Drayton Wiser Multi-Zone Smart Thermostat and 2 Smart Radiator Thermostat Kit – Conventional Boilers Only – Heating and Hot Water Control
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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: | 880 g |
| Size: | Multizone 2 Heating and Hot Water |
| Dimensions: | 8.9 x 13.8 x 24.5 cm; 880 Grams |
| Model: | WV724R9K0902 |
| Part: | WV724R9K0902 |
| Colour: | Sandstone Fabric |
| Pack Quantity: | 20 |
| Batteries Required: | Yes |
| Batteries Included: | Alkaline |
| Manufacture: | Drayton by Schneider Electric |
| Colour: | Sandstone Fabric |
| Quantity: | 20 |
| Size: | Multizone 2 Heating and Hot Water |
Do recommend for an addition to the Wiser range, very easy to use with or without the app, just a bit bulky – but doesn’t block the second socket.
Saved a fortune on heating as I didn’t have thermostat fitted. Fully controlled from anywhere.
I fundamentally disagree that the system should need these boosters, I have used other kit where the signal is far stronger, however once you get over that – these are ok.
Expensive but the only solution and they do the job well. Work as a smart plug too and seem to have a higher power consumption option versus others. I would be happier running a 3kw fan heater off one of these compared to the cheaper looking stuff I use for Christmas tree lights, and lamps etc.
I had to buy two to get good signal through the house which makes the already expensive wiser system even more expensive.
Easy to fit if you have TRVs already. If you have the rest of the ‘kit’ these work very well – so boiler control, room thermostat etc are things you probably need. I use the wiser system linked with Google – it works 99% of the time
Bought to replace an old Honeywell wireless thermostat and relay box (bdr91)
Easy to wire up the new box, simple set up on the app, probably took 10 mins to get going from removing the old one to being able to use the thermostat.
Will see how it goes these next few weeks bit very impressed so far – considering putting their smart trvs onto our radiators to making our system more flexible
I bought my combi kit a long time ago but at long last I now have an excellent plumber who has installed it all to work with my Viessmann Vitodens 100 combi boiler. When I asked my previous plumber to wire it in all he said was ‘I don’t do wiring!’ Note he is my previous plumber.
The instal was not without its problems as I jumped the gun and put the batteries into the room control unit.
WRONG and the result was that it was reluctant to link up with main box next to my boiler.
I called Drayton and in a short time a very skilled and helpful service technician had it all sorted out. I have say that in this day of poor customer service the service provided my Drayton was for me, superb. Thank you.
If you are about to install one of these units please RTFM and obey the instructions.
It has only been in operation for a few days but already I have become familiar with both the remote unit and the app on my iPhone. I fully expect that come the winter I shall become even enamoured with all its many facilities.
All in all I’m pleased I bought it and I am so very pleased with the almost instant and superb help from the Drayton Wiser Support Team
Finally my son has this same setup in his home and it has been working well for almost two years.
I bought these to enable me to fit smart heating controls which was cheaper than buying the complete valve and thermostat head.
Started upgrade with a Hub ,Thermostat and 2 Trvs.Easy to install and using the App is a breeze.Gives you control of every room (dependant on how many you add)You can control via App or Just ask Alexa to set heating .
I was impressed and will be adding more Trvs to Heating .Only one thing -If you have older 28mm Trvs you will need an adapter to size it up for fitting to 30mm.(or change the manual Trv Body to match.
Bought this thermostat so I could control my heating whilst away from home.
Chatted on line with Drayton Support who advised that all I needed to do was; remove my Digistat control box and sit the Wiser Heat Hub R straight on top of the existing backing plate, as wired the same.
Did this and connected to my Mesh WiFi. The Heat Hub R then failed to connect.
Rang Drayton support who advised that I needed to connect using my Sky Router’s 2.4ghz connection.
Reset the Heat Hub R and the system connected 1st time.
Going to add radiator thermostats now.
We have a 2-zone heating system plus hot water. After doing my research and working out exactly where all the wires went, I did the installation myself in a couple of hours. It’s worked pretty-much flawlessly ever since.
A couple of points. If you have a 2-zone heating system (+ hot water = 3 zones), try and buy the 3-zone hub and skip the 2 display thermostats. You don’t need them and you’ll never use them. Buy more TRVs instead. You’ll then be able to control more rooms separately, and that’s what all this is about, getting heat only where it is needed. You’ll be able to add TRV’s to the 2 different heating zones, so that heat is only sent to that one zone, and not the whole house. But the display thermostats almost never get used. I’d send them back if i could.
I will be buying more TRVs as these are what control the radiators and ultimately control the heat to your house.
Overall, really can’t complain. It does that it should with a minimum of fuss, and that’s all you want from your heating control system.
I had a Drayton Life Style programmer, it is a simple swop that’s why I chose it, I had to put a link across to terminals in the junction box as instructed, works fine after a bit of faffing, but Alexa is being a bitch.
This is a good heater / boiler time. I can now switch on the heater using my phone which is very convenient. I asked electrician to have this install for me as I do not want to bother with cable etc. It took him less than 30 minutes. so I guess it must be quite easy. I am pleased with the device. I was hoping the receive will have some display so it doesn’t solely rely on a mobile phone app.
We have had a heating control for a combi boiler operating since October 2021. Easy to fit, pair with wifi and use. But last week the wifi router was changed – out of our control as on a park site in a Lodge. The new system is a mesh network – it will not connect to a mesh network. It will not factory reset and reconnect to the old router as the system is open – no security, yet it did before, it can be controlled via the app while there but no longer have remote access, we also have an issue with connectivity to the new network so all in all a frustrating weeks holiday. Tech support have been very helpful but not found a work round without getting a data dongle on a mobile sim – reception is poor so don’t think it will work.
When we bought our first house we knew we wanted smart heating, but could not afford to buy the other well known brands and have it installed. This was a really good price and looked simple enough to install so we had a go and so glad we did! Neither of us have prior electrical knowledge. We googled a few things and looked at the wiring diagrams and gave it a go.
We have a Main Eco Elite 30 combi boiler, did have a neomitis wireless thermostat and receiver. All we had to do was change the one wire from position 4 to position 2 and sorted – picture showed the wiring before we changed it.
Had heating working immediately and absolutely love it. We will be adding radiator valves to the system in time, but for now we have the one thermostat and it has already saved us so much money easily paying for itself.
Well, I was determined to make it work. All that is required, in my case, is for the hot water to come on whenever the heating comes on. On the Tempus Seven, that mode of operation is selected using a jumper switch. Why that is not a software option in this controller is a mystery. Nevertheless, using the app it’s easy enough to program the hot water schedule to be the same as the heating schedule.
There is no 5/2 schedule mode, only individual day settings. Once you’ve programmed one day, you can easily copy that day’s schedule to other days, so you don’t have to enter everything 7 times.
For manual override, I programmed a “Heating On” Moment that turns both the thermostat and hot water on together, and a “Heating Off” Moment that turns them both off together. With these, I can emulate the Advance mode of the Tempus Seven.
Alexa operation is a little lacking. Alexa can’t see the Moments I programmed so you have to create Routines to operate the thermostat and hot water together. (** See update below **)
Using an Alexa Routine to turn the Heating On: Alexa can set a temperature on the thermostat and turn the hot water on, but the controller turns the heating off again after one hour. This emulates the Boost function of the Tempus Seven. I have not found out how to get the heating to stay on so if that’s what I want I have to use the app instead of Alexa.
Using Alexa to turn the Heating Off: Unfortunately, Alexa cannot turn the thermostat off; it can only adjust the temperature. I created an Alexa Routine to turn the hot water off and turn the thermostat down at the same time. But because the thermostat is not off, my central heating pump keeps running. Not ideal but at least the gas is switched off.
So, Alexa is great when you want to Boost the heating, but to toggle it on or off it’s best to use the app.
So far I’m happy with this controller. It allows me to control the heating remotely, which I couldn’t do before. But with a few software changes it could be perfect:
– I’d like to see a gravity fed mode;
– I’d like Alexa to be able to operate the Moments I created;
– I’d like Alexa to be able to turn the thermostat off;
– I’d like the heating to stay on when Alexa turns it on (On and Boost should be available separately in the Alexa skill).
** UPDATE **
I don’t know if anyone at Drayton saw this review but a week later and the Alexa skill can now see my Moments and I have been able to update my routines to give me proper On, Off and Boost via voice control. Thank you! Rating upped to 5 stars.
Fitting and setup was really easy, and replaced our Center Honeywell EHE0200361 Wireless Thermostat and BDR91 Relay without any modifications to the wiring from our Baxi Duotec combi boiler. See my photos showing the wiring layouts of both old and new.
Drayton being a British company is another big plus for me, I like to support our home grown companies.
Discovered this product while searching for feedback on the Google product, which I had expected to buy. This is much cheaper and after 3 weeks of use in my house seems much more powerful and ideal for my needs. I have 2 separate heating zones plus hot water, each with a motorised valve so bought Kit 3. Temperature control has hugely improved compared to my old mechanical thermostats. It’s too soon to tell if costs have reduced. I would give it 5* if the app was more powerful such as being able to extract data for more detailed analysis. Although it does integrate with smart meters I am unable to have one. I plan to add the radiator valve kits, fortunately I already have Drayton radiator valves so fitting should be very easy. Unfortunately thir pric on Amazon has just increased by 5 so will have to shop around
The Honeywell system is very nice and gets good reviews, but so does the Drayton at way less than half the price, and can control more zones. It’s a challenge to work out the components of the Honeywell system, and many are not available through Amazon now.
I wanted Alexa control, OpenTherm (though not using it yet), room thermostat and 6 radiator valve heads. The cost for the Honeywell system was about 1050, and the Drayton was 382, BUT on Black Friday I paid 274! It costs more than that just for the Honeywell controller!
Everything is easy to install, the hub comes with the industry standard backplate and cost me less than 50 to replace the old non-standard one; if your system has a standard backplate, you don’t need a plumber or electrician for any of this! Download the Drayton Wiser app, connect the hub, press the setup button, connect to your network, done.
Add the room thermostat, which is simple AND if it is assigned to the same room as radiator thermostats the room thermostat overrides, which makes sense as the temperature near the radiator is warmer.
The radiator thermostats are simple too, connect to network, assign it to a room, allow it to calibrate itself, finished. BUT, be prepared to spend time adjusting the temperature to get it to what feels comfortable where you are in the room, OR buy a room thermostat for every room; I didn’t.
The app is clean and simple and provides some useful analytics that show what you have set the temperature to, and what it achieves by when; there’s an eco mode that predicts when it’s getting near temperature and shuts off a bit before, as the water is still hotter for a while; there’s a comfort mode that will switch on early to achieve the set temperature for the time you set. If you’re a geek, they provide an API so you can write or download programs to extract data and control the system.
So, what’s the benefit of spending the money?
Before, like many, I had a wall mounted room thermostat that turned the boiler on/off, and manual thermostatic radiator valve heads to adjust the temperature in other rooms. The downside of this are many:-
I don’t sit by the wall thermostat, and I now know it’s actually 5C warmer there than where I sit!
The boiler was set at a temperature and was on unless the room thermostat or timer was off. Now, it can come on just to provide heat for the bedroom and bathroom a little before I get up, then mainly the lounge where I am most of the time, and the back bedroom which I don’t use gets a low level of heat at times when the other rooms are up to temperature i.e. a flexible dynamic system.
OpenTherm takes it a stage further and adjusts the boiler water temperature depending on what is required when, saving more energy.
I purchased the Thermostat and a number of TRV’s, NOTE: don’t fit to all the radiators in your house, you need to keep one radiator uncontrolled as a heat load to allow your boiler to cool down – it wont be on all the time, only for a few minutes after the controlled radiators have reached their temperature – I’m only saying that to save you buying too many TRV’s (although Amazon where great in returning the one that I over-ordered), I also used a Drayton Wiring Centre LWC3 to make my life a bit easier, but you can get away without it.
The installation guides are very clear, and even when I got a bit stuck, the tech support from Drayton was prompt and clear. Drayton even offer a series of You Tube video’s to aid the installation process…combine this with videos from Bosch Worcester and you are on a winning streak.
The app is very easy to use, and although I have yet to compare energy use with previous year, I can immediately tell I am saving energy. Whereas before, the whole house heated needlessly to a comfortable level, as I walk around my house I can tell the “lived in” zones are still comfortable, whilst the spare room is cold and the bedrooms are only heated when we need them…..why was I heating these rooms before??
If all goes well, this system is easy to set up.
After a week of use and a few days where heating is beginning to get called for briefly, I can see temperature control is responsive. Radiators are quiet and they heat up same as they did with the ordinary TRVs.
Some potential downsides.
1) You cannot control the system at all other than via wifi and software. So you could not, for example, turn off the hot water and/or heating manually other than by, switching off power (which in my case is the fused spur in the airing cupboard).
2) The wifi of the hub is weak.
Ping monitoring it, it regularly fails to respond. On two occassions the left LED has came on solid red and the unit was offline. I needed to switch the unit to setup mode and back and wifi connection came up.
3) The iTRVs seem lighweight. Some other reviewers here experience issues with these early on. I hope they last as they will form the bulk of the investment, if you go all out smart with Wiser.
Hopefully it manages to pay for itself with energy savings.
Useful bit of kit. Not a direct replacement for my back box so had to rewire. Not straightforward but after using YouTube and Google managed to get it right first time. Mobile thermostat is really useful compared to wall mounted in the hall which meant heating was always on longer than needed as it was always trying to get hall to 21c. Scheduling is also good and I’ve cut down on how long water needs to be on and I find quick 30min boosts for heating are all that’s needed rather than leaving it on for long periods. A definite improvement in reducing gas and elec costs.
I replaced my Drayton Wireless Thermostat with new ‘Wiser’ Heating Controls. I bought the Kit 1 and subsequently 7 more Wiser TRVs.
I was disappointed to find that the Wiser Room Thermostat WiFi signal was too weak to successfully link to the new Hub R (which had directly replaced the old Wireless Thermostat Unit (by the boiler in my loft – which always worked reliably!)
The answer was obvious, I had to buy a Wiser Plug ‘extender’ (another 38). Great the system worked.
Next I fitted the two Wiser TRVs (from the Kit 1) at the extremes of distance from the Hub R. One Wiser TRV would not pair reliably. Yes – I had to buy yet another Wiser Plug ‘Extender’ and find the optimal position for its location.
My house covers 3 floors (top a loft conversion) walls all brick. My extenders are both on 1st floor at opposite ends of the house, and everything now works reliably.
I am very impressed with the many features of my Wiser system and in particular the ability for ant TRV to ‘call’ for the boiler to run when it’s room schedule requires heat.
The Hub R is linked to my home WiFi and my iPhone has the Wiser Home App downloaded (needed for set up).
The App is brilliant and very easy to use and navigate. Too many features to describe here!
The system can also use Amazon Alexa and I have even linked Wiser to IFTTT App which now automatically switches the heating off / down when my iPhone is away from home.
You can also control everything from the Wiser Home App when anywhere!
WISER has exceeded my expectations, except for two things, namely:
Poor Wiser WiFi signal strength.
No temperature ‘offset’ to correct the true room temperature for the Wiser TRV measured temperature (shown in the Wiser Home App.
I would buy again as the overall cost /features compares very well against main competitor systems.
I replaced my Drayton Wireless Thermostat with new ‘Wiser’ Heating Controls. I bought the Kit 1 and subsequently 7 more Wiser TRVs.
I was disappointed to find that the Wiser Room Thermostat WiFi signal was too weak to successfully link to the new Hub R (which had directly replaced the old Wireless Thermostat Unit (by the boiler in my loft – which always worked reliably!)
The answer was obvious, I had to buy a Wiser Plug ‘extender’ (another 38). Great the system worked.
Next I fitted the two Wiser TRVs (from the Kit 1) at the extremes of distance from the Hub R. One Wiser TRV would not pair reliably. Yes – I had to buy yet another Wiser Plug ‘Extender’ and find the optimal position for its location.
My house covers 3 floors (top a loft conversion) walls all brick. My extenders are both on 1st floor at opposite ends of the house, and everything now works reliably.
I am very impressed with the many features of my Wiser system and in particular the ability for ant TRV to ‘call’ for the boiler to run when it’s room schedule requires heat.
The Hub R is linked to my home WiFi and my iPhone has the Wiser Home App downloaded (needed for set up).
The App is brilliant and very easy to use and navigate. Too many features to describe here!
The system can also use Amazon Alexa and I have even linked Wiser to IFTTT App which now automatically switches the heating off / down when my iPhone is away from home.
You can also control everything from the Wiser Home App when anywhere!
WISER has exceeded my expectations, except for two things, namely:
Poor Wiser WiFi signal strength.
No temperature ‘offset’ to correct the true room temperature for the Wiser TRV measured temperature (shown in the Wiser Home App.
I would buy again as the overall cost /features compares very well against main competitor systems.
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.
Have these units on my radiators. They are controlled from a phone app or with the help of an Android simulator can be run from a PC. Commissioning is easy with LED indicators.
Batteries are on the reverse side to the indicators which makes them difficult to change especially since the polarity indicator is difficult to see. I have taken to unscrewing the head, replacing the bateries. refitting and recommissioning. The only indicator of the state of the batteries is in the app which is not ideal.
Have these units on my radiators. They are controlled from a phone app or with the help of an Android simulator can be run from a PC. Commissioning is easy with LED indicators.
Batteries are on the reverse side to the indicators which makes them difficult to change especially since the polarity indicator is difficult to see. I have taken to unscrewing the head, replacing the bateries. refitting and recommissioning. The only indicator of the state of the batteries is in the app which is not ideal.
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
Installed in November 2021. Used dual channel (water + heating) controller with app. Thermostats installed on 8 out of 11 radiators (3 missing require their TRV1 50 yr old valves to be changed). Participated in Octopus Energy winter savings competition – who measures 19% reduction in gas December to February. Saving of 70 vs 350 cost. House is more even temperature and will continue to benefit. Unfortunately one radiator is outside of Wifi signal range, which is annoying.
Installed in November 2021. Used dual channel (water + heating) controller with app. Thermostats installed on 8 out of 11 radiators (3 missing require their TRV1 50 yr old valves to be changed). Participated in Octopus Energy winter savings competition – who measures 19% reduction in gas December to February. Saving of 70 vs 350 cost. House is more even temperature and will continue to benefit. Unfortunately one radiator is outside of Wifi signal range, which is annoying.
Initially purchased specifically so we could keep babies room a constant temp and not have the whole house heated up all night.
We had a look at the instructions for wiring it into the boiler thinking it would be possible for an experienced diyer as videos and blogs seem to suggest. Wrong we ended up not attempting it in case we messed something up and had no heating
Once the unit is wired into the boiler it’s a breeze to set up. We have since added more TRVs so all our radiators are controlled individually. We don’t use the room thermostat at all as it seems to mess up the room it’s in abd make it call for heat more than it should so we’ve turned it right down and left it in a corner.
Great system, wish we had done it sooner.
Running for about 2 weeks now. Bought as part of start-up set. One wall thermastat, 3 rad thermastats and control box. The control system needs wiring into the boiler. Not as easy as the video suggests. If you’re ok with wiring then straight forward. I had a friend do that bit. The rest, fitting rads thermostats, if you already have manual thermostats, is straightforward. The app on the phone is straightforward. However, there is a 8 second delay between commands on phone and reaction of thermostat. Doesn’t sound alot but when you are programming every radiator for every day of the week if is really really slow. I can’t get the IFTTT bit to work at the moment that could be me or they no longer support Wiser.
The rad thermastats are noisy when they come on. Wake you up with a start noisy, for the one in the bedroom. Not horrendously noisy but you will hear it and I’m a heavy sleeper. In other rooms with TV or radio on it wont be a problem. Putting the heating on when in the car, on the way home from finishing work early is brill. Turning heating up or down from sofa brill. Not tried voice control yet so can’t comment. Had a couple of none responsive commands so system is not 100%. But I will buy further rad thermastats for other rooms. The pros outway the cons
Running for about 2 weeks now. Bought as part of start-up set. One wall thermastat, 3 rad thermastats and control box. The control system needs wiring into the boiler. Not as easy as the video suggests. If you’re ok with wiring then straight forward. I had a friend do that bit. The rest, fitting rads thermostats, if you already have manual thermostats, is straightforward. The app on the phone is straightforward. However, there is a 8 second delay between commands on phone and reaction of thermostat. Doesn’t sound alot but when you are programming every radiator for every day of the week if is really really slow. I can’t get the IFTTT bit to work at the moment that could be me or they no longer support Wiser.
The rad thermastats are noisy when they come on. Wake you up with a start noisy, for the one in the bedroom. Not horrendously noisy but you will hear it and I’m a heavy sleeper. In other rooms with TV or radio on it wont be a problem. Putting the heating on when in the car, on the way home from finishing work early is brill. Turning heating up or down from sofa brill. Not tried voice control yet so can’t comment. Had a couple of none responsive commands so system is not 100%. But I will buy further rad thermastats for other rooms. The pros outway the cons
Installed the system in a 5 bedroom bungalow with 13 radiators. Installing the control unit next to the boiler was simple. Removed old Drayton unit and installed new (uses the same mounting plate). Replacing the radiator thermostats was simple. System configured and now running.
Issues found was with a weak WiFi signal at the control unit next to the boiler configuring the timing and temperature settings was slow, slow to update. Had to move my WiFi booster closer to the boiler. To avoid thermostats not responding I also had to add two range extender/ plug units.
Ran the system for a few days to check if reliable which it is. Changed the mode to ECO mode so hopefully will start to make some savings.
It would help greatly if the App displayed the signal strength at the hub from each the thermostats. Determining the requirement for and positioning of the range extender/ smart plugs would be so much easier.
Also I don’t see the point of combining the range extender function with that of a smart plug in the same unit. The position of the range extender is determined by signal strengths and is unlikely to be where you need a smart plug. Drayton should make two separate units ie a range extender unit and a smart plug unit. It would make more sense.
Note: If you are someone not comfortable with modern technology and want a heating system which is simply on or off not involving batteries, wifi signals, thermostat signals, Apps, etc this may not be for you.
Installed the system in a 5 bedroom bungalow with 13 radiators. Installing the control unit next to the boiler was simple. Removed old Drayton unit and installed new (uses the same mounting plate). Replacing the radiator thermostats was simple. System configured and now running.
Issues found was with a weak WiFi signal at the control unit next to the boiler configuring the timing and temperature settings was slow, slow to update. Had to move my WiFi booster closer to the boiler. To avoid thermostats not responding I also had to add two range extender/ plug units.
Ran the system for a few days to check if reliable which it is. Changed the mode to ECO mode so hopefully will start to make some savings.
It would help greatly if the App displayed the signal strength at the hub from each the thermostats. Determining the requirement for and positioning of the range extender/ smart plugs would be so much easier.
Also I don’t see the point of combining the range extender function with that of a smart plug in the same unit. The position of the range extender is determined by signal strengths and is unlikely to be where you need a smart plug. Drayton should make two separate units ie a range extender unit and a smart plug unit. It would make more sense.
Note: If you are someone not comfortable with modern technology and want a heating system which is simply on or off not involving batteries, wifi signals, thermostat signals, Apps, etc this may not be for you.
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.
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.
This is straight forward to install if your replacing something with the same back plate. I used this at first with just the thermostat and it works like it should but the system really comes into its own when you add the radiator valves – it also becomes more complicated.. but it works if you don’t over think it! Problems – I had to turn off the firewall on my router for the app to work and it also went crazy when I tried to use a Dlink 4G router. apparently it has problems with some Hauwei routers.
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.
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
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
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
I was initially a bit miffed at having to purchase this smart plug for the sole purpose of improving signal to my “Wiser” smart heating system but I have to confess, it’s actually been a really good. It feels very well made, took second to configure, I’ve had no problems with my smart TRV’s going offline since installing it (it acts as a mesh signal extender), it works flawlessly with IFTTT, can be easily scheduled and shows me live power usage so actually, not a bad price for all that.
The hub is simple and easy to install.
The room stat works well with previously installed wiser rad valves. Much more accurate than just the valves. I do think that the prices are a bit steep. Drayton should market a cheaper “dumb” rad valve which is network controlled but doesn’t have any thermostat functionality. You are paying twice if you use the room stat with wiser rad valves.
Hence 4 stars
Bought this to replace a standard 2 channel programmer and to make my heating smart. Had toyed with getting Google Nest Thermostat or EPH Ember, both of these needed rewiring at the wiring centre which I wasn’t too keen on. While searching a came across the Drayton Wiser Kit, it ticked all the boxes for my needs: ease of install, remote access, learning thermostat, heating reports, Alexa integration.
The device install is very simple and straightforward, fitting straight on to the existing backplate that was in my previous programmer. Job done! Hub connected to my BT Wi-Fi on first attempt and has been ever since. App is easy to use and gives the details that are needed. The system has only been installed for about a week and still in learning mode for comfort, meaning it does kick in about 1-2 hours before scheduled but this has highlighted an issue with a bedroom which was not reaching desired temperature of 19c, this is no fault of the system (bedroom over garage).
So far really happy
This was bought to extend the range of a Wiser heating control system in a large house. As a smart plug its does pretty much what other smart plugs do like turning a 3 pin plug device into a smart device by allowing you to turn the device on or off from a phone/alexa/google or setting up schedules to turn it on and off automatically. If you are just looking for a smart plug then this is an expensive plug as you can probably get 2 smart plugs at this price and they probably have a little more features like turning on at sunset, etc… (which this plug doesn’t).
If you have Wiser Thermostats and TRVs and you find some of them loose connection, this is the product for you as it will effectively repeat the wireless signal to the TRVs and Thermostats. It’s simple to integrate into the Wiser system and permits remote switch on/off and flexible scheduling of any electrical device.
Feels well made and rated a full 13 amps. Quality and worthwhile addition to a Wiser system if you have the need to extend the range.
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.
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.
After doing lots of research about the best setup following a new boiler installation we went for the Drayton Wiser option. We have now added smart TRVs to all downstairs radiators. Really easy to change from old TRVs – watched the Drayton installation video on you tube which was really helpful. The TRVs have to be nice and tight on the valve head and once fitted they are easy to calibrate. We are now able to run radiators individuals or if we need to boost the heat in a particular room at the touch of a button. The app is easy to setup and use. I was slightly concerned about the range but we have a 3 storey house and they managed to get a signal in every room including the loft room! Early days with them but really impressed so far. Now going to purchase more for upstairs!
Very easy install.
Tedious to set up the schedule – it would be good to be able to work on it from a PC instead of a smartphone.
One radiator stat just doesn’t work – cannot join the network.
Also – radiator stats have the right thread for all my radiators… but the older valves are not compatible as the poky bit is too tall and the Drayton unit offers no vertical adjustment. I will have to drain the system and replace all but the two newest valves, if I want to use these room stats.
We recently replaced our boiler and decided to fit to fit Drayton Wiser at the same time. The plumber installed the hub and fitted the needed valves to the radiators, but left us to do the actual configuration and fit the actual TRV heads.
After reading some of the reviews on here I was a little concerned that given the size of our house we’d have issues getting the TRVs to pair. Thankfully the setup was very easy! Walking through the setup steps in the app I didn’t encounter any issues getting the hub to join the Wifi, and the TRV heads found the hub without issues. I did find that when joining to Alexa from an iPhone I had to turn off the popup blocker in Safari temporarily, but that was easy enough to sort.
Some people have complained that the TRV heads miss out on having an LCD display, but compared to the boxy looking Honeywell/Bosch TRVs I think they look a lot cleaner/more attractive for not having them (and that played a part in choosing this system). The twist to boost temperature up/down works well, and anything else can be done in the app.
Future wise, Drayton don’t advertise support for underfloor heating but it appears to be coming – the first time after I power cycled the hub the app sported an option to connect to an underfloor heating controller. It’s available elsewhere in Europe, so I think it might become available in the UK too.
I’ll keep an eye out on the reliability of the system, but so far so good.
The Drayton Wiser hub (1 channel modle), room thermostat and smart thermostatic radiator valves (TRV’s). Installed the hub in less than 5 minutes, swapping out an older Drayton 7 day programmer (controlling a combi boiler), which had the industry standard backplate. The TRV’s were a straight swap of old M30 size units. Some people have complained about the lack of temperature display on the TRV’s, I can’t say I’ve found it an issue. Just go to your phone app and view the temperature there!
I live in an old victorian tenement with thick brick internal walls and was a little worried about range, but I’m glad to report I’ve had no problems. The furthest TRV is about 12m from the hub and works flawlessly. My router is also about the same distance and the hub has connected to WiFi with no issues. The Wiser app is a doddle to use, very clear with all my rooms clearly visible.
App programing times and room temperatures are easy, you can copy and paste. It has geo fencing and you can set it up to turn off your heating when you leave and come back on when you return. The bonus is there’s no subscription or fees!
I can’t fault the Drayton Wiser smart control set up and ease of use, I’m surprised it’s not as well known as the others.
Having just replaced our 20 yr old conventional boiler with a much more efficient one I decided to invest some of the projected savings in further enhancements.
Replacing an old freezer and rescheduling the hot water is already making substantial savings on electricity and Smart Heating is an obvious next step.
First I reviewed the available products and decided that Wiser was the best value for money and offers all the functionality that we need.
I considered iTRV’s but eventually decided that the additional cost was not worth the investment but the option is still available in the future (though our Giacomino TRV’s also require a special adapter).
The big worry was installation and a bit of research showed that our BG UP25 controller has exactly the same wiring as the Wiser Smart Hub so I went for it. It took only a few minutes to shut off the power, unscrew the old controller and replace it with the new one. The existing thermostat is now turned to 100% on and will be removed in due course when the boiler is serviced.
Connecting my iPad and programming the hot water and heating was very straight forward and there are some youtube videos available to explain the different modes (away mode, eco and comfort) which offer savings on top of setting the old style TRV’s in every room.
The system has now been commissioned and is working as expected.
I am thinking that I will use Away mode in the Summer so that the heating does not come on and for the Winter I have a schedule with 15C at night and 20C during the daytime.
A bit of research and I found the IFTTT site which links to the Wiser account and allows you to create a free account and automate the system even further eg) an applet that runs at a certain time each day to switch to Away mode in Spring and Autumn so I don’t need to keep altering the heating schedule.
I would certainly recommend checking out this system if your requirements are simple and you want good value for money.
Update:
so it’s been in place for 7 days and I have been closely monitoring the system and the power use.
As regards hot water, I have put extra lagging on the cylinder (12) and I am only heating water on ‘bath nights’ (x3 a week) giving a clear reduction in electricity usage. It actually seems sensible to heat to 65C so that the water is still usable even after three days.
Central Heating – I am not sure that Comfort mode is working with my new condenser boiler set on Economy so I have turned it off and forward scheduled my settings to get the full impact of heating when I get up in the morning. I have also scheduled a boost on ‘bath nights’ so that it doesn’t feel chilly getting out of the bath.
Overall the system is working exactly as I want and giving me control and feedback my major power usage. I already have some understanding of the time it takes the house to cool down and heat up.
It will be interesting to review this when it gets to freezing and sub zero temps later in the winter.
Wiser smart Radiator Thermostat
==========================
Still very happy with the basic system so I tried adding a smart radiator thermostat.
My existing TRVs are Giacomini so I ordered the adapter which is available online from Conrad electronics or Amazon.
Fitting the adapter was ok but does requires a very small Allen key to tighten the nuts.
My experience is that the temperatures recorded by the smart radiator thermostat go wacky at the start of the day about 15 mins before the schedule kicks in and the heating fires up. (Photos attached).
I tried re calibrating and factory reset but the problem persisted and I’m still waiting for a response from the support team so I am looking to return this in the next few days.
Instead I am getting another smart thermometer which I will use as a sensor to record room temperatures and adjust the manual controls and existing TRVs. I could probably acheive the same with a simple digital thermostat but for a little extra cost the wiser smart thermostat will record the temperatures.
Update: 20/11/20.
===============
Overall I still have a very favorable opinion re: the Drayton Wiser Smart Heating system – as it is easy to install, performs well and allows me to control energy consumption in these difficult times.
The Smart Radiator Thermostat did not work for me at all and I returned the product which may have been faulty. As stated above, my strategy now is to have two Smart Room Thermostats and this is working very well. In truth I might have done the same by getting a cheaper analog max/min thermostat but it’s nice to have the data recorded and two rooms allows you to exceed the 8 event s a day limit on a schedule.
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.
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.
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.
Been using the Wiser for just under 6 months now – it’s been a cheap(ish), reliable thermostat so far.
Bought as I wanted an opentherm controller for my boiler. This was a fairly cheap option and given the manufacturers provide no indications of how they regulate in opentherm mode, I wanted to try it out without spending too much. The option to add individual radiator control in future was a plus for the Wiser too.
Plumber had it installed in no time, only issue was a missing bus connector from my boiler (ATAG) which meant it had to be wired in normally rather than via opentherm to start with. When the wiring was switched the Wiser automatically detected the change and started operating in opentherm mode. Since then performance has been good, perhaps a modest reduction in energy usage by using opentherm and the comfort and eco modes compared to similar usage previously.
The only issue has been the connection between the room thermostat and the wiring center which struggles if the stat is placed in the older part of our house. The boiler is in the extension and the signal struggles to pass through the external walls (~10m distance). Will have to try with a range extender in future but for now it’s fine with the stat in the extension.
I bought this on a whim really as I was about to put my old Honeywell, wired, programmable thermostat and Siemens time switch back into my system following the fiasco with the Hive I had for less than 6 months! Noticed this Kit 2 as a warehouse deal “like new” so decided to give it a try.
Very easy to install, with only 2 units – the combined boiler switch/hub/controller and the very small and neat wireless thermostat (the Hive had 3 units – the extra one required an Ethernet connection to your router).
One installation hiccup was although all three boiler controllers state they will fit straight onto your existing, industry standard, back-plate in fact the Hive would NOT fit (it has a couple of extra profiles on the side of the box) so I had to fit Hives own mounting (not very good quality terminals). When I came to fit the Wiser controller it would NOT fit onto the Hive back-plate – it would have fitted the Siemens original one though! So I ended up changing the back-plate on both installs – at least the Wiser version has better quality terminals.
A further problem arose when I was starting everything up on the phone app – it appeared the Hub was already registered to someone else – thanks Amazon! Strange as when I received the unit it seemed to be factory sealed,the batteries were shrink wrapped, protective film on screen ans even the clip in desk stand was included?
At this point I let go a few expletives as I knew that with the Hive system, once the hub is registered to an account, it absolutely cannot be re-assigned – you have to buy a new hub for about 70!
However I decided to ring Wiser support – not expecting much in view of my previous days call to Hive – nearly 2 hours long – 50% unintelligible audio, lots of resetting of my router, changing cables, standing on my head – all to no avail and when they said “advanced tech support would ring me within 72 hours” to sort it out I decided that was the taking the mickey – Screwfix refund beckoned!
My call to Wiser support was totally different – a very helpful, polite, friendly and knowledgeable lady, whom I could easily understand on a clear phone line, just needed to know where the kit had been purchased and the serial number of the hub. Within 5 minutes the previous user had been cancelled and the hub was now registered to me – excellent stuff, exactly how customer support SHOULD work!
Pros:
Easy to fit / very neat small thermostat unit with the option of wall mount or desk mount / so far the app works well (the ONLY way to program a schedule) and has lots of options and information / attractive colour display / simple 3 touch button control to adjust room temperature or select boost feature / possible to control the system from the app if your internet connection goes down – just press the “setup” button once then connect your phone/tablet WiFi to the built in Wiserxxxxxxx access point.
Cons:
No Hot Water display on the thermostat (HW boost or over-ride ONLY available at the hub or on the app) / often the flame symbol stays illuminated for a long time after the room temperature is satisfied and the boiler has turned off (very slow update) / no proximity sensor to briefly turn the display on when you approach it
Overall it seems a good workable system and if it proves reliable I might just shell out and fit the intelligent TRVs to all my radiators BUT, as I need 12 of these at a cost of around 480 I will have to be very sure of the reliability first – It would be nice to be able to schedule and temperature control various different rooms at varying times – almost like “zoning” without the extra plumbing and valves etc!
Just a last word on my previous Hive – when the hub failed it also managed to corrupt the time setting in the thermostat and although they say “you can still run the schedule without internet”, you probably could EXCEPT there is NO time setting function available in the menu so yes, it would run the schedule BUT about 8 hours out of sync with the actual time – useless!
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.
I’ve had the wiser kit in my cupboard now for over 18 months and just never got round to installing it.
I have an oil fired boiler and an unvented system. When I turned the heating on, all my radiators came on and my water heated too. There was (and still is) no separation of hot water from the heating…both come on simultaneously. We have a massive hot water cylinder so no issues. We have 16 radiators in the house…so as you can imagine we were burning a lot of oil, to heat a lot of radiators and we weren’t in all the rooms they were heating.
Now that I’ve installed wiser that has changed. I have schedules set for all the rooms that have wiser trv’s. The heat comes and for a set time as and when we need and we can control the heating from our phones whilst away! There are a few rooms (ie the bathrooms and a couple of rooms upstairs) that don’t have wiser trv’s…but we want the bathroom radiators on due to tiled walls and floors being cold and the other upstairs rooms aren’t used frequently so we will just manually turn them on as needed. I’ll add wiser trv’s to these at a later date though.
We never had any wired thermostats to worry about either.
We’ve only had it installed now for about a month and it’s terrific.
Our house has solid block walls so we had to buy two extenders but that’s not a problem.
On one occasion (when we had just one extender) the signal dropped to all wiser trv’s so I rang customer support and the guy was very helpful and we got the issue sorted. Turns out my extender was too far from the hub and was in and out of signal so I just moved it closer to the hub and bought an additional extender. No issues since.
Cannot really fault the system at all.
One thing I would like added to the app (and the customer service agent I spoke to agreed with me) was if the app could tell you the signal quality each TRV is receiving…
It’s 9/10 for me on this!
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.
We live in a stone property so we needed a meshing system. After much research this seemed to fit the bill. We have 9 radiator valves fitted. To start with there were a few glitches, customer service was amazing and very patient indeed while I faffed around. After the first call a few of the thermostats kept losing signal, its a Zigbee mesh and not too surprising. Customer service provided me with a read out of signal strength which along with our own data allowed us to fit an extender (used an Ikea smart plug). Since then no dropouts and the Zigbee mesh has settled down. This system is quite a bit cheaper than the Evohome we were considering which isn’t a mesh and probably wouldn’t have worked in our stone home. So we are into our 3rd week in a very cold part of the country and very pleased with the system. Would be great if I could work out how to integrate it with Hubitat !!
I bought this on a Black Friday whim when it was a crazily low price, and that’s a big reason for my score. It’s easy to forget once you’ve installed it, which is great in that it hasn’t caused us any problems – but, I question just how useful it really is compared with a modern wireless thermostat like the one it replaced unless you fully invest in smart radiator valves too.
If you have an existing standard control panel backplate, installation is incredibly simple – one of the key reasons to buy this over something like Nest which would’ve involved very complicated wiring changes, particularly in a multi zone house like mine.
The ability to ask Google Home to warm up a zone is great – though again I wonder whether this just encourages laziness when I could get off the sofa and press a button instead.
Super simple to activate away mode, even if you forget before you leave home, easily switching off the heating until you return and saving energy costs. Doing this via the app remotely is great (and easier than having to go into the boiler cupboard) but it lacks a calendar function to set when it should come back on (e.g. a few hours before returning home), which my old thermostat did have.
The mysterious eco mode is also apparently saving many hours of energy use according to the app, but I have absolutely no idea how it’s determining when / how to do this, so some simpler info in the app would be great. Time will tell whether this is really reducing energy costs.
The app itself isn’t the prettiest, and there are times it feels unintuitive – but it generally gets the job done. There’s a novelty element to it to start with, but after a few months I now tend to just use the thermostat controls, or Google Assistant.
But the key thing I’ve realised is that, dependant on property layout, the truly smart solution would be to warm up the house room by room – and in my case this would mean spending quadruple the price on radiator valves too. This is a cost I simply couldn’t justify based on convenience alone, and I doubt the energy savings would be significant enough to warrant the extra investment either.
In summary, a good purchase if you can find it at the right price, but be well aware of its limitations and whether it’s worth it compared with what you already have.
I had a failing wireless Honeywell thermostat linked to a Honeywell receiver and then in turn connected to a Drayton Lifestyle programmer.
After researching replacement Honeywell controllers, Smart wireless thermostats etc. considering current ease of installation, future expandability, smart features etc. I was getting a bit concerned how messy this could get
I decided to go for the Drayton Wiser system …. inded the receiver did plug straigh into the old baseplate and I left the Honeywell receiver attached for now and simply joined the live / switched live wires in the terminal to buypass the wireless thermostat functionality from the old Honeywell thermostat.
Installation worked first time, the wireless control of heating and hot water is working properly. After installing the app on my phone I set up the initial schedules. Since then I have activated the eco mode linked to room temperature profiling, outside temperature and also activated the away mode feature through IFTT – all sounds complex but really is not.
I know that I can add smart radiator TRVs at a later stage for individual control of other rooms if I want because we have 3 floors in our house I might do this in guest rooms but not needed yet.
I now have a few weeks data in the Heating Insights, the eco mode and the auto away mode from IFTTT has saved a few % in heating times. At the same time the heating has auto adjusted and switch on earlier according to cold weather outside and we have experienced far more comfortable, consistent heating. I can also check temperature in the room, control hot water and heating via Google and Amazon … Hey xxxx turn on hot water 🙂
This system is easy to use, affordable, expandable and the remote smart learning to adjust heating schedules, temperatures truly is Smart
Can you tell that I am happy and this is one of the best purchases I have made in last few years ? Yep I am pleased
I bought this on a Black Friday whim when it was a crazily low price, and that’s a big reason for my score. It’s easy to forget once you’ve installed it, which is great in that it hasn’t caused us any problems – but, I question just how useful it really is compared with a modern wireless thermostat like the one it replaced unless you fully invest in smart radiator valves too.
If you have an existing standard control panel backplate, installation is incredibly simple – one of the key reasons to buy this over something like Nest which would’ve involved very complicated wiring changes, particularly in a multi zone house like mine.
The ability to ask Google Home to warm up a zone is great – though again I wonder whether this just encourages laziness when I could get off the sofa and press a button instead.
Super simple to activate away mode, even if you forget before you leave home, easily switching off the heating until you return and saving energy costs. Doing this via the app remotely is great (and easier than having to go into the boiler cupboard) but it lacks a calendar function to set when it should come back on (e.g. a few hours before returning home), which my old thermostat did have.
The mysterious eco mode is also apparently saving many hours of energy use according to the app, but I have absolutely no idea how it’s determining when / how to do this, so some simpler info in the app would be great. Time will tell whether this is really reducing energy costs.
The app itself isn’t the prettiest, and there are times it feels unintuitive – but it generally gets the job done. There’s a novelty element to it to start with, but after a few months I now tend to just use the thermostat controls, or Google Assistant.
But the key thing I’ve realised is that, dependant on property layout, the truly smart solution would be to warm up the house room by room – and in my case this would mean spending quadruple the price on radiator valves too. This is a cost I simply couldn’t justify based on convenience alone, and I doubt the energy savings would be significant enough to warrant the extra investment either.
In summary, a good purchase if you can find it at the right price, but be well aware of its limitations and whether it’s worth it compared with what you already have.
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.
TWO YEARS LATER: I’ve ended up with 14 wireless radiator valves, 3 switches and 2 room thermostats on the 3-zone system. My observations are as follows:
1) The system’s wireless connections are flaky, and subject to interference
2) Drayton Controls doesn’t want to acknowledge any issues publicly, but they have a list of systems they suspect interfere with Wiser (see photo above) which is worryingly long, and included Amazon Echo products, which they specifically say the system works with!
3) Their support lines are responsive, but soon run out of system knowledge. I’ve spent c.5 hours on the phone to them this month.
4) Often the random problems disappear, but without anyone knowing why.
5) The radiator valves are too weak to stop water flowing through radiators when turned off. Noisy too.
I’m keeping the system, as I really can’t be bothered to rip it all out and start again, but I’d advise new buyers to research all other options and assess which has the best wireless connectivity.
Bought the two sets of the multizone (heating+water) controls on the recommendation of my plumber, so two room thermostats and 4 TRVs, plus a spare Hub. Written after 4 months of use though winter:
Pros:
– Easy enough to install and add new components.
– The Wifi range of the Hub is weak, but adequate in a thick-walled brick house as long as the hub is central, otherwise you’ll likely need some range extenders.
– The app works well whilst on WiFi and still seems to be getting improved. The boost function is great, adding a couple of degrees heating to a room.
– The app heating reports are very useful in seeing which parts of the house need more attention with regards to draughtproofing or insulation, or simply more heating
– Hot water schedule has been great, and very easy to give it a quick boost if needed.
– It occasionally fully opens and closes the TRVs around the house so they don’t get stuck through lack of use. The TRV motion is audible, but not overly loud.
– The granular control over the heating times and zones has halved my gas bill, recouping the cost of the system in just 2-3 months.
Cons:
– Rooms occasionally heat up or cool down randomly, rather than following their set schedule. Drayton Wiser support offered no explanation so my solution to this was to add more identical time points throughout the day, so they check every couple of hours and hopefully reset themselves accordingly. Seems to work.
– One of the TRVs has failed already, locked in the open position so an unused room was being heated towards 30 degrees – only noticed as the gas smart meter buzzed a budget alarm. Drayton Wiser support tells me this is not their problem, so doesn’t come under any sort of warranty. Thankfully Amazon exchanged it without question.
– Connecting to the hub remotely whilst out and about is very slow. Support tells me this is my phones fault and the home wifi networks fault despite all the other smart devices in the home being absolutely fine remotely.
– Support is patient with simple queries but do ignore any support tickets they don’t want to answer.
– The Alexa integration is a bit hit and miss. Asking for current temperature or extra heat works perfectly, using a simple routine to turn the heat off in a single room inexplicably sets the whole house to boost mode.
Suggestions:
– Set up a dedicated 2.4GHz SSID for your heating. Should be possible in your router settings.
– Let the hub update automatically to the latest firmware. There’s nowhere online that will tell you what that might be or what the changes are, and if it fails (due to network congestion or whatever) it gives up so it’s worth checking with support that it’s reached the latest version. They can also remotely restart the upgrade process if necessary.
– The warranty with Drayton appears worthless as they won’t accept that parts might fail. Buy it from a retailer that has a decent returns policy.
Despite all that I do like the control aspect and it is saving a lot of money, but do wonder if I might have had a better overall experience with another manufacturer.
Bought the two sets of the multizone (heating+water) controls on the recommendation of my plumber, so two room thermostats and 4 TRVs, plus a spare Hub. Written after 4 months of use though winter:
Pros:
– Easy enough to install and add new components.
– The Wifi range of the Hub is weak, but adequate in a thick-walled brick house as long as the hub is central, otherwise you’ll likely need some range extenders.
– The app works well whilst on WiFi and still seems to be getting improved. The boost function is great, adding a couple of degrees heating to a room.
– The app heating reports are very useful in seeing which parts of the house need more attention with regards to draughtproofing or insulation, or simply more heating
– Hot water schedule has been great, and very easy to give it a quick boost if needed.
– It occasionally fully opens and closes the TRVs around the house so they don’t get stuck through lack of use. The TRV motion is audible, but not overly loud.
– The granular control over the heating times and zones has halved my gas bill, recouping the cost of the system in just 2-3 months.
Cons:
– Rooms occasionally heat up or cool down randomly, rather than following their set schedule. Drayton Wiser support offered no explanation so my solution to this was to add more identical time points throughout the day, so they check every couple of hours and hopefully reset themselves accordingly. Seems to work.
– One of the TRVs has failed already, locked in the open position so an unused room was being heated towards 30 degrees – only noticed as the gas smart meter buzzed a budget alarm. Drayton Wiser support tells me this is not their problem, so doesn’t come under any sort of warranty. Thankfully Amazon exchanged it without question.
– Connecting to the hub remotely whilst out and about is very slow. Support tells me this is my phones fault and the home wifi networks fault despite all the other smart devices in the home being absolutely fine remotely.
– Support is patient with simple queries but do ignore any support tickets they don’t want to answer.
– The Alexa integration is a bit hit and miss. Asking for current temperature or extra heat works perfectly, using a simple routine to turn the heat off in a single room inexplicably sets the whole house to boost mode.
Suggestions:
– Set up a dedicated 2.4GHz SSID for your heating. Should be possible in your router settings.
– Let the hub update automatically to the latest firmware. There’s nowhere online that will tell you what that might be or what the changes are, and if it fails (due to network congestion or whatever) it gives up so it’s worth checking with support that it’s reached the latest version. They can also remotely restart the upgrade process if necessary.
– The warranty with Drayton appears worthless as they won’t accept that parts might fail. Buy it from a retailer that has a decent returns policy.
Despite all that I do like the control aspect and it is saving a lot of money, but do wonder if I might have had a better overall experience with another manufacturer.
This is just first impressions in terms of a diy-er installing the smart hub, two roomstats and a couple of smart plugs.
The actual upgrade of the controller to a smart hub was very easy. The backplate had to be changed but the instructions were easy to follow as I had the wiring diag of the old controller. That probably took less than 30 minutes after which I could use my central heating and hot water via the boost buttons. Pairing of the roomstats was also fairly straighforward.
What was extremely difficult was connecting to the cloud. The app is buggy and idiosyncratic and I was getting repeated failures. There is nothing on line or via the app to help.
Tech support though were superb. I twice got through on the phone straight away – and on a Saturday.
Eventually they resolved the issue and it was extremely complex to diagnose.
1) I have a 5g mesh network but the hub only works at 2.4g.
2) It doesn’t like vpn so that had to be disabled.
3) There were issues with randomly losing the wifi connection to the hub – it was resolved by putting in some smart plugs to boost the internal signal from the hub but there was no way of knowing in advance whether that would cure the problem as there was no indication of signal strength through the house
So bottom line on the hub install is, Tech Support was the saviour and I needed smart plugs.
TRVs, once installed seem fine – just a little too easy to upset the smart install process when physically installing the valves on the rad (just dont turn the top of the TRV by accident as you do it as it seemed to switch to another function.
Overall though I’ve got a pretty good smart heating system with no installation cost 🙂
After hours of research I had actually ordered Tado as they had apple HomeKit integration.
Luckily for me Tado sent half my items and then cancelled my order and mentioned Brexit.
Customer support was terrible I still don’t have refunds after two weeks. Never again!
Here is my research conclusion.
Tado: poor support and now charge monthly for auto away mode.
Hive: have really poor radiator control reviews.
Nest: don’t have radiator controls.
Then I discovered Drayton it has good has radiator controls that work and is cheaper.
So I ordered the conventional boiler kit and 4 radiator controls.
I needed accurate control in the lounge so I placed two radiator valves and the thermostat here.
I don’t believe in hallway thermostats, who sits in the hall.
I needed a week time schedule for the bedrooms we use as offices so placed two radiator controls there.
I left the remaining radiators on TRVs.
I removed my previous thermostat and controller which was wired to a backplate in the airing cupboard. Checked the wires were correct and clipped in the new hub to the backplate.
I had previously watched Drayton install videos which makes things clear.
It has two over ride buttons so you can test it ,turning the CH and HW on and off to confirm the wiring.
Next load the app and follow its instructions pretty simple.
The method is roughly like this.
1 connect to the hubs hot spot and put in on your WiFi code
2 add the controls one by one and put them in rooms
3 configure your schedule for each room.
The TRVs just replaced the tops of my old Honeywell TRVs. Just ensure they are tight enough.
It’s been running for two weeks now.
The lounge which is controlled via a thermostat and two radiator controls heats up quick and holds its temperature steady. We also have a stove so when that’s on the hub doesn’t call for heat as it’s warm enough-just the job.
The two offices upstairs are only used in the day in the week and one only part time. I was suspicious that the controls would give me an accurate temperature. The radiator controls do a really great job.
Warm up quickly and the temp is pretty good. I checked with another thermometer.
I now have room by room schedules which was impossible before.
The app is great nice and clear nothing to complain about.
Alexa integration works well too.
Well done Drayton.
After hours of research I had actually ordered Tado as they had apple HomeKit integration.
Luckily for me Tado sent half my items and then cancelled my order and mentioned Brexit.
Customer support was terrible I still don’t have refunds after two weeks. Never again!
Here is my research conclusion.
Tado: poor support and now charge monthly for auto away mode.
Hive: have really poor radiator control reviews.
Nest: don’t have radiator controls.
Then I discovered Drayton it has good has radiator controls that work and is cheaper.
So I ordered the conventional boiler kit and 4 radiator controls.
I needed accurate control in the lounge so I placed two radiator valves and the thermostat here.
I don’t believe in hallway thermostats, who sits in the hall.
I needed a week time schedule for the bedrooms we use as offices so placed two radiator controls there.
I left the remaining radiators on TRVs.
I removed my previous thermostat and controller which was wired to a backplate in the airing cupboard. Checked the wires were correct and clipped in the new hub to the backplate.
I had previously watched Drayton install videos which makes things clear.
It has two over ride buttons so you can test it ,turning the CH and HW on and off to confirm the wiring.
Next load the app and follow its instructions pretty simple.
The method is roughly like this.
1 connect to the hubs hot spot and put in on your WiFi code
2 add the controls one by one and put them in rooms
3 configure your schedule for each room.
The TRVs just replaced the tops of my old Honeywell TRVs. Just ensure they are tight enough.
It’s been running for two weeks now.
The lounge which is controlled via a thermostat and two radiator controls heats up quick and holds its temperature steady. We also have a stove so when that’s on the hub doesn’t call for heat as it’s warm enough-just the job.
The two offices upstairs are only used in the day in the week and one only part time. I was suspicious that the controls would give me an accurate temperature. The radiator controls do a really great job.
Warm up quickly and the temp is pretty good. I checked with another thermometer.
I now have room by room schedules which was impossible before.
The app is great nice and clear nothing to complain about.
Alexa integration works well too.
Well done Drayton.
After hours of research I had actually ordered Tado as they had apple HomeKit integration.
Luckily for me Tado sent half my items and then cancelled my order and mentioned Brexit.
Customer support was terrible I still don’t have refunds after two weeks. Never again!
Here is my research conclusion.
Tado: poor support and now charge monthly for auto away mode.
Hive: have really poor radiator control reviews.
Nest: don’t have radiator controls.
Then I discovered Drayton it has good has radiator controls that work and is cheaper.
So I ordered the conventional boiler kit and 4 radiator controls.
I needed accurate control in the lounge so I placed two radiator valves and the thermostat here.
I don’t believe in hallway thermostats, who sits in the hall.
I needed a week time schedule for the bedrooms we use as offices so placed two radiator controls there.
I left the remaining radiators on TRVs.
I removed my previous thermostat and controller which was wired to a backplate in the airing cupboard. Checked the wires were correct and clipped in the new hub to the backplate.
I had previously watched Drayton install videos which makes things clear.
It has two over ride buttons so you can test it ,turning the CH and HW on and off to confirm the wiring.
Next load the app and follow its instructions pretty simple.
The method is roughly like this.
1 connect to the hubs hot spot and put in on your WiFi code
2 add the controls one by one and put them in rooms
3 configure your schedule for each room.
The TRVs just replaced the tops of my old Honeywell TRVs. Just ensure they are tight enough.
It’s been running for two weeks now.
The lounge which is controlled via a thermostat and two radiator controls heats up quick and holds its temperature steady. We also have a stove so when that’s on the hub doesn’t call for heat as it’s warm enough-just the job.
The two offices upstairs are only used in the day in the week and one only part time. I was suspicious that the controls would give me an accurate temperature. The radiator controls do a really great job.
Warm up quickly and the temp is pretty good. I checked with another thermometer.
I now have room by room schedules which was impossible before.
The app is great nice and clear nothing to complain about.
Alexa integration works well too.
Well done Drayton.
After four nights of broken sleep recently, I decided to investigate the Insights Heat Reports.
I’ve looked at these before, and dismissed them as just fancy graphs to make the system look all techy… how wrong I was!
With four radiator stats, and the weather turning colder over Christmas, I realised the temperature in the livingroom was dropping below the 16 set point at around 4am every morning and causing the boiler to fire, raising the temperature in the bedroom and disturbing my sleep.
Set point reduced. Restful sleep resumed
After four nights of broken sleep recently, I decided to investigate the Insights Heat Reports.
I’ve looked at these before, and dismissed them as just fancy graphs to make the system look all techy… how wrong I was!
With four radiator stats, and the weather turning colder over Christmas, I realised the temperature in the livingroom was dropping below the 16 set point at around 4am every morning and causing the boiler to fire, raising the temperature in the bedroom and disturbing my sleep.
Set point reduced. Restful sleep resumed
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.
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.