull the whole system out and stump up for a Nest or other better know (better designed) system. do yourself a favour and don’t try and skimp like i did you’ll just regret it.

The inhouse thermostat work just fine but it really takes the smart out of a smart heater to only use this as it has extremely limited function i.e temp up or down there is no individual room control.

Edit……

I’m leaving what I wrote previously as it was my experience however the last 12 months seem to have gone much better, I connection issues seem to have stopped and no more resets have been required, the app has also been improved. My current experience is a smart heating system working as I’d wanted it to and now I’m happy to recommend this to anyone.

What should be a straightforward install, took ages as the instructions are woeful. They miss out key steps and details. i.e. switching from the hub to your own wifi at the point you want to create an account. Password appears to require upper and lower case and special characters (!”$%^&*) in order to work (when you get it wrong and it fails, it just says error and not whats wrong!). Wifi hub has a rubbish range and you will probably need the range extender plug which is more money!

In the end I have sent this all back. The radiator thermostats would not control the radiators and I’m fed up faffing with it. Looking at the reviews for Hive and Nest, I don’t think they will be any better, so I will just fit a traditional heating controller and room stat.

Have had this for over 6 months now and can say this is a great product. This was a straight swap with the older system, total installation time including setup was less than an hour. It controls our heating temperature in 3 zones and when the hot water comes on (although not the hot water temperature, still setting that via the hot water tank).

Our house used to suffer from always being either too hot or too cold somewhere in the house. Since buying this we have much better control of when heating comes on and where, I can’t remember the last time I had to go alter the thermostat or a radiator.
The only down sides to this are a slightly weak wifi signal (although just strong enough for our house, I can see how some would struggle), and a less than ideal way of displaying the temperature in the hot water tank, which shows at 41% when it reaches the temperature its set to. It would be nice if it let you specify what 100% is.

Our house was always incredibly difficult to heat properly despite having conventional thermostaic valves on all rads. To get the living room hot enough the rest of the house was too hot. But then in the morning if the bedroom was warm enough the living room was too hot. I am sure this could have been sorted by splitting the house into zones but with the Drayton Wiser system I have a smart thermostat on almost all of the radiators. If one of the kids wants their bedroom heating when the rest of the house is empty that can be done. we now have a warm living room and do not waste energy heating the whole house to heat one part.

A full review would take ages – I will just say that I do a bit of DIY and found the whole thing very easy to fit. The rad valves are simple to do if you have TRVs already. The only problems I had using the system in a large house was some of the rads lost signal with the control unit. I have ended up buying two smart plug extenders that have solved the problem but probably could have got away with one carefully positioned. The second problem is that I needed an adaptor to fit each of the Drayton thermostats to my rads. The advice from the Drayton hotline was unimpressive and suggested buying from a European company at vastly inflated prices. I bought suitable adaptors from Amazon – no problem. Had the system running now for a few months nd am very happy with it !

Our house was always incredibly difficult to heat properly despite having conventional thermostaic valves on all rads. To get the living room hot enough the rest of the house was too hot. But then in the morning if the bedroom was warm enough the living room was too hot. I am sure this could have been sorted by splitting the house into zones but with the Drayton Wiser system I have a smart thermostat on almost all of the radiators. If one of the kids wants their bedroom heating when the rest of the house is empty that can be done. we now have a warm living room and do not waste energy heating the whole house to heat one part.

A full review would take ages – I will just say that I do a bit of DIY and found the whole thing very easy to fit. The rad valves are simple to do if you have TRVs already. The only problems I had using the system in a large house was some of the rads lost signal with the control unit. I have ended up buying two smart plug extenders that have solved the problem but probably could have got away with one carefully positioned. The second problem is that I needed an adaptor to fit each of the Drayton thermostats to my rads. The advice from the Drayton hotline was unimpressive and suggested buying from a European company at vastly inflated prices. I bought suitable adaptors from Amazon – no problem. Had the system running now for a few months nd am very happy with it !

This is a well engineered product with neat functionality.

I chose this over other TRVs mainly for the low price and because they are Drayton products. Almost all my existing radiators have Drayton TRVs, so it seemed a no brainer to upgrade my central heating to smart TRVs along with the Heat Hub and matching room stat. Unfortunately, this TRV is not compatible with older Drayton TRVs (it seems my radiators were fitted with TRV3s) and Drayton don’t sell adaptors to allow them to fit. Basically the metal collar only suits 30mm dia. valves whilst my old TRV3s apparently have 27mm collars. There is no mention of this specific incompatibility on Drayton’s website either, even though they have a section which covers compatibility in some detail.

Drayton were quick to respond to my problem, but were unable to suggest any solutions other than replacing all the valves on my radiators, which was outside my budget 🙁

I installed the system myself three weeks ago. It was pretty easy. My old controller used the standard wiring but I had to swap it out with the new Drayton back plate, but wiring positions were simply copied. I had some problems with poor wireless connectivity from my router which was fairly close but inside the airing cupboard. I solved this using a powerline wireless extender. The kit came with two thermostatic radiator valves (TRV) and I bought two more (which were 40 each from B&Q). My house is a 1980’s detached and all of the TRVs reliably connect to the Drayton controller (although if I wanted to control the extension I would need a repeater). I had drayton TR4s originally. It was very easy to replace with the new connected TRVs. The device is easy to programme and the heat report that shows the actual temperature of the rooms for the previous day is very useful. I can now switch upstairs to low temperature during the day. I have been able to balance the heating for the whole house easily. Highly recommended.

I bought the Drayton Wiser Multizone Kit 2 — Heating & Hot Water back in October. Six weeks have gone by so thought a review may help others if they are considering purchasing.

My system consisted of a oil fired boiler that heated radiators all fitted with traditional Danfoss TRVs and a hot water tank that the boiler heated in the airing cupboard. This was controlled by a Drayton LP522 programmer and a traditional wired room stat in the hall.

Installation was easy. The Wiser hub fitted onto my existing programmer wall plate. I decided I didn’t want to get an electrician to bridge out the wired room stat as instructed. As if I didn’t like the system I planned to return it. So I set existing wired room stat to maximum so that was always calling for heat and Wiser then would control my heat.

Downloaded App, pressed set up button on hub but my phone would not find the Wiser wi fi. It turned out I was pressing button too long, its a sort quick press. Then connected no problem. Added Drayton wireless room stat, 2 Wiser TRVs to two radiators in Living Room also fitted Drayton smartplug/range extender which is not part of kit but purchased separately.

All worked well and I bought two additional TRVs. So what happens is this enables you to control temperature through App and Alexa.
Things you can do with Alexa.
Alexa What is temperature in Living Room?
Alexa set bedroom to 20 degrees
Alexa turn on hot water
Also use it to operate the Smart/plug to turn on power to a lamp plugged into it in hall

Not all my radiators are fitted with Wiser TRVs. What this means is if a Drayton TRV or the Room stat calls for heat an old manual TRV will operate at the temperature it is set at. So for example Living Room Wiser TRV calls for heat, boiler fires and radiator heats. Kitchen Radiator if old manual TRV open then that radiator also heats.

After about 4 days I ran into a problem. Devices (TRVs, Room Stat, and TRVs) all disconnected. So not visible in App. Switching off power to hub for 2 minutes eanbled them to connect again. But eventually they lost connection againTo cut a long story short I spoke to Drayton Customer services, they were able while I was on the phone to download data from my hub and diagnosed a very poor signal. Apparently the Smart Plugs/Range extenders are better at pushing out signal that accepting it from hub. So I ended up moving position of initial Smart Plug I had purchased and buying an additional 2 Smart Plugs. First Plug is 6 metres from Wiser Hub, second plug 11 metres from first and third placed upstairs.

Now everything seems to be working perfectly.

Easy to set up schedules in App so each room with a Wiser TRV can be controlled individually. There is also an Away setting that enables you to set a schedule or temperatures for when you are not at home. I use this for a frost setting. Of course you can monitor the temperature in your house wherever you are as long as your phone has a signal
I really like system and the control it gives me. Integration with Alexa is great and a real benefit.
As other have said in a large house signal seems poor and resulted in me buying 3 Smart Plugs in total. So maybe worth planning for this in case you have to go this route too.

I will update this review if I have more to add in the future.

It is 30/10/20, two years since I bought my Wiser system so I thought it was about time for an update.

I’m still pleased with my purchase.
I now have a total of 10 TRVs and 3 smart plugs (needed to extend range).
Two things I have noticed…

1 When away from home heatingis off. I often use Wiser to turn on the heating before getting home. Normally works well, but if there has been a power outage at home while away, even a really short one I cannot use the App to turn the system on remotely.

2 Last night TRVs were constantly operating motors. They were not operating heating but had lost connection to the hub. Looking at app this morning, devices not connected. I was on the phone to Drayton Support, they downloaded data from the hub. A smart plug which I used as a range extender had disconnected.

I had great, patient support from the two Drayton customer support people I spoke to. Was an hour on the phone but the problem was sorted.

As I said earlier, I am still pleased with the Wiser system.

Things I like and how I use it……
Increasing temperature in the room I’m inwithout moving of sofa “Alexa make the living room 21 degrees”
Working in the garden, feeling I need a shower. Open door, call out “Alexa, turn on hot water”, carry on working while the water heats.
Turning on heat/water while away so house heated for return (see note about power cut above)

I will continue to update my review as time goes by, but in summary the system continues to impress!

I fitted my Wiser system some weeks ago, and have been waiting before reviewing it so I could give a honest and experienced view point. I have a conventional vented/pumped heating and hot water system so I have the Multi zone 2 kit and I decided to buy 5 additional remote valves so I have all radiators except bathroom towel rails ‘under Wiser control.
I have to admit to being a little sceptical about the ‘use value’ of these types of control systems, especially when I looked at the cost of some of the competitor systems, however, the Wiser system seemed to be of a more sensible price level so I took the plunge, and fitted it all at the same time as renewing pump and various bits and pieces of pipework to give my heating system a good service etc.

The system is simply brilliant, well thought out and simple to fit and use with a smart phone, even for me being the wrong side of 60….I could not recommend it higher, I was cautious about some reviews speaking of noise from the valves when adjusting themselves, but I can honestly say this is not an issue whatsoever, a small click and a bit of a whir….but you have to be listening for it….I’ve got better things to do, although at first start up I did find myself standing by different radiators and changing temperatures just to hear it working 🙂
I can now control our system room by room and at different times of day, lounge snug and warm, bedrooms cool, etc etc
The system is great value for money and it saves energy by enabling you to have full control, no unnecessary heating of rooms. I can also make sure the house is warm to come home to….no more journeys home wishing the heating timer was set a bit earlier….and I can switch it all off remotely if I need to. The away mode is great, away in winter…no problem set to away mode the house is kept at a nice 16 degrees C, nicely aired and keeping the fabric of the building warm no more taking ages to ‘get the house warm’

I do wish there were chrome topped valves available.. I would fit them to our towel rails too…may be there are and I just haven’t seen them…I have three different makes of rad valves (Myson/Pegler/Drayton) around the house, the Wiser control tops fitted them all with no problem.

Overall a very good and impressive system.

Initially I thought I was going to have problems with this product (I did) I live in 1930’s 3 bed bungalow with brick internal walls, my heating system was already fitted with a Drayton wireless RF thermostat, so it was simple to remove and replace the base unit with the smart base unit.
My Boiler is situated at the back of the property in the kitchen, after fitting the radiator stats all seemed well except that some of the units were showing very low Wi-fi signal strength after a day the lounge thermostat lost its connection altogether, I started to worry.
I phoned Drayton and they sent out the free extender, after fitting this and finding the best position for it the signal strength improved and all is well.
Be aware that valve head adapters may be required if your heating system has 28mm valve threads, these can add to the overall cost (approx 10/12 per adapter)

This is a good economical system but it has its faults, the app might confuse some, when it displays the rooms and devices it shows the room name then a line, then the device assigned to the room then the next room name then a line, I’d have thought the room name and device could have been included in the same box. Hopefully these things will get looked at in further updates.

Bottom line I’m happy….so far.

UPDATE. Drayton have updated the app (March) the update states that it has made improvements to the signal strength and this seems to be the case, still a few things about the app UI that I personally don’t like but the system seems to be running very well now

This is a well made and well thought through product. Small details all over the products, the documentation, and packaging show me this has been thoughtfully designed. If you have experience of Drayton TR4 radiator valves – the quality is the same.
I downloaded the full user and installation guides from the internet while awaiting delivery – recommend doing this to aquaint yourself with the product.
It was easy for me to mount the hub and connect up to to existing wiring centre.It was then also very straightforward to link my smartphone to the hub once the app had been dowloaded and installed.
The system works perfectly – there are enough options to allow a wide variety of desired heating and hot water plans. I am pretty tech savvy, but my wife is certainly not, but we both operate the system readily in our individual ways.
The electric radiator valves actually seem to work better than the TR4 valves they replace. I think this is because the valves are fully on (open) until room is warm enough, then fully off. So no time while the valve gradually closes by heating as per my old valves – creating a longer time to bring the room to heat while the last few degrees are warmed by a gradually closing valve.
I have no hesitatation in recommending this product – it works very well, is keenly priced ( cf Nest, Hive etc), easy and clear to control, needs no additional house wiring ( eg no room thermostat wiring).