iPhone app to switch on/off hot water boiler

[joemoran7]

Is there a product available that would enable me turn on/off my hot water boiler using an app on my iPhone?

My hot water boiler is wired directly to a manual on/off switch on the wall.

Thanks

Joe

[martyn.wendon]

It really depends on what you want to spend and if there's anything else you want to control now or in the future!

Something as simple as http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/revie...r-devices.html would let you SMS control a device or two.

Or something based on Z-Wave, LightwaveRF or ZigBee technology would give you a much more flexible system allowing scheduling, monitoring, local and remote control.

Plenty of options really!

[joemoran7]

Thank you for this Martyn.

I am looking for something simple and cheap - just to switch on my boiler.

The unit you suggest looks good, but I'm looking for a device that has an iPhone app so I can see whether the boiler is on or not easily. Any suggestions?

[Vangelis]

The requirements are not that trivial...

For control via IP, you would need Broadband (for remote access), WebServer (for the iPhone to contact), and associated electronics to control the boiler and provide status.

This can be done via a RaspberryPi and some electronics (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Guhf7eohl98) but this all depends on if you are good with a soldering iron and HTML?

Vangelis

[martyn.wendon]

Thank you for this Martyn.

I am looking for something simple and cheap - just to switch on my boiler.

The unit you suggest looks good, but I'm looking for a device that has an iPhone app so I can see whether the boiler is on or not easily. Any suggestions?

As Vangelis mentioned, you're really into the realms of doing something "custom" if you want cheap.

I'm not sure of anything that will do what you want out-of-the-box that cheaply, but it depends on your definition of cheap! A LightwaveRF relay and controller or a Z-Wave relay and controller are sub-£200 and give you future opportunities as well.

[TimH]

Hi Joe,

Do you want to be able to switch your boiler on by any other means, or by your iPhone only? (if you have no mobile reception then boiler will stay in last state?)

While the above linked product doesn't have a "fancy" app, you can always query the status of the unit by sending it a text. You'll also have the text message history to indicate how it was last left.

There are many ways to do it, but as has been mentioned, this is probably the cheapest/easiest.

Energenie do a similar product (http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/hardw...er-socket.html) this one also seems to monitor the current flowing through the unit so may also give an indication of whether the boiler is on or not.

HTH,
Tim.