DRAYTON wiser wireless heating controller, fitting?

[The Wino]

Problem is the programmer is above a rad and that is where I would have to put the hive due to wiring , was also thinking of the WiFi valves to get a bit more control.

It doesn't matter where the hive is fitted as the thermostat is wireless so you can have it anywhere.

 

[POH]

It doesn't matter where the hive is fitted as the thermostat is wireless so you can have it anywhere.

Was thinking that if it's above a rad it will affect the thermostat.

 

[The Wino]

Was thinking that if it's above a rad it will affect the thermostat.

As I say the thermostat is a separate wireless one so you can put it anywhere you like. We're on our third hive ours has worked well but it's not cheap. You can I think pay for it as a monthly contract but it is a lot cheaper to just buy it. They were on offer for black Friday I don't know if the deal is still on. We have some lights linked to it and a couple of plugs. When we worked away we used to put a casserole in the slow cooker on one of the plugs and switch it on before we came back so it was ready when we got home. The app on the phone for heating has several options we were just putting it on manual boost for a bit when we felt cold. As the weather changed we now have it on schedule but boost for a while to a lower temperature if were out for a while so the heating goes off then on again before we return.

 

[Odd-no-more]

Problem is the programmer is above a rad and that is where I would have to put the hive due to wiring , was also thinking of the WiFi valves to get a bit more control.

Not ideal over a rad but the control is not the thermostat

 

[Pausim]

Problem is the programmer is above a rad and that is where I would have to put the hive due to wiring , was also thinking of the WiFi valves to get a bit more control.

Hive has 3 parts, none of which need to be placed where the old programmer is in the old system.
This is the bit that is wired to the boiler, ours is inside the warm boiler cupboard. It is powered by the boiler.

This is the thermostat which can be left anywhere in you home. There are no wires to this bit, it is powered by battery.

This is the hub which is powere by mains and plugs into the internet router.

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[Lenny HB]

funflair Have you got it working yet Martin?

 

[funflair]

funflair Have you got it working yet Martin?

I should get all the bits today, I wanted to get my head around fitting it before I ordered the kit, I mighty be in bother if I turn the boiler off for a couple of hours at the moment though, and even more bother if it doesn't come back on

 

[Lenny HB]

It's even cold down here today, I keep threatening to wash the Motorhome, but it's only threats so far.
I mean 1° on the south coast, it's just not on but it is bright and sunny.

 

[funflair]

UPDATE time, all done well it's fitted and working, 1 room stat and 7 radiator smart valves and basic programming done, need to have a bit of a play with the app features, even vacuumed and put my tools away, thanks all for help and suggestions.

 

[autorouter]

We have the Wiser System in our village hall. Generally works well but the wall stats get through a set of batteries in about 9 months. They default off so the room stays cold. Seems no way of overriding them except to fit new batteries. The app does not let you know the batteries are low, but with a bit of digging you can see it's not communicating with the stat.

In the Wiser App, if you tap on the 'room' where the thermostat is located, and tap the 'Room Settings', you get to page of the App that shows the room thermostat, with a coloured battery symbol to show its state. The batteries seem to last a couple of years.

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[funflair]

In the Wiser App, if you tap on the 'room' where the thermostat is located, and tap the 'Room Settings', you get to page of the App that shows the room thermostat, with a coloured battery symbol to show its state. The batteries seem to last a couple of years.

Also if you go to your account you can allow alerts for critical battery levels.

 

[autorouter]

They default off so the room stays cold. Seems no way of overriding them except to fit new batteries.

The heating can be activated by pushing buttons on the 'Hub', which is the small box hard-wired to the boiler. It will put on the heating for a fixed time - an hour or two, can't remember now - then it goes off again. Gives you time to find new batteries for the stat.

 

[Odd-no-more]

Last evening I kept checking the temperature in the bedrooms and when they got to 14 deg I chickened out and boosted them but within half an hour it was up to 18 deg so I could have left it. This morning it's very cold so inspite of have the heat pump I've put the heat on as well. The point of smart control is to heat intelligently, not to freeze

 

[funflair]

So in conclusion, I am pretty chuffed with the system, easy enough to fit once you know how and as long as you are happy to mess about with 240v, one proviso would of course be that you already have some sort of TRV on most radiators we have all Danfoss except two Drayton, if not you are into plumbing and draining systems so would get a bit more involved.

Cost for a basic single channel kit is around £200 this gets you the hub that replaces your programmer a wireless thermostat and two wireless TRV's, each additional TRV is around £40 so our total spend was around £440, this all assumes that you have a smart phone to run the Wiser Home app which not only allows you to control your heating room by room but you can also add 240v plug in sockets that act a network range extenders and wireless 240v switching either as part of the programming or even remotely via the app.

Once the wiring was done the system sets up in no time with the app guiding you through fitting and pairing each new device and then naming and setting up individual room parameters.

I will say that the temperature displayed by the TRV does not always match the room temperature and there is no way to apply an offset so a bit of fiddling is required to get each room to your desired temperature. during the day we basically live in the sun lounge which I know isn't very sensible in the winter as being all glass it is quite a heat sink but it's a nice place to be so hey ho, we can now run the rest of the house pretty cool during the day until around 17:30 when we move "indoors" so these rooms then come on and the sun lounge goes off.

You can get some nice fancy traces of the room temperatures over time, this shows that the purple trace has kicked in overnight so the lowest set point can be dropped to prevent this, the red trace is the sun lounge which of course goes lower than any other area.

When you go away or just out for the day you just click away on the app and everything cuts back to a preset level, then "un-away" the system before you get back home and all is OK.

So all things considered it's great especially for a serial fiddler with short arms and deep pockets, I am sure it will save us money on gas and allow us to run rooms at comfortable temperatures but not having a smart meter we don't have that data.

 

[autorouter]

So all things considered it's great especially for a serial fiddler with short arms and deep pockets, I am sure it will save us money on gas and allow us to run rooms at comfortable temperatures but not having a smart meter we don't have that data.

I think you are in danger of making the same mistake as me. I told everyone how great the system was, and how easy it was to fit. Result was I got the job of fitting two more, in my daughter's and my SIL's.

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[Odd-no-more]

I'm not familiar with the wiser system but one drawback I've found with the hive is on a day like this when I need the heating on all day, I can't just advance the programmer, I have to do it for every room that needs heat. Last evening when I checked the bedroom temperature at 8.00pm it was 12.7 deg but by the time we went to bed it was a comfortable 20 deg

 

[TG1903]

The Wiser control has a Boost All button in the Automations screen

 

[funflair]

It's still early days for me with Wiser and I haven't used Hive at all but the Wiser app and stats seem to have quite a few option as far as override and boost are concerned.

 

[Odd-no-more]

Because I only heat the rooms I need when I'm heating them outside the set times I boost/advance each room as I need to. It is easy to do from the app, it's because I have set heat on demand so any room can turn the boiler on I have to do each room.