Wiser Smart Thermostat Heating Control Heating Only - Works with Amazon Alexa, Google Home and IFTTT

Upgraded from a Drayton Digistat+2RF with SCR on an oil-fired combi boiler. The new Drayton Wiser HubR uses an industry-standard backplate, so it clipped straight onto the old one. Swap done in minutes, no need to rewire. The Wiser app works really well, easy to set up and control with no issues at all. The system integrates smoothly with Alexa voice control, and we’re really happy with the radiator thermostats, which give precise control in each room. If you’re wondering: Works perfectly with oil-fired boilers Direct SCR replacement, no rewiring Wireless thermostat, wall-mount or freestanding Great integration with Alexa and radiator thermostats App is reliable and easy to use

It is now th May 2024, so I thought it was time to update my review. My system has grown a bit it now includes 3 smart plugs/extenders and 17 TRVs, 1 Room Thermostat and one Wiser hub. My boiler has not changed, I am still using Wiser to control my old oil boiler. In short, the system is still working well and I am pleased I bought it back in 2018. I use it slightly differently now. I am retired and don't have it set up on timer. Most control is done using Alexa, I love the ability to control via voice, so it's easy to be laying in bed, feel I want a shower and to say "Alexa, turn on hot water" I also use phone to remotely turn on heat if heading home and it is a bit chilly. I was always good at turning off my old manual TRVs in rooms I was not using. But the App on my phone and voice control via Alexa makes temperature control so much easier. Haven't had to call support for years, I am just not having any issues. One bit of advice is to cost in buying a couple of smart plugs/extenders to get the signal to all bits of your house. I have a large house and ended up buying 3. So after 6 years all is good, any problems/developments and I will update my review again. My previous reviews are below..... I bought the Drayton Wiser Multizone Kit 2 – Heating & Hot Water back in October. Six weeks have gone by so thought a review may help others if they are considering purchasing. My system consisted of a oil fired boiler that heated radiators all fitted with traditional Danfoss TRVs and a hot water tank that the boiler heated in the airing cupboard. This was controlled by a Drayton LP522 programmer and a traditional wired room stat in the hall. Installation was easy. The Wiser hub fitted onto my existing programmer wall plate. I decided I didn't want to get an electrician to bridge out the wired room stat as instructed. As if I didn't like the system I planned to return it. So I set existing wired room stat to maximum so that was always calling for heat and Wiser then would control my heat. Downloaded App, pressed set up button on hub but my phone would not find the Wiser wi fi. It turned out I was pressing button too long, its a sort quick press. Then connected no problem. Added Drayton wireless room stat, 2 Wiser TRVs to two radiators in Living Room also fitted Drayton smartplug/range extender which is not part of kit but purchased separately. All worked well and I bought two additional TRVs. So what happens is this enables you to control temperature through App and Alexa. Things you can do with Alexa. Alexa What is temperature in Living Room? Alexa set bedroom to 20 degrees Alexa turn on hot water Also use it to operate the Smart/plug to turn on power to a lamp plugged into it in hall Not all my radiators are fitted with Wiser TRVs. What this means is if a Drayton TRV or the Room stat calls for heat an old manual TRV will operate at the temperature it is set at. So for example Living Room Wiser TRV calls for heat, boiler fires and radiator heats. Kitchen Radiator if old manual TRV open then that radiator also heats. After about 4 days I ran into a problem. Devices (TRVs, Room Stat, and TRVs) all disconnected. So not visible in App. Switching off power to hub for 2 minutes eanbled them to connect again. But eventually they lost connection againTo cut a long story short I spoke to Drayton Customer services, they were able while I was on the phone to download data from my hub and diagnosed a very poor signal. Apparently the Smart Plugs/Range extenders are better at pushing out signal that accepting it from hub. So I ended up moving position of initial Smart Plug I had purchased and buying an additional 2 Smart Plugs. First Plug is 6 metres from Wiser Hub, second plug 11 metres from first and third placed upstairs. Now everything seems to be working perfectly. Easy to set up schedules in App so each room with a Wiser TRV can be controlled individually. There is also an Away setting that enables you to set a schedule or temperatures for when you are not at home. I use this for a frost setting. Of course you can monitor the temperature in your house wherever you are as long as your phone has a signal I really like system and the control it gives me. Integration with Alexa is great and a real benefit. As other have said in a large house signal seems poor and resulted in me buying 3 Smart Plugs in total. So maybe worth planning for this in case you have to go this route too. I will update this review if I have more to add in the future. It is 30/10/20, two years since I bought my Wiser system so I thought it was about time for an update. I'm still pleased with my purchase. I now have a total of 10 TRVs and 3 smart plugs (needed to extend range). Two things I have noticed... 1 When away from home heating is off. I often use Wiser to turn on the heating before getting home. Normally works well, but if there has been a power outage at home while away, even a really short one I cannot use the App to turn the system on remotely. 2 Last night TRVs were constantly operating motors. They were not operating heating but had lost connection to the hub. Looking at app this morning, devices not connected. I was on the phone to Drayton Support, they downloaded data from the hub. A smart plug which I used as a range extender had disconnected. I had great, patient support from the two Drayton customer support people I spoke to. Was an hour on the phone but the problem was sorted. As I said earlier, I am still pleased with the Wiser system. Things I like and how I use it...... Increasing temperature in the room I'm in without moving of sofa "Alexa make the living room 21 degrees" Working in the garden, feeling I need a shower. Open door, call out "Alexa, turn on hot water", carry on working while the water heats. Turning on heat/water while away so house heated for return (see note about power cut above) I will continue to update my review as time goes by, but in summary the system continues to impress!

very good and compatible with older drayton systems Most of the app is ok, and is slowly being improved However Some feedback to improve the app I have marked it 1 / low stars so the hopefully dev will read and implement and it will help other users in a similar position my current system was using a switchmaster 805 - 2 channel timer from 2003, until I upgraded to the wiser system in 2022 as it was the most compatible choice and budget efficient for the features (individual room control). My system requires that the hot to be on for the central heating to warm up. what i find now is that the heating is running but the hot water is off, and have to manual turn the hot and heating on at the same time everytime! if I want heating to work. i have an update that i would like you to add on the next release of the the wiser app it is a simple software toggle button, for the 2 channel users. Can be located in the system setting menu. that asks does the hot water have to be on for the heating to warm up? either a yes (on) or no (off) this toggle being on, the software will check if the hot water is switch is on, and if it is not, it will switch the hot water on same time as the heating switch this would help alot of your core customers as many are migrating from 2 channel systems, where the wiser is a direct replacement, with the older drayton systems users simply press the HW and CH switches / buttons, we need the app to have this core feature, to me automated to satisfy user experience and convenience, rather having to manually turn on and off the system. if this system was introduced, it would also help users like me to use the wiser app to implement a manual frost protection, which in my old system i set the HW and CH to manual on, and the room thermostat, i set to a temp above a certain temp that i know that the pipes would freeze at and it would keep the system running at night if the temp dropped. current the room thermostat replaces my old thermostat and this can be set to just above the temp which the pipes would freeze at, however the heating switches on, but cold water runs through the system, as the hot water is off. to counter this, i have had had to setup a makeshift schedule for the hot water to be on, that is alternating every hour at throughout the night , so the heating system doesn't freeze, this is very annoying as if we have a cold spell, I would not be able to get the heating to work, until the frozen sections are thawed, when the weather warms up a bit, but this sometimes doesn't happened for several days, and we would have to used electric heaters for heat. I talk from experience, if this was a older people, then may freeze or catch pneumonia. So it is essential. that is why i prefer to run the system in a makeshift manner, and waster energy and increase cost to having the hot water on when it doesn't need to be, so the when the heating can catch the hot water on to warm up the system and prevent from freezing. i see this as a critical feature for dual/2 channel users with conventional systems/boilers, i chose the drayton system was more compatible with exist system and was drayton orientated. Hardwiring the systems or control centre is a more difficult and costly thing to do, and I would imagine a diode link would be needed other the when you only want/need hot water the heating would also come one, this is a pain in summer and warmer days, as heating is not needed, but hot water is from the taps for kitchen and bathroom uses etc I have a SM2 manual timer as a backup should the hubr fail, as it uses the same connections/wiring setup so a straight swap, and it is the simplest to use and the latest successor for the SM805 timer please can you implement this critical update in the new / next release of the app update also to login on the apple devices using touch id and face id also multiple user access on separate emails addresses, so the main linked controller setup email is the main user and admin, whilst this user can share restricted access to the controls, but cant change system setting et, the additional uses login using their own individual email address/ account. ring doorbells have the similar system

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.

Just be careful where you instal it as the remote thermostat signal can be obstructed by thick walls. I installed mine where the original controller sat. Initial set up of controller was a bit difficult but after a couple of goes it worked great. The radiator valves set up was easy, and they where working fine. The setting of times was a little fiddly but managed them OK. So great was the radiator valves I ordered another 3 and set them up.

The Drayton Wiser Kit 2 was incredibly easy to install. It uses the standard wall plate for the old programmer, so swapping it over only took a few minutes with no rewiring needed. The smart radiator valves were just as simple to fit and paired straight away through the app. You’ve got two options for dealing with the old room thermostat: either leave it in place and set it to maximum so the Wiser handles everything, or remove the wiring from the hub for a tidier setup. The system now controls each room individually and responds quickly to changes. Heating is noticeably more efficient, and I expect it’ll easily pay for itself within a year. A great bit of kit for anyone upgrading to smart heating.

After being advised to get a Honeywell EvoHome system, I researched all options. 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.

Overall the Drayton is very wise multi-zone controller. Setting the system cannot be easier: cut the light, replace the old Drayton with the new Wiser, power it up and configure the app, which is made through a step by step guide. The app is quite complete helping to create different zones (one per WISE valve that you have installed plus the "main area"), the timer is not very user-friendly but you can get used to. However, all this advantages can become frustration if you have an old heating system. For example a Gravity fed system is not supported. My old Drayton would automatically switch on the hot water boiler if the heating system was ON, however the new Wise treat them separately, which means that if I switch on the heating the how water would not work, which is translated in having cold water going through the heating system. I have been using the system for 4 months now and I can say that I love it. I love how to control it with my phone, how to control zones by time and temperatures. I finally have full control over my heating system. Just take into account that you are most likely to ending up buying more TVR, that would help you controlling the temperature of every room. The Customer service is also definitely one the advantages of the system. I am not a professional and I decided to replace it by myself, mainly guided but the super easy installation process. However, it is essential to understand and to know your plumbing system. The engineer helped me via email to rearrange the cabling in order to eliminate the old room thermostat (not required anymore) and giving me advises on how to reconfigure the electrical system. PRO - Customer service is amazing. I had problems with the electric part and they tried their best for supporting me. In the end I had to accept that it does not work properly with my system. - The fact that you can just unscrew the old Drayton controller, as well as the TVR valves, and replace with the new one kit is amazing and quick. CONS - It does not support Apple Home Kit, so you cannot control it using Siri. - Does not work properly if you have a gravity fed system. - The two TRV valves are just enough to start, you will probably end up buying one for each radiator/room. - If your radiators have an old valve you have, most likely, to replace it with a Drayton one and then replace the TVR with the motorised of the kit. - Programming the automatic timer is not as intuitive but you get used to it. Once set it is difficult that you will ever play with it again. - The TVR valves are a bit noisy when activating the solenoid. It is definitely something that can be improved in the next version.