How to DIY Install a Smart Heating System: Drayton Wiser

[@bpmills222]

Excellent review Charlie, a long one so well done for sticking with it. I've had the Wiser system installed for two years now, and have found it great. Added bonus is that their customer service pick up the phone, answer emails, and you can get tech support, rather than a call centre. As a tip to reduce the initial outlay, if you install the TRVs in the rooms you use LEAST (e.g. bedrooms), then the main living areas of the house are heated as normal, and then the least used rooms only when needed (e.g. bedrooms only in morning and evening). As I'm working from home from a bedroom, I've that particular room set for all day heat, and goes off at 530, and back on around 10 - as you say, hearing the wirr of the thermostat is actually quite reassuring and satisfying. Also, as you, we don't have a TRV in the bathroom/ downstairs toilet as if you're in and want the living area warm, you probably want the loo warm too.

[@cjoy1976]

I've had this system for 2 years or so and it's paid for itself already. Highly recommended system..

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Chris. I'm still loving mine, as you would expect!

[@markwells6137]

Fantastic explanations, wished I'd come across this chap before as I spent a loooong time messing around with humidity monitors and analysis to do virtually what he had painstakingly done on another video (only he was more thorough). Our house is constantly either too hot or too cold & in different parts of the house. I had narrowed down smart heating systems between Netamo and Drayton mainly for cost, DIY installation & strangely enough the other more expensive systems not having radiator specific management seemed like they were missing a trick. I had been erring towards Drayton , but this video convinced me it wont be a bad choice so i installed it on our combi bosch greenstar 24i boiler replacing the existing DanFoss thermostat controller. The change was unbelievably easy, so easy I actually spent a ridiculously long time investigating whether I was missing something. Connecting the Drayton Hub controller to the boiler was literally a 5 minute job, most of that time was spent looking for my screwdrivers. I actually only had to move 2 wires to different connection points on the existing wall plate. As I already had themostatic control valves on the radiators it was a very quick job to swap over, though I'd forgotten it can take up to a minute for the valve to respond to changes on the app (polls very minute) so I spent a frustratingly long time on the first valve disconnecting and reconnecting to see it respond to changes. The total cost for our 3 bedroomed house was about 300 pounds which is a well worth the investment. My only quibble is the app does seem to freeze from time to time , so setting schedules was a bit of a pain - though not something I'll do often. Thanks so much for doing these videos Charlie, gave me the confidence to do it all DIY & I was able to show my partner there was somebody out there even more anal than me in analysing the hell out of something. She was particularly impressed you went through all this to find you didn't need the radiator on in the toilet :)

[@CharlieDIYte]

Fantastic work Mark and thanks so much for getting in touch. I'm particularly impressed you figured out the wiring changes required on the controller back plate. Yes I did find the schedule changing a bit skittish initially (I had forgotten about that), but I haven't had the problem for a while - could be a lag with communicating with the controller through the app 🤔 Anyway I still absolutely love this system. It's not really skipped a beat since install and I like the new moments feature where you can program individual things (eg weekend heating downstairs). I'll be doing an update video on the system some time soon. Ha, you've totally summed me up there on the anal front 🤣 Say hi and thanks to your partner too 👍

[@StephenBarnesNewtownabbey]

I've had a Tado system for a few years now. Previously had it in a 1 zone house but moved to a 2 zone house: bought another thermostat and 3 more TRVs. Absolutely love it. It has saved us so much money by using the geofencing, open window and weather forecasting function. In our previous house our heating bills halved, so it has paid for itself many times over. The one advantage of the Tado over the Drayton is that I had no rewiring to do: the thermostats simply replaced the existing manual thermostats. When you set up each TRV you tell it which thermostat controls that TRV and you're good to go. Other than that, everything seems similar to the Drayton. I do like having the temp displayed on the TRV : in our guest room, for example, the guests can manually adjust the temperature when they're staying and see what it's set to (not at the moment, obviously!) I highly recommend smart heating: it saves you so much money over a standard install!

[@rodp2310]

Just spent a couple of hours looking at new/smart heating system reviews on you tube as ours is on its way out. Charlie your timing is spot on. 👍😄

[@CharlieDIYte]

Great to hear that, Rod. Hope it comes in useful! Any questions, just drop me another comment 👍

[@rodp2310]

@@CharlieDIYte Thanks for putting in all the effort to put your review and set up guide together. Looks a great system. We have a Worcester Bosch combi with two channel and wireless thermostat - which I think are Drayton kit? So I’m guessing would need to wire the Wiser controller unit out from the boiler as no external control unit to replace. That will be GSI rather than DIY for me but if wired ok as is, might be fairly straightforward. Whether the 15 year old boiler needs to go first is another matter. Thanks for the review. Wiser definitely overtaken a few of the others on my list as a result of your trusted reviews. 👍😄

[@rodp2310]

@@CharlieDIYte P.S. WARNING if you have one of those vari-branded tower multi gang power strips like the one you said was under your desk - please be careful and check the wiring in the plug and what you plug into them. I had a cheap one from Amazon which nearly burnt down my previous office as the plug completely melted with very little load.

[@UltimateAccuracy]

A 1 year update would be really interesting. Nothing like a long term review to show any issues. Many thanks.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Yep, agreed. It's in the pipeline.

[@peterwilliams5597]

@@CharlieDIYte .. if you have smart meters, have you connected the app to them to give you the insights+ features? I can recommend it to “tune” your energy usage to increase savings

[@desertpoj]

I concur with all you’ve said; and I’ve had the Wiser product running an oil system similar to yours for two years. One point is to remember to renew the batteries. We’ve been away for two weeks, working not holidaying in these COVID times, and a bedroom battery has failed causing the valve to fail to open; and that bedroom is currently like a sauna. And we’re not there! It’s also fabulous if you’ve got unexpected visitors when you’re away, or one of your family members is a technophobe. When I first had the system my wife returned home earlier than planned and didn’t know how to adjust the heating so texted me complaining of freezing. I just reset it remotely from 35,000 feet over Nova Scotia; deeply satisfying. Great video and, having just updated the app your review will make me adjust how I use the system. As an aside we have Heatmiser system in another house running an underfloor air-source heat-pump system, and I definitely prefer the Schneider Drayton Wiser App. Having said that, the plugs on both systems are great for security. The house we are currently not at, with the sauna bedroom, has a series of plugs operating lights all over the house giving the impression someone is there. Finally, I was able to fit the Drayton system myself, but the Heatmiser system was fitted professionally. Thanks again for another great video.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks for this. Yes, and I think the recent update has now restored the battery status icons in the Device section so you can keep an eye on them. Love the fact that you reset it from 35,000 feet over Nova Scotia. 👊 Was there WiFi on the plane? What's really satisfying to me after doing this video is that feedback from people like your good self pretty much unanimously endorses my own experiences, along with the customer service of Drayton also being positively reported back on. I thought Evohome was the gold standard but I'm hearing in this comment feed that the app hasn't been updated, there are no Insights, the number of radiators you can add to each hub is limited (and of course my point about the ugliness of the TRVs). So I suspect they've become a bit arrogant after having the dominant market share for so long and didn't see the incumbents sneaking up on them. Tado has also been reported positiviely on. Finally, a couple of techies have managed to integrate it with Home Assistant, to do away with the cloud element of the Hub. That's outside my capability right now, but I am intrigued by Home Assistant. Thanks again for such a fantastic comment 👍

[@desertpoj]

@@CharlieDIYte Yes it was the aeroplane Wi-fi. Until I watched your video I didn’t realise there was a Geofencing Option. I’m away a lot, and so are my wife and youngest and only remaining daughter, and, despite my constant reminders, they never to put the heating in away mode or tell me that they’re going away. Interesting what you say about how the plugs re-amplify the signal; which I didn’t realise. It must be why the system works so well in our house as we have dreadful issues with Wi-fi and have had to put three BT discs plus a plug-in extender to get decent coverage. What I would ideally like is remote valve kit; which is after all Schneider’s specialty, so I can turn off stop-cocks remotely. Perhaps you can suggest it to Drayton/Schneider as no other system does it and, for a family like ours who are away a lot and rush between homes at short notice. BTW, I discovered your channel looking for a sealant spreading video. Very good it was too. Very professional.

[@adrianappleyard4005]

I installed Wiser system myself 2 years ago and it's the best decision I made. Detached house with 9 valves on all but one radiator, this being a small rad in the on suite bath room. Linked Open Therm has been the icing on the cake. Easy to install and control. This system is a no brainer. When leaving the house it's programmed to close down and re start when I get close to home. I expect it will pay for itself in about 3 to 4 years. All linked to Alexa. Simples.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks for this Adrian. Yes I think I need to link Open Therm. Suspect my 10 year old boiler doesn't support it though.

[@skycaptainaerialimaging5980]

@@CharlieDIYte I am no expert, just a normal practical guy. So I have no idea, sorry.

[@Toma2843]

@@CharlieDIYte i have a greenstar 25Si boiler and called worcester today, they told me this doesn't 'speak' opentherm but has an equivalent language (for communicating between devices and the boiler) called EMS. However, they say, it doesn't matter greatly - the efficiency loss is estimated only about 2%.

[@cengiz246]

After watching this video I bought a 2 thermostat system. 2 weeks in and I'm so pleased.

[@CharlieDIYte]

So glad to hear that. Did you fit it yourself?

[@ianbusby2845]

Have been using this system since autumn 2019 & recommend it.I bought the starter kit when on offer which seems to happen now & then on Amazon.All our radiators had conventional trv’s.Started off replacing the hall & upstairs bathroom as they still needed heat long after the lounge was ok.Gradually added to system as could afford.Only 1 more trv to go.Great review & mirrors my experience of wiser.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Ian, that's great to hear. Thanks so much for getting in touch. I've got nothing but good experiences so far but then that's just my experiences over a month and there will be dissenting views - I suspect largely down to connectivity issues. It's so valuable to hear from you after having it installed for so long 👍🏻

[@ianbusby2845]

@@CharlieDIYte I have a smart plug & it is a small house but no connection problems.

[@CharlieDIYte]

@@ianbusby2845 Good to hear that. Thanks again 👍🏻

[@evilqueen1]

Fantastic review Charlie - thank you very much. This convinced me to take the plunge and go the Wiser route. Just finished my own installation using the opentherm connections and I must say that I love the system. Two room thermostats and 17 rad thermostats. Very, very good and clearly well thought through by Wiser. The rad thermostats make a massive difference to such systems giving incredibly fine control over the entire environment. Jury is still out for me as to whether it is best to microzone as people appear to call it - i.e. individually control and schedule each rad as heating is required around the house or to instead use the rad thermostats to either heat to temp as required but to fall back to a setback temp rather than turn off the rad entirely. All to do with what is most efficient in terms of heat loss and for the boiler to remain in condensing mode. The beauty of this system though is that it gives you the fine control to be able to do either so I will be tesing both over a similar period of time and comparing the result in terms of both cost and comfort. Only thing I might do is add a couple more room stats so that the rest of the family find it easier to adjust when I am not around (although it is also possible to control temps via the rad stat controls and voice assistant too). Overall though, I could not be happier. Well done Drayton.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Really good to hear you like it and great work connecting it up to opentherm. Did you watch my update vid? kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3WchXWgaMR2nJY The rechargeable batteries have been great. Yes, good question about the microzoning. Sam on my Discord forum is not a fan due to the privilege you have of heat migrating to the cold zones you're not heating but I still find it very effective. What I have done in that cold snap we had - because my old Victorian house still isn't sufficiently insulated - is set up Moments . So I have a "Bedtime" moment where I have all the relevant rooms set to 17 degrees, just to keep the house to a comfortable temp and keep the thermal massing topped up during the night.

[@evilqueen1]

@@CharlieDIYte Certainly did watch that one too Charlie - also extremely helpful so thanks for that too. Great, I've ordered some of the batteries and will try them out when mine start to fail. One thing I should have mentioned was that I actually purchased a 3 zone (2 heat + hot water) version of the Wiser hub as I had a system boiler with 2 heat zones and a hot water tank but immediately after installing the system, my boiler failed (completely unrelated, it had been leaking for a while). Having it swapped out for a combi, I was very pleased to find that the opentherm connectivity works well with the hub but only works on channel one so I had my S-plan system converted to just one zone as the rad valves now obviously allow me to have very granular control over the zoning so I didn't actually need zoned pipework. I thought it worth mentioning as Drayton actually state that the only version to work with opentherm is the combi version but this is not actually the case! The opentherm module is present on the back of all the other versions too. Thanks again, I doubt I would have taken the plunge were it not for your very comprehensive video.

[@katepaterson8498]

@@evilqueen1 I have 2 zones in pipework in my house and am struggling to get my head around how I switch to Drayton system with it - was it complex to change the pipework to a single zone??

[@Edward-G-i1c]

Another great video Charlie. I bought the Drayton starter kit one year ago, (hub, thermostat, two TRVs, combi boiler). I have had boiler issues and we are having an extension and new boiler installed some time this year. I will ask the heating engineer to wire my hub and following your video and all the info on the TRV valves I am now confident I can install these myself. Incidentally I also watch Johnny's channel which I have found helpful.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Edward and good luck with the extension 👍

[@lewisflewin6384]

I have just had mains gas installed and so was starting from scratch with everything including new boiler, radiators and all new piping throughout. I bought the wiser heat system based on your very informative video!

[@CharlieDIYte]

Good work Lewis. I've got to say, I'm loving the system 👍🏻

[@Famous5s]

I installed Wiser in ~2017, because having a baby meant that we need rooms heating at different times without blindly heating the whole house. It worked brilliantly, was very straight forward. I left many "communal" areas, like hallways, on dumb/TRV thermostats... and as you said, the bathroom. Having a loft conversion last year, we changed the combi to an unvented system. They whacked on a Nest. Pretty thermostat, but utterly useless! Last month swapped out to a 2 channel system as previously 1 channel, just controlling heating. It works perfectly, makes it easy to control kids' bedrooms, heat office while working from home and set week day versus weekend schedules. The automation quick prompts ("finished work", "rainy day"... are great). Anyway, needless to say, I'm a complete convert. As said, even with ropey Internet, it works!

[@guylachlan1736]

Thanks Charlie - much more useful than anything I’ve seen elsewhere, including the big manufacturers!

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Guy. Coming at it from a different perspective, I guess, plus it took over a week's solid editing to put together, and as long again for the research...

[@guylachlan1736]

@@CharlieDIYte Can you let Drayton know their website doesn’t work properly? Products and Intallers pages don’t work...

[@guylachlan1736]

@@CharlieDIYte I bought the 3-channel kit and installed it today, entirely down to you. I’d never even heard of Wiser before. Thanks for the inspiration!

[@BobForrester]

Excellent Video. Like you, we live in a cottage and have a similar heating system as you had previously - conventional boiler, Drayton LP722 programmer, thermostat in the coldest part of the house and, fortunately, Drayton thermostatic radiator valves. Your video has convinced me to purchase and install a Drayton Wiser Multi Zone 2 kit plus additional thermostatic radiator valves to enable me to have more control of our heating. Many thanks

[@CharlieDIYte]

You won't regret it Bob. You could do the install yourself and just turn the old room thermostat up to maximum until you get round to disconnecting it.

[@BobForrester]

@@CharlieDIYte I have no doubts about it thanks to your helpful and reassuring advice and have ordered the package

[@opentrail]

Great video full of detail for the whole 30 minutes - very much enjoyed it. You nailed it. Glad to see Jimmy from Plumberparts. Top duo.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Jonathan, I really appreciate that 👍

[@MrPavilion77]

The video is well made and put together! Like the Drayton system by the looks of it, beats my method of crawling on all fours doing the "crab hand" to adjust the TRV's underneath of a decorative radiator cover. The joys of winter.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Yes that's another massive advantage of the smart thermostats, and something I should have mentioned as we have one too!

[@Hunkamunka]

Excellently informative video, I am investigating the Wiser system to do an install myself, I am a retired control engineer so it should be simple enough, thank you for your detailed explanations I will watch your other videos, I hope that you are still pleased,

[@gabrielleadams8542]

Hello Charlie. Thanks for this video I actually got my electrician to fit mine, not scared of diy but fearful of electricity. My room thermostat has not yet completed its updates so like you I've been using the boost function to keep me warm so far. I also called the Drayton wiser help team because I am a numpty with techy stuff. They were most helpful, sent me a copy of the manual and walked me through the app because I am dyslexic and didn't really understand the manual. I went out for an hour and came back to the kitchen in tropical temperatures, I decided to remove the TRV and reinstall it as per instruction as opposed to your method. that seems to have fixed the problem. I wondered if somehow doing that your way meant the valve was opened to much. I am going to lean how to use the app then try the Eco mode as this investment is meant to help me save money and the planet! Thanks for a great video.

[@CMac78811]

Thanks, just installed a Thermostat kit 2 I bought based on this video. Delighted with it and the easy install. Cheers!

[@orbitaaltube]

Thank you for this video, I have been waiting for a simple video for a three channel house. I like this solution as there is no hub to add to the router and all three channels are housed in a single controller. In my case I will be leaving the room stats in place on the wall in case we sell the house and take the smart controller to the new house. Bought today and arriving later in the week.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Ah, fantastic news. Really hope you like it. I'm still loving the system 👍🏻

[@mikehall4472]

I love the Wiser system. It works really well. I'm running 14 TRVs in 11 zones. However,... I've had 4 TRV failures of varying types. 2 units were replaced by Amazon, but two were just out of warranty. Keep a close eye on TRVs draining batteries quickly or intermittently giving no signal errors. It's not a range issue, as the failing TRVs are in line of sight of the controller. A bit of work needed on product quality and more interest from customer support to look into these particular issues would be good. That said, I'd recommend it. If there was a way to do away with the batteries, maybe a 3D printed battery cover replacement to get the 3V from a power supply, it would be perfect.

[@daveramsay8598]

Good video very comprehensive. I installed the Honeywell evo home last September after looking at options. Does the same as your system. Individual smart valves have a LCD display which is very functional allowing you to see the target temp OR the actual temp, it also allows you to set the override for a room to a specific temperature until the program kicks in and resets to the programme. I liked this and thus why I went with it. I had a new boiler install done and the engineer installed the boiler controller which is a VERY easy fit and i installed all the radiator controls and the main controller. Wi-Fi point you made is correct but no failure in 4 months. I am delighted with performance as I have a low temperature set so the boiler kicks in at night to prevent rooms going below my set temperatures (16 to 12) which works great as the hall radiators work then as they are TRVs heating the core of the house which has a hall and stair that sits in the centre of the house benefiting all rooms. I was c. £670 for 8 valves package. I also switched from system to combi which works great as my header was only 1.5 meters above my shower head. Comfort in home increased gas bills slightly less due to the low room temp control but I am happy as the house is much more comfortable.

[@AlexVegasUK]

Really appreciate this video! Just renovating our 'new' house and starting from scratch with the radiators, and the heating system already uses the same Drayton system as your original one, so will definitely be looking into Drayton for a smart upgrade.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Alex. Yes it's a no brainer in this scenario and I've got to say, I'm loving the Drayton system. It hasn't missed a beat since I installed it. Also, of the Insights are to be believed, I've saved over 20% on my heating over the last 3 months.

[@smithleon]

Really interesting to watch this as I recently installed a very similar system from Tado. I also had to replace a 30+ year old controller, figure out the wiring, install some TRVs etc, but absolutely worth it. Now controlling every room in the house with a separate schedule and as you said, the house has never felt warmer. Totally worth looking at these smart systems.

[@justinfletcher1882]

Watched every second, just what I was looking for, thank you!

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Justin. I've got to say, I'm loving it!

[@MrFish1968]

Perfect timing! Just started the install on mine, it is a new build with 2 heating zones (up and down) plus the hot water so 3 channels, it is an ESI wireless system and the wiring box confused the hell out of me as it isn't covered. So I did what you did at 8:33, wired the live and request together using a WAGO connector, and terminated the neutral using another WAGO connector, I removed the thermostat controller gubbins leaving just the back box and just added a blanking plate, looks very neat and would be a piece of cake for someone to convert back if needed.

[@barclay50]

We’ve been using it for two years and really like it, we don’t have it in the bedrooms have trv’s, always wondered about the valve noise.

[@paulobrad]

Really very helpful, wish all reviews were as insightful as this. Thank you.

[@CharlieDIYte]

You're very welcome. Thanks for the comment 👍🏻

[@ravenwingable]

Excellent video, I appreciated the consideration of Part P etc as this is something that is often overlooked/misunderstood

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks, I appreciate that, assuming of course that my interpretation is correct!

[@andrewduncan4230]

You also have to remember, Part P is only applicable in England (and Wales I think), not Scotland!

[@jayjenkins7014]

Hi Charlie I am a great fan, yet another great video, explained very well like all of your videos, I just installed a system yesterday in my house which is a conventional boiler with a 3 way valve, I needed to totally rewire all of the components to a new junction box and then for the new faceplate but that was not an issue it was the easy part. I chose this system carefully and I was reading a lot of reports of bad system Zigbee WIFI coverage, I was however encouraged by the fact you had connected 14 thermostatic radiator valves around your old cottage without any booster plugs. However I was very disappointed to find out I could not get any to work in 3 of my 5 rooms in my 1968 terraced 3 bedroom house. I seen the thickness of the wall where you placed your base unit, I am bewildered how the kit you fitted managed to connect successfully with 14 control valves. I cant believe the systems we fitted are from the same manufacturer with our outcomes so far apart :(. I am extremely disappointed with my choice and as the system has already been fitted I find myself with no other option but to purchase a couple of the extortionately priced plugs to boost the Zigbee WIFI signal. I use Philips Hue throughout my house and that system too uses the same Zigbee Protocol without any issues. I can only conclude that the Wiser System does not have a very good signal strength and that people watching this video should be wary in making a positive assumption that it has a strong signal. I would never have chosen this system if I thought that I would have to buy some Booster plugs priced at £40.00 plus each, hence changing the whole pricing up processes and deciding which smart system to go with.

[@CharlieDIYte]

So sorry to hear that. Do you have concrete floors? I can only report how I got on with mine and it's worked seemlessly, with that thick brick wall in front of the cupboard that it's in. Have you tried contacting Drayton? On the plug point, I now have one under my desk to turn off all the electrical kit, so yes they are expensive but I wouldn't be without them now.

[@jayjenkins7014]

@@CharlieDIYte Good Afternoon, I contacted Drayton and they suggested signal interference. There is nothing special with the construction of my house, no concrete floors etc. In fact you mentioned during this video your Wi-Fi set up using 2 Unifi AP's, purely coincidental, I have the same set up via a GB Virgin Hub FTTP connection. So it appears our Wifi signals required a similar boosting solution. I can only conclude that the only two reasons our installation outcomes were different is: 1. My base unit could be slightly faulty 2. There could be interference between other devices connecting in my house also using the Zigbee 3.0 protocol. Not enough to render the signal useless, but weaken it so it requires boosting via the plugs but this seems very unlikely. If Drayton used the standardised 3.0 protocol then there would be no need for smart plugs it would be amplified by existing zigbee plugs, lights etc. Anyhow despite the initial shock of paying £90.00 extra the system is working great. If Drayton added one smart plug to their packages I would recommend this system 100 percent, but for now I suggest potential buyers beware of the possible extra cash outlay until Scully and Mulder solve the Zigbee mystery lol

[@malcolmbale9566]

I’m glad you don’t act stupid like James & others, there’s no need for it!!, your videos are great 👍🏻

[@nigelholland24]

Great video thank you I contacted Drayton today and got straight through to Matt ,there wiring expert he told me what I needed great service. And will be buying

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Nigel. I can genuinely say it's been bulletproof since install and right now with the electricity and oil prices going up, there couldn't be a better time to be installing. I'll be doing an update video at some point soon so keep an eye out for that.

[@PatonCavaney]

@@CharlieDIYte Hi mate, just wondering if you could consider some points in your next vid. - Not being able to change the TRV up/down preset from 2°C for 1hr, making this lack function, especially on rooms which can drop to 8°C over winter (no convenient temp control or readout) and dont have a thermostat in the room you can use instead. Could be much easier to set a turn to be 21° for however long. The app resets the manually set target temp to 2° above current if you change the timer. Also the valves do not full open/motor fully rise even set to 30°, so on some TRV connections, the water flow is audible and you will need to adjust your lockshields since the radiator now takes longer to heat up, hence limiting the speed of which your room heated up originally with a manual TRV set to 5. (this is an inconvenience, not an energy saving, lets be honest) Maybe the Drayton cloud service is slow or my mobile data connection is poor since the app takes a while to load up and changing temps. Overall I wanted to get Tado, but this seemed to have more features rather than a modern look. The TRVs really do let the whole system down, I wasn't expecting flagship smartphone level speed, but the thermostats response is a joke. I am thinking of selling the whole system as I have the full 5 valves, 6 thermostats, and insights hooked up to the £15 smart meter. Might seem I'm hating on Wiser but I have had this for over a year, so there are some downsides and problems you discover in over that period. Thanks :)

[@dantadman141]

So much time and effort was put into this Charlie - Thank you.

[@BrianCripps]

Another great video. No waffle, very detailed, excellent! Thank you 😊

[@CharlieDIYte]

You're very welcome Brian. Thanks for taking the time to comment👍

[@diywooddesign1548]

Cheers buddy, great walk through.. brilliant information for us DIYers! Appreciated!

[@CharlieDIYte]

I've added a smart heating section to my 🛠Charlie DIYte Amazon Tool Store www.amazon.co.uk/shop/charliediyte - and listed all the Drayton Wiser options that are available.

[@simonkeable391]

Hi Charlie very good video. I have the Drayton Mi Genie 2 system installed, but it appears the wiser system does not work with Y plan systems which is a massive drawback as there are millions of homes with Y plan systems. I was told this by Drayton a couple of years ago whilst trouble shooting problems with my current system. Has anyone fitted it to a Y plan system successfully recently or have Drayton modified it to work on Y plan systems?

[@sawyerhja]

What a fascinating, informative and professional video. Just about all my questions have been answered.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks, glad to hear it. I appreciate the comment 👊

[@mmherrebrugh]

Great video. We intended to use honeywell but installed this system as there are more zones possible with the Wiser system. Wiser was also much cheaper. We have 15 zones (rooms) with a total of 18 radiators. You cannot use rechargeable batteries in the thermostatic valves as it ruins them. But Wiser customer service has been great for us. Brilliant system and thanks for the great video.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Mike. Yes, and your experience with the product and customer service mirrors mine and a lot of other people's. Honeywell have become complacent after being the only multi zoners for so long. No Insights, not enough zones and an app that desperately needs updating. Good to hear from you. 👊🏻👍🏻

[@maxwarren2000]

I have had this set up with a combination boiler for 12 months now and I am as pleased with it as you are. It's designed as a heating system and not a smart home device controlling heating system and it shows, like you say no superfluous adornments. Two things of note, I wish they let you specify NiNH batteries. I have some very good Panasonic I would like to use. The other is that with my non ecotherm/modulating boiler is does switch the heating on and off a lot. However it knocks the previous hive heating I inherited with the house for six.

[@alanmoore489]

Very informative video, I followed your example and installed the system without a hitch. Thank you, the video made my life much easier. Keep up the good work.

[@frederickwood9116]

Long video but like others I didn’t skip any. I went for the lightwaverf solution a little while back. I won’t say it’s perfect but I really like it. I think it’s comparable (possibly slightly more) for pricing and similar, though subtly different, in features. Hence I was interested in seeing your take on your setup. I have had just a couple of hiccups with things needing a reboot (after one power outage) or simplifying complex schedules or commands. Other than that it’s been rock solid and just worked as intended. I think the install of the Lightwaverf boiler switch is simpler. I actually put it in as a parallel room thermostat with the original system so I didn’t have to worry about it not working. (I can fall back to the original system if wanted). Thanks for the material. It’s always interesting to hear your take on things.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks for that, Frederick. I haven't heard of that system but I'll check it out. 👍🏻

[@darrenburrows-taurus]

I used to work with LightwaveRF in a previous life about 5 years ago Frederick - we used their system for smart building compatibility with our LED lighting & controls system. We had a few connectivity issues back then but that was mainly down to wifi signal in a commercial building. Glad you like the system.

[@pmac6062]

First time viewer of your channel. Thanks very much Charlie. It was a long video but you covered absolutely everything.

[@lmaoroflcopter]

Interesting review. Watched it all. Few misgivings I put into another comment but then every manufacturer is guilty of this issue. Appreciate the video, will add wiser to the consideration list for this place, very similar heating set up to what you have - Header in Loft, Cylinder in Airing cupboard, boiler in kitchen.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks for persevering until the end. It was a lot longer than I would have liked but there's a lot to get through and with the financial outlay you need to properly research this. 👍

[@NeilMagill]

Thanks as ever for a very useful video. Since watching this I have returned my unused Hive system and bought a Drayton Wiser solution. Having a dual zone heating system means (with Hive) I need two units at the programmer location, it always felt like a bodge/work around solution.

[@tobylennon8913]

Thank you so much for all your videos. Learnt so much. Your an absolute legend!!!

[@CharlieDIYte]

You're very welcome Toby. Really glad you found it useful 👍

[@tobylennon8913]

Sorry to trouble you but can I pick your brains please. We had a new combi boiler fitted about 18 months ago & I'm finding that I need to keep topping it up every month or two due to the pressure drolping. Is this normal as we're obviously using the heating a lot. Many thanks for any help. Best wishes and Stay safe!!

[@bockersjv]

Great video. We have a smaller house and went for a nest a few years back. Recent boiler change means it’s now connected via opentherm, this has made a massive difference with more consistent room temperatures, lower gas usage and less boiler cycling. Did you consider this? Considered LightwaveRF motorised thermostats but was put off by the noise they made, exorcist at 2am!. That was a few years back so It’s good to see the technology has since improved. Your videos have helped my s lot with projects around the house... and created a few additional projects 😳🤣 Thank you

[@CharlieDIYte]

Hi John, thanks for this. I've got a Worcester Greenstar Camray 18/25 that is over 10 years old which I very much doubt is opentherm compatible. At some point though I will need to upgrade at which point I'll definitely get the opentherm module wired in (it's in the back of the hub). Yes, you rarely here these radiator thermostats. There's the occasional whirr when they're throttling back when the room set point temperature has been reached, but to all intents and purposes they're just like conventional TRVs. Really chuffed to hear my videos have been useful - many thanks for letting me know 👍

[@DTech101]

Sent my Evo valves back, as they didn’t lock the room to the temperature, so back to dumb rad valves as the evo valves always stayed open no matter what temp I set them too. Still happy with my upstairs and downstairs nest thermostats though.

[@JamesScholesUK]

Great, thorough guide through this. Thanks. NB: 21:25 - Please give a warning before triggering all our smarthome devices! 24:00 - to update linked services after you e.g. move or rename something, try "Hey Google, sync my devices" 25:15 - Please give a warning before triggering all our smarthome devices!

[@CharlieDIYte]

Sorry about that 🤦 Yes, great tip on the syncing. That's made my life a whole lot easier 👍🏻

[@PeterH1504]

Very worthwhile listening as I am considering doing this to my combi boiler system later this year. Thanks, it was informative and helpful.

[@CharlieDIYte]

You're very welcome, Peter. Thanks for the comment👍

[@jimosullivan1389]

Just what i needed and the video is simple but comprehensive...well done Charlie.

[@sarahelliott8729]

This is a really interesting video. I’ve got a Drayton controller on an oil-fired boiler to a 17th century cottage with TRVs on each radiator, but no central thermostat. I’m very interested to change the control box and TRVs to this system (as there are 2 rooms which never really get as warm as I’d like them to and I like the weather-adjust aspect). Thanks for putting this comprehensive video together.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Sarah. Yes it's a lovely bit of kit. I thoroughly recommend it, and there's been plenty of love for it on this Comments feed, and for Drayton's customer service, which I'm so pleased about.

[@peterwilliams5597]

My colleague runs a Wiser controller, 3 room stats and 11 TRV’s on his oil fired system. He is very happy with it and claims the rooms heat more evenly across the house. I am just about to install the same equipment on my combi and 11 radiators as we get warm and cold rooms as well. Have to point out that I work for Schneider but am not involved in the Drayton division or it’s sales

[@dant5039]

Picked up the simple package (single heating control only without the TRVs) when it was heavily on offer on Prime Day and so glad I did. Installation was easy, setup was easy. Definitely not using it to its fullest capabilities at the moment but far better than what we had. Very tempted to invest in some of the TRVs now. Only negative we've had is the external access can be slow or iffy at times.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Yes it does take a while to dial in. But you can kind of forgive it that, given the connections that are having to be made to the cloud and then back to your house. 👍🏻

[@andrewbarclay6746]

Really great video Charlie, thank you. By far the best I've seen and answered all my questions about Wiser by Drayton

[@RobManser77]

I've just set this system up at home, and there's a few very important things to be aware of: 1. The maximum number of heating zones is 16. You can assign multiple devices to one zone though, for example three radiators in one room, or group two rooms together into one logical zone if necessary. 2. The Hub uses its own RF to connect to devices directly, which can be a problem if your boiler is tucked out of the way in a corner of your house. Our house has lots of external walls and our wi-fi is a wired in mesh network to cope, but this is not used by Wiser, other than to connect the Hub to the network. Range extenders for the Hub's RF network are sold, but they have a maximum number of 6 devices each, and when you switch one on it'll grab all the devices it can find, not necessarily the ones out of range. I spent two hours on the phone to support, to no avail. It's pretty tricky to force it to include the out of range devices in its list of 6 - the only way I found was to delete enough in-range devices that it had to include the out of range ones in its list of six, then add the deleted devices back in and they'll connect to the Hub, because the range extenders are full. We have two range extenders and this was a frustrating and lengthy process.

[@C4sp3r123]

Interesting and comprehensive. You can now add chapters to KZbin videos in the edit to help people find sections within the video. It might be worth thinking about this feature for future uploads. I have to replace my entire central heating system in the coming years so I will at some point have a lot of research to do as I may as well go all future proof with it then. This video was a great introduction to it.

[@valborchardt3596]

Thanks Charley, that was interesting and judging by your cold weather that you are having lately, you sure need that. Take care and to you and yours, have a Blessed and Happy New Year.....xxx

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Val, and a very Happy New Year to you, too!

[@jimprior180762]

Really good video, thank you. I've just received my Wiser kit, and wanted to learn a bit more before installing and configuring. Good tips, eg commission the furthest valve first. I was also pleased you discussed the Insights+ feature and Eco mode. I'm quite excited about getting it all setup. Thanks Charlie.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Good work. Really hope you like the system. Mine is still working flawlessly. When you're Pairdeer batteries run out you should consider getting the rechargeables I'm using as mentioned here kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3WchXWgaMR2nJY 👍

[@jimprior180762]

@@CharlieDIYte I'll check out the batteries. Also found your solar panels install video which will be very useful!

[@paul756uk2]

Good to see a full review of one of these systems. I've very recently installed the Worcester easy control as I had a Worcester wave connected to a 42cdi boiler so was an easy change to make. The Etrv's appear to work well and it's great to have the ability to control the temperature of individual rooms especially as there's only 2 of us and some rooms are little used but easy to boost on the app when you need them. One example of this is having the bedrooms at the right temperature when you get up and go to bed but cooler during the day. I've set the thermostat to optimisation so the room reaches the temperature at the time set rather than switch on at that time. I'm very cost conscious and was always wary about heating the whole house all day but with this you can be comfortable in the rooms you use so it's economical to use. Mu ultimate system though would be underfloor for so many reasons but isn't an easy install on an older property.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Paul. I wasn't aware of the Worcester system. I'll have to look that up! Glad it's working for you 👍

[@paul756uk2]

@@CharlieDIYte Thanks Charlie. The Drayton ones do look neater than the Worcester ones but going with the worcester was a much easier upgrade for me. I've always had Drayton stuff in the past and the TRV's I previously had fitted were Drayton.

[@davelowe9271]

How did you wire the boiler as I understand the Worcester is not opentherm and will only work as an on off without modulation so that would seem like backward step

[@paul756uk2]

@@davelowe9271 the Worcester is opentherm. It's just a 2 wire connection from the easy control. It all works well.

[@steveb1856]

I’ve installed exactly this system, ours is a 3 zone S Plan. Two Wiser room stats and Wiser smart rad valves on all radiators except the hall which is on a simple rad valve and is basically a shunt but hall has one of the room stats. The other room stat goes in the lounge which has two rads both with Wiser smart rad valves, also a Wiser plug as an extender but also controls a light in the hall. Simple to install mainly because I’d previously put in a proper wiring centre and had a standard back plate on my old programmer and previously used Sunvic wireless thermostats for the two heating zones. The Wiser app is very good. Ive integrated the Wiser System into Home Assistant smart home software too so I can control the Wiser plug along with my TPLink Tado smart plugs.

[@immers2410]

Why does the hall have one of the room stats and no radiator stat? Does your hallway not overheat with the radiator coming on any time one of the other stats demands heat?

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Steve, that's really interesting. You're the third person who's mentioned Home Assistant in this feed. Is it basically like Google Home but without the big brother, privacy issues? A couple of people earlier were suggesting you can actually integrate the radiator thermostats into Home Assistant and potentially do away with the hub and cloud connectivity.

[@steveb1856]

@@immers2410 No because the radiator is sized appropriately, but if the rest of the house is warm enough the heating can still come on and heat the hall. As Charlie says somewhere in his video you should have one rad in each zone without a trv to act as a heat shunt and bypass, so I also have a small towel rad in a second bathroom with just an open rad valve for the upstairs zone. Since putting in the Wiser system the house is a much more even temp and better regulated and using less heating oil. Plus when we go away (remember when you could do that 😢) we put it into away mode and can then remotely fire up the heating and hot water when we are on the way home.

[@steveb1856]

@@CharlieDIYte You still need the hub, but it communicates directly with my local Home Assistant server, so Even without the Drayton Cloud service I can communicate with it, I can connect remotely direct into my server. The advantage is you can integrate lots of other smart devices and control them from one place instead of multiple apps for different manufacturers. It’s not simple though, bit geeky, it’s not really a consumer product. The great advantage of Wiser is it’s a great app (the latest one is much improved) and it integrates into the big brother Google and Amazon infrastructure.

[@immers2410]

@@steveb1856 sounds great. I ordered both the tado and wiser systems in the Black Friday sale with a couple of extra rad stats just in case. I’ve got until 31st Jan to return one of the systems and any extra bits. Not really sure which system to go with atm. My main concern is reliability. I want it to work as simply and unobtrusively as the old programmer stat/trv’s Yeah, can’t wait to get away for a few days. At least we’ll all have beautifully appointed homes and gardens when this is all over

[@milliethemini6369]

I’ve been running my setup for around two years now and have to say it’s been faultless throughout, ok sometimes my heat hub signal turn to poor but that’s due to location. Another good thing is it works with homeassistant (full control) once you get the “secret key” from the hub.

[@geekyruth]

Absolutely! I'm loving the Home Assistant integration! Might get mine to switch Wiser to Away Mode when I set the burglar alarm to "Armed Away".

[@cengiz246]

As always your videos are brilliant. Every question answered. Currently changing the old valves for TRV valves

[@jaromewarrilow4866]

AWESOME - have ordered my system today....

[@CharlieDIYte]

You won't be disappointed. Mine is still working flawlessly. I love it 👍🏻

[@TheWellington2006]

Another brilliant video Charlie,looking forward to installing this system now. Thanks.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Nigel. What's really edifying is that my experiences have been backed up (in this comment feed) pretty much unanimously by everyone else who's installed it, both in terms of the system but also the excellent customer service behind it. I had a smart plug drop off the system the other day, and got straight through to customer service, backed up by a courtesy email afterwards (the smart plug fixed itself). Meanwhile I think Honeywell have got complacent with Evohome - which was the gold standard, but hasn't innovated. Apparently the app is getting tired, there are no Insights and the number of rad valves you can have on each hub is much more limited. Tado has had favourable comments too.

[@ianwarner8894]

I have just stumbled across your channel, (thanks KZbin for recommending) great video and perfectly timed recommendation as I am in the process of planning converting to smart home heating system. I had already purchased the "Hive system" before coming across this video or else I would certainly of considered the Drayton Wiser for sure. Definitely clicked the subscribe button and now time to trawl through your channel. Keep up the great work, all the best 👍🏻

[@CharlieDIYte]

Great to have you on board Ian, thanks so much for subscribing. 👍

[@ianwarner8894]

@@CharlieDIYte My pleasure Charlie, although it is you that deserves the gratitude for creating such great content that us budding DIYers can follow and understand. So a massive thank you to you, keep up the great work 👍🏻👍🏻

[@SBBUK]

Great video, I've just installed a wiser system today in preparation for winter. I had TRVs on all rads other than bathroom (which I'll leave uncapped) and one in the hallway where the old on/off thermostat was so it was a fairly straightforward install. A word of warning, I bought the drayton trv valve kit and it didn't "mate" to the myson radiator valve tail that I had in the hallway so I wasted some time with that and had to put the old valve back on as I didn't really fancy removing the radiator tail which looks like it's been sealed at some point using jointing compound (?!). Ive ordered a myson trv that looks identical to the others in my house so I'm hoping that will be a straight swap for the on/off valve without having to change the tail. I have a baxi assure combi and was able to use opentherm which I am chuffed about!

[@CharlieDIYte]

Great work and well done getting open therm working 👌

[@martynjones6922]

Great video system looks very interesting, i have the Evohome kit wish i had taken this now as its half what i paid for the Evohome. Plus love the fact that its Zigbee

[@tobybutler9493]

I have it too and if they supported a wet UFH system I'd change now.

[@anthonywenban7471]

I have a full system of Drayton wiser, and the only thing I would suggest, check your old TRV bodies, make sure the pin is not too stiff to operate (as the motor in the wiser TRV only has so much force) and to ensure that the valve actually shuts the flow of water off (otherwise the room will continually heat), I ended up changing all my valve body’s as my original ones were so old and the operating pins were really stiff, everything is working great now.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Good point Anthony. Also balancing. Danfloss do an automatic balancing valve now. Shame Drayton haven't brought one out.

[@jamillejh]

Excellent video Charlie as always. I'm surprised Honeywell said a professional install was needed for their evohome kit which couldn't be further from the truth. It just required the wireless relay to be connected as an opentherm bridge to the boiler and replacing trvs once the hub has been setup . If you don't want the display on the TRVs you could get the HR91 instead of HR92s. I like the UI on the Drayton app and got around the geo fencing by using an automation in smartthings or you could try home assistant to set evohome to away when the house alarm is set to away. I'm still playing around with using Google assistant to set evohome to follow schedule when I set "home" as the destination in Google Maps.

[@CharlieDIYte]

You're not the first person to say that. This is what the director at Honeywell said "Honeywell evohome was not designed as a DIY product, due to the many competencies you require for installation of the kit in some situations (Gas Safe registration when you are taking gas boilers apart, Part P if you are doing wiring, Part G if you are fitting thermostats to an unvented cylinder and then very good plumbing and heating knowledge if you are swapping radiator valves, redosing heating systems, etc to ensure you don’t cause longer term damage from system corrosion). I’m not saying this is every situation, but certainly accounts for the many. I am aware that some people do try and install on a DIY basis, but heating systems can be complex for most people and this normally leads to frustration or heavy technical support, where really an installer should have been called to do the job. In your situation, it would mean disconnecting all your existing heating controls and a rewire. Honeywell evohome is designed to be a stand alone system and not work with others. If you chose to ‘zone’ your home with the smart TRV’s, then they need to be fitted to all radiators, otherwise radiators without smart TRV’s will only and always come on when another smart TRV is calling for heat."

[@markhesketh9467]

Partly your review, we went ahead and bought this system for our thick walled stone house. A few teething problems but customer support were great. We added an IKEA smart socket as an extender and that is working well. Very pleased I watched your review because we nearly bought the Evohome

[@TheJammybugger]

Hey, I was under the impression that you had to use the wiser smart plug to extend the range, can you tell me more?

[@markhesketh9467]

@@TheJammybugger any zigbee plug will extend a zigbee network

[@TheJammybugger]

@@markhesketh9467 Great! I was starting to cost this all up and will deffo need at least 2 range extenders. I just couldn't bring myself to spend £40 on each one! You're a star :) By that logic, will any smart zigbee trv work with this drayton hub?

[@TheJammybugger]

@@markhesketh9467 @Mark Hesketh Great! I was starting to cost this all up and will deffo need at least 2 range extenders. I just couldn't bring myself to spend £40 on each one! You're a star :) By that logic, will any smart zigbee trv work with this drayton hub?

[@markhesketh9467]

@@TheJammybugger yes BUT to then control the valves you would need a controller like the Hubitat. The Wiser controller works with it’s proprietary hardware for monitoring, etc. The plug is just a relay. At £40 a valve it’s not bad. We estimate to have saved £30 last month compared to the same time last year.

[@geoffreycoan]

A very interesting and well explained video Charlie. Am I right in understanding that the Wiser system doesn’t have an annual subscription, I think Nest does which is one of the things that put me off it. Whilst I love gadgets I’m personally not sure I would find the system pays for itself. I laughed at your explanation about what to do with the single room stat in the hallway as I took ours off the wall and just bridged the connections together when I was trying to diagnose a problem with the heating - turned out that the 3-way valve motor had failed, and I never got round to putting the hallway thermostat back ! Our system is simple. The hot water comes on twice a day for an hour so there’s sufficient water for our daily needs. The central heating is turned off ALL THE TIME even in the winter! When its chilly we push the boost button for one, two or three hours of heating. Some cold winter nights we have to do this twice but basically it means we have the heating on as little as we can do. I’ve insulated the house as much as I can do in the loft and floors, and walls of the extension. Yes this is a bit simple to just rely on the TRVs for the room temperature and turn the whole house heating on and off but I wonder how long it would take me to recoup £700 it’d cost for the system?

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks. Yes you're right. No annual subscription. The only ongoing cost is the batteries in the radiator thermostats.

[@helpeachotherall]

Very interesting , i was looking for this for long time. Thanks for this. will buy soon

[@marieaudreyduchamp8839]

Excellent work Charlie ... interesting to mention that this belongs now to Schneider Electric. Let's hope they keep investing on it...

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Marie. Yes it was owned by Schneider when I did the video. Let's hope so. So far so good.

[@mikeltoo]

Brilliant. The most competent video on DIY I've seen. Bought the Drayton Kit 2 . Everything about it smells of quality - the packaging then the devices, then the software, the operation , the facilities. Is this really British developed? I use Schnieder and it seems familiar.

[@YueyTube]

Superb video, I have a Drayton LP522, I have a closed system. And have been searching for informative reviews and installs video. I’m not going to die in yet but your info will help. Thanks.

[@BendeVette]

I had the evo home in my previous house and it was an easy DIY install. I really don't understand why they told you it wasn't.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Ben. You're the second person who's said that. The guy at Honeywell who I was in email correspondence with was adamant it was outside the scope of a DIYer, but perhaps I just caught him on a bad day?

[@BendeVette]

@@CharlieDIYte Must have been a very bad day 😁

[@johnmcconnell5930]

I have been running a Honeywell evohome system, easy home instal. No need for all the wiring you highlighted in the first five min of video.

[@jimmyc38]

Same here, I’ve installed Evohome in three previous houses. I have it in my current house with UFH too. It’s been faultless for me, and they’re operating with an Opentherm Bridge too.

[@robgullen]

Hive user here, for about 4 years (3 years with a combi and 1 in a different house with CH + HW tank system) - it's been flawless from the start, adding plug-sockets and light bulbs. Now taking the plunge with tying a Hive TRV to replace a manual Drayton TRV (just the one for starters) - issues with the TRVs seem to be related to the "heat on demand" function which doesn't really interest me . . . I just want to be able to isolate various rooms at certain times (e.g. bedrooms in the day-time) Have to say the Hive install wiring seemed a lot simpler than the Drayton - took a whole 10 minutes to install the boiler wiring (replacing an older Drayton wireless system that didn't work) when we moved.

[@m0nk3yl0v3r]

Excellent in-depth video Charlie, easily the best DIY channel on YT! We have the Drayton MiGenie set up already and am considering changing to this system. Do all the rads have to have the Smart TRV? If they dont do the just dire up whenever any of the other rads are set to be on..? Thanks!

[@CharlieDIYte]

Hi there. Thanks so much for that 🙏 Well there's a thing. I'd never heard of MiGenie. So if they're not all on smart TRVs, when you turn on your heating, the non smart TRVs will come on when all the others do, so you're not really benefitting from the functionality and energy saving features of the system, although it's something you can gradually phase in as your budget allows. The system has been incredibly robust since install but the real benefit is the smart valves. Being able to customise the heating schedule in each room is very cool, and the first evening I had it installed I was able to walk around going "ah, this room is a bit warm, this one a bit cold" etc making changes accordingly, whereas before, I had no real control over any of the heating, because let's face it we don't tend to alter the rad valves very often - and my room thermostat was in the worst possible place, in that hallway. Also, with the Google Nest Hub that I've since added, I can view and control everything on that screen too.

[@m0nk3yl0v3r]

@@CharlieDIYte Thought you might like to know: I am now being forced to upgrade my system, as miGenie (precursor to Wiser), are no longer supporting the cloud so the app will no longer work. Im concerned they might pull this again with this system in the future so will probably have to go with another system 🤦‍♂

[@lazylad9064]

Great video and informative 👍. Just had new boiler fitted, wow modern day boilers so much more efficient and quiet.

[@Actionlocation]

Good video. I would just like to mention you don’t need the room thermostat you can have the smart TRV’s on all the rads as long as you make sure your plumber adds an outlet for the pump over runs (a simple task) This was also confirmed by Drayton …hope this helps…by the way my rating for the system has to be 9.5/10

[@CharlieDIYte]

Completely agree. The room thermostat is superfluous if you have the smart TRVs - except as a user interface in a regularly used room where someone can't access the app and wanted to change the heating. Also if the radiator valves are in areas of a room with poor circulation, the room thermostat will give a more accurate room temperature. But it's primarily there as part of the starter pack to get someone's system up and running where they don't plan to immediately switch out all their radiator valves for smart ones 👍

[@Chrom35kull]

@@CharlieDIYte Would you recommend this system without the TRV's? Our boiler is a pain to get to the Programmer to turn the heating on. We have to manually control the heating as the 3 of us do not arrive and leave the house at regular times. To be honest we would just like to control it through the app with multiple users.

[@davelowe9271]

Actionlocation do you still have to wire the heating hub to the boiler if you just want to run the trvs as I don't want to change the Worcester room stat on my Worcester 34cdi which modulates perfectly

[@superamario6464]

Stonking great video:) I am now intrigued!

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks buddy. Intrigued is the word. This system is a quantum leap from what I've been putting up with the last 10 years. 👍

[@dominicrusso6372]

I've just bought one and I'm going to try and fit tomorrow.... Hope it's as easy as you say it is

[@CharlieDIYte]

Good luck Dominic.

[@dominicrusso6372]

@@CharlieDIYte not going to plan...... My old control box is different to the wiser one 😠 having to source an electrician now

[@dominicrusso6372]

So disappointing... Thought I could get it done today 😢🥺

[@dominicrusso6372]

@@CharlieDIYte Charlie... Can I ask if you know what the Drayton plugs do for the heating system? Does it extend the hub? As one of the radiator thermostat keeps going off line

[@candymancam2390]

The whole system works quite smoothly. There are some failures eg. sometimes a heating command is given outside the selected time or you try to close the burner from the application by reducing the desired temperature but the command does not work. But in general I am very satisfied with the investment I made. Radiators thermostats are a bit expensive but overall compared to other systems they are VFM. If you use the app like me, the room thermostat with the radiator thermostat in the same room is unnecessary and a malfunction is likely to occur when one thermostat gives a heating command and the other shortly after the other gives a closing command. It is even worse in houses like mine that have two radiators in the living room (30m2). If you have a thermostat in both radiators of the same room, it happens that one thermostat gives a heating command and the other stays closed, with the result that only one radiator is heated and the other stays cold. This is bad for the balance of heating in the same room but also energy consuming as only with one radiator in operation it is slow to achieve the desired temperature. I came to the conclusion that it is right to install only the wall thermostat in the living room and the radiator thermostats in all the rooms. So I have a balanced the average temperature in the living room and the others room radiators turn on and off when needed.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks for this. Yes a fair assessment. I haven't experienced this problem in the living room where I too have 2 radiators. As I type, they're both on. However I agree that the wall thermostat is unnecessary, except maybe for someone who doesn't have access to the app, or for someone who's looking to buy this system but only slowly upgrade the rads for budget reasons.

[@candymancam2390]

@@CharlieDIYte And how the two radiators start the heating together? There is not any declination of the thermostats ? And you have in the same room and the room thermostat ?

[@david_akerman]

@@candymancam2390 We also have two radiators with Wiser valve 'stats in the living room and the separate wall 'stat. Both radiators come on and off within seconds of each other.

[@emmacrabbe7440]

I installed my drayton wiser conventional kit 2, with smart thermostats in all rooms (5 in total, including the bathroom) on the 3/12/2023. I have several problems 1. I have set different room temperatures as required and at different start and end times. 2. All heating kicks in and starts warming up all rooms as soon as the earliest time set kicks in even though they have different start and finish times. I work shifts, so I don't need my room heated as and when is not in use. 3. When I chose to boost 1 room as needed, all other rooms heating kicks in even though they have different start times and temperature times. 4. Even if I reduce the temperatures to between 10 and 12 degrees to stop rooms from warming up as they're not required, they heat and warm up anyway. These problems do not help with the idea of the drayton smart heating efficiency of the heating system ideas. Eg. I needed to boost only my bedroom at night after work, but the whole heating system kicked in while other people were sleeping, which is not required. These problems have rather caused my bills to increase instead of decreasing for efficiency and cost. I can't boost 1 single room without all the other heating kicking in. Please help!! Please, I would appreciate it if you could help rectify all these inefficiency problems.

[@jaymahoney69]

Great Video Charlie and so clear and concise. Thanks for giving insight into a real world install. It looks well worth a go.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks Jamie, I appreciate that. For me, having lived with a very rudimentary heating system for the last 10 years it's been a revelation, but there are already some interesting comments coming in about other systems 👍🏻

[@annekennedy5962]

Great video. I'm convinced and going to follow up with Drayton. Thank you.

[@SurreyAlan]

Very easy to install as I had a Drayton controller. As the wiring for my RF thermostat was in a cupboard replaced it with a surface box and cover plate, connecting common and heat on wires. Would make it easy to revert if required.Only issue is interference with a DAB radio in the kitchen

[@CharlieDIYte]

Didn't realise the radio could interfere with it.

[@SurreyAlan]

I asked Drayton about this and the answer was that the hub operates on the same frequency as radio. Radios further away from the hub don't have an issue and I suspect if you have a really strong signal it would be ok.

[@Siliconpixel]

Great video thanks. Particularly useful to see an install as the Wiser support site is so poor and lacks detail. Good job :)

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks. I'm still loving this system nearly a year in 👍

[@richardguyver6676]

Thanks, this is a great help. Am I correct in thinking that to increase the temperature in a single room, that room needs a thermostat ? ie a TRV alone will not suffice? Thanks

[@shahdrah]

Appreciate your time and effort. Keep up the great work. Have a healthy New Year 👍🏽

[@CharlieDIYte]

You too 👍🏻

[@bobweeks1939]

Excellent Instruction video

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks and there's an update video kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3WchXWgaMR2nJY 👍

[@DIYJourney1]

Thank you for the video. I was approached last year to try these, however had only just installed Nest. Im now looking to try these and share among my audience, so thank you for the insight. Do the radiator valves call for heat? Im not sure If I missed that in your videoz Thanks Rob

[@peterwilliams5597]

The radiators valves do call for heat. However if you pair one (or two or more) with a wall stat, and allocate them to the same “room” on the Wiser system, only the wall stat calls for heat but it also turns the rad stat on and off when the room temp is reached. This also other devices in the system to call for heat but not affect the room that is up to temperature

[@SirTerabyte]

Might be worth mentioning that OpenTherm is available (if your boiler is compatible with it) but only on the Wiser Kit 1 (which works for combi boilers).

[@martyn334]

whats the benefits of opentherm? moved into a new place that has this? from what I can see it only has 2 cables?

[@efixx]

What did you do with the existing time clock on your system?

[@CharlieDIYte]

The controller? It was replaced by the hub.

[@topgazza]

In case new owners want to revert to a manual room thermostat I Wagoed the two switch wires in the wall which I have with a shallow box and then fitted a plain white switch cover

[@CharlieDIYte]

Yes, that's a good option. 👍

[@suj1945]

Excellent review mate. I think short 6 month and 1 year update vids might be a good idea too.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks. Still loving the system but I think you're right. An update video would be useful.

[@richard1313]

Great video. Very similar concept to my conrad system that I've had in for about 9 years now (that's just starting to fail now, so looking at replacement options). I was also very frustrated at my heating being controlled by a thermostat in a hallway and TRVs down by the radiator. The conrad system has individual room thermostats that allows the heating to be controlled by where humans actually live in the room. I had to wire in the boiler relays themselves but I like the look of how the drayton replaces the timer control so I could do away with all my custom wiring. Was originally bit concerned about the valve noise but then realised you'd got the microphone quite close. Will definitely think about ordering a starter pack to take a closer look.

[@CharlieDIYte]

The valve noise is pretty irrelevant. You don't really hear it when a schedule starts and if anything it's quite reassuring to hear that little zing. There was a software update last year that made the noise slightly less and a recent update to the app introduced Moments, where you can set schedules for certain events eg Sunday afternoon - where you're just heating the downstairs. It's been fairies side I installed it. I'll be doing an update quite soon.

[@richard1313]

@@CharlieDIYte I've done some pricing up and Wiser would be £858 for my setup and Tado £772. The latter wouldn't control the water but I don't need that anyway. I'm probably going to order basic kits from both and evaluate the valve workings. My conrad is quite clever in that the rad units test the travel of the valve pin on first install so it knows how much to move the motor to get a certain open percentage. Will be interesting to see if either of these new systems work the same way. The problem I'm now having is that the units are getting old and sometimes push so hard that they pop themselves off the radiators entirely (leaving the rad fully on). It's getting harder to find conrad bits on eBay so hence the upgrade research. I looked a few years ago and it was just hive style connected stats, so I'm pleased others have started to fill this gap. We live in a converted barn and the pitch-roof ceilings mean the temperature down by the rad valve is pretty useless at gauging the actual feel of the room. Edit: That Tado pricing is because Amazon has some very good black Friday deals right now. So would only be that price if I committed to the whole solution in the next 5 days!

[@richard1313]

I've tested both Wiser and Tado and decided to move ahead with the Wiser and switch over my upstairs zone for a longer trial. Both Wiser and Tado are much quieter than my current conrad valves due to better motors as well as the gearing mean they use much shorter bursts. The TADO would have been slightly cheaper with black Friday pricing, but I went for Wiser because: - Smaller and nicer room thermostats that show both current and desired temperature. - Single hub does both heating zones and replaces existing timer so no custom wiring and simpler final setup. - Open zigbee networking (and I understand the wiser protocol has been reverse engineered) which might help if wiser is discontinued and need to mix with another system. The cold weather means a good opportunity to see if Wiser can achieve the same precise temperature control that I always liked about my conrad system.

[@ChrisStephensiom]

Great video, I nabbed an as new duel channel with 2 trvs for 108 delivered mid December. It's the best investment I've made so far in the house. Only issue I found, it doesn't like my deco mesh so simply enabling my routers wifi and giving it a new name and pw got around it (I did spend, for an IT guy, way too much time diagnosing that one). Agreeing with your, it feels warmer everywhere statement too but not overly warm, it all just feels comfortable. Delay in hub contact from outside, I got around this by integrating with home assistant (which was a doddle). I also use that for geo fencing as everyone in the house connects to the wifi so it knows who's home or who's within 4 miles so if it's fairly cold it'll boost for 30 mins. The massive one, I can link it to a persons phone alarm within HA and boost 30m before they get up or ensure hot water is available (nurses) so I don't have to worry about schedules not keeping up with the house needs. Took a few weeks for our cats to not bolt at the trv turning off/on though, I just set those to only change if it's really cold or in the daytime to prevent overnight wakeups, I only need 3 more trvs as leaving several rads without due to the layout of the house and rads. I've told several people how damn good this system (in person and on reddit) is for a cost perspective and ease of use/ease of install, it's just really bloody good, simple and well thought out. Really glad they are allowing the home assistant integration, that was the primary selling point for me being able to still include it into the home automation under one system rather than using the wiser app.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks for this Chris. This is really interesting and you're the fourth person who has mentioned Home Assistant, and raved about it. Does Home Assistant do away with the hub, or work in conjunction? Is it easy to set up? 👍

[@luckystrike656]

Great video as always. I would buy it just for the various report's it does. I don't see how can it save money, at least in my case. I don't see difference between keeping the house at 22C° 0-24h And the previously scheduled routine I had, with "heating off" when away. Maybe if I had a much bigger house or a different room configuration?! What's the point of leaving one part not heated? It only takes more time to heat again and it becomes a thermal bridge or a heat dispersion point. for example I can feel the floor over the garage being colder then the rest . So my next move is a new garage door and with that done I will keep the heat inside and the cold outside.

[@CharlieDIYte]

Thanks buddy. 👍 It's night and day better than a traditional system. It heats each room much more accurately and generally heats throughout the year taking into account the external temperature, from weather reports, making it much more efficient. I agree with what you say though about heating certain areas being counter intuitive. There is a school of thought that you should keep them house to a constant temperature rather than having the heating coming on and off each day.