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

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 degreesAlexa turn on hot waterAlso use it to operate the Smart/plug to turn on power to a lamp plugged into it in hallNot 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 signalI 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!

This is a very good system that has already saved me heating costs even after a few months. I estimate it will pay for itself in my house in about 3 years but I would still use it just for the features it provides even without the cost saving.The devices all connect together easily and let me control the heating room by room from my mobile phone whilst away from the house so perfect for heating when needed. I can see on an app on my phone the actual temperature in each room and can program the target temperature room by room. It also has the normal programmable on off times day by day schedules for the house and rooms but I no longer use these as have found better ways to manage the house heating.You do not need a on going contract to use the device via internet to access the system when away from the house - it does depend on logging on to Draytons servers but the company has been going for years and it's unlikely their service will end in the next 20 years. The system is accessed directly via the house WiFi when inside the house so no dependency on the internet or their servers.A really useful feature is the radiator controllers allow each radiator to be turned on individually for 1 hour (it fires up the central heating) then will turn off automatically. It means occupants can heat selected rooms on demand and not need have the central heating warm the whole house e.g. when kids want to be in their bedroom they can heat their room themselves just when they are in it and it turns off automatically when they are away. I would say the precision in targeting the heating of this feature trumps many more complicated features for convenience and saving heating costs.I could not fit a combi boiler in the house so have a high quality hot water storage tank in the loft - I have the tank on a separate heating circuit so can control hot water heating on demand from the Drayton app on my phone or on a timer programme or by using a boost button on the central heating controller unit so no hot water goes to waste.The online technical support team is superb - I had a problem getting the main heating controller unit to connect via wifi to the internet which turned out to be a fault with my talktalk broadband router. Drayton worked patiently with me providing technical advice to help get talktalk to understand and accept the issue and replace the broken router then everything worked.The Drayton system has fewer features than other systems e.g. hive but is significantly cheaper whilst being very functional and well designed.