Any Drayton Wiser users around?

[someuser08]

This forum looks like an unofficial support forum for Evohome ( to the extent that people don't even mention products they are using in the posts, which I find quite amusing), but I do wonder if there are any current users of Wiser around?

When I was researching which smart heating system to invest into it looked apparent that what is missing is actual comparison based on something else than just feature specs between different systems (to be fair it's probably unreasonable to expect a large user base to have used multiple systems during long period of time).

In the end I chose Wiser based on small things I picked up on different forums when people were discussing Evohome (which was the only real contender for me at the time) and so far not disappointed. Can share my reasons if people want to know as well.

[Jabes]

In the end I chose Wiser based on small things I picked up on different forums when people were discussing Evohome (which was the only real contender for me at the time) and so far not disappointed. Can share my reasons if people want to know as well.

I'm certainly interested in your decision making and what you found. I nearly bought Wiser but settled on Evohome in the end.
I was concerned about range for Evohome, and Wiser has extenders - but it didn't turn out to be a problem in my case - with a sensible choice of where the main unit is, anyway.

The thing that led me to Evohome was underfloor heating support (as I was thinking I may get some later - which I may still do), and hot-water temperature measurement rather than relying on thermostat in hot water tank entirely. I don't regret my choice although Evohome does feel a bit abandoned right now - it does work perfectly.

[someuser08]

My set up is a combi boiler without any plans for wet UFH, so the reasons above would not really sway me, but I can certainly see the advantage of Evohome in that respect. As for things that I picked up:

- Central control unit (or absense of one in Wiser case). I felt like I'd paying a lot for a functionality that I won't really be using due to the fact that you can't lock Evohome controller from children (if placed as a thermostat in the living room) and it can't have pitch black screen (if placed as a thermostat in the bedroom). So I would have needed to hide it and use different room thermostats (more on that later) and the phone app (stability of which recently didn't really strike me as a good one). In Wiser's case its just the app, so nothing to worry about.

- Radiator valves. Again, I kind of felt that I would be paying more for the Evohome functionality that i would not be using: temperature display and lots of controls. Minimalist look of Wiser actually is very much an advantage and I even read someone had to return HR92s because his wife looked at it said "are you kidding me?" (I actually felt like I would behaving the same conversation with my missus).

- Room thermostats. I needed quite a few of them due to the fact that my radiators have either covers on them or they are behind long curtains. And child lock again was one of my priorities. None of the Evohome compatible thermostats can be locked. No issue with Wiser in that respect. Drayton units are more expensive though (if you compare with used DT92 for example if you are on a budget), but they do look nice and one would be saving money on TRVs if going for Wiser.

- Overall functionality. I didn't really have any experience of smart heating systems before, so didn't have 'must haves' apart from it has to work without internet (I regularly bring that down for testing network things), so it ruled out systems like Tado etc. Certain small things like seeing which rooms call for heat on one screen didn't matter at the time of me choosing the system, but now i would probably not lived without it (Wiser apps does it).

So that was before the choice was made, but now I obviously have more comments about Wiser.

- Simplicity of the app and absence of the expert settings. I work in IT, so can customize the hell of everything, but i found it quite refreshing that you do not have to worry about tweaking anything - it just works. My missus is using the app as well, so the "wife test" is passed. Adding/removing devices is a breeze. I'm reading regularly here that Evohome requires certain order in setting up complex rooms and people regularly get that wrong. This is not an issue for Wiser. One thing I miss is humidity display via the app (only because I'm seeing that on room thermostats).

- Radiator thermostats. To be honest I do not rate temperature reading on them highly. As you see from the above I actually do not use them in that way (I have rooms thermostats everywhere), but if I was it would a bit annoying as if I put in a row 10 thermostats they would produce a difference up to 2 degrees between them. Also if used as a main thermostat in a room it would always report higher temperature when the heating is on, so whist you'll be able to adjust your schedule accordingly it would not match other rooms, so a bit of a setting up. On the plus side - the noise I'd say not an issue. Not that there isn't any, but the way Wiser opens up the valves (once calibrated for a couple of days) it turns them very slightly (less than a second, followed may be by another turn like that in a minute or two), so because of such short duration its impossible to be woken up by them even if you are a light sleeper (like I am). You can of course still notice the noise in a quiet room, but, again because of duration it woudl not scare your guests.

- I'm impressed at how Wiser keeps the temperature in the rooms. Often it doesn't call for heat when temperature is just 0.5C below (I assume it knows the radiator is warm or outside temperature is increasing from the history/forecast) as well as call for heat when temperature is still at the set point (assuming it knows its about to drop below).

- not specifically Wiser related, but with combi boilers the absence of heating during hot water usage can cause a bit of an issue with scheduling of smart systems. In our house there could be a time in the evening when hot water runs for almost an hour (a bit of dish washing, bath for the little one, shower for both me and the missus). This obviously affects the evening heating cycle of the house and because of relative fluidity of the times when it happens I had to adjust heating to start quite a bit earlier than I would have liked or run it in manual mode (i.e. boost one or more zones for 30 min before i think the hot water will be used in the house). Not very automated (but I'll get a better boiler at some point).

I'm sure I'll come up with some more points, but that's it for now.

[Jabes]

Really interesting. I recommended Wiser to a friend of mine simply because of the drop over programmer installation...

- Central control unit (or absense of one in Wiser case). I felt like I'd paying a lot for a functionality that I won't really be using due to the fact that you can't lock Evohome controller from children (if placed as a thermostat in the living room) and it can't have pitch black screen (if placed as a thermostat in the bedroom). So I would have needed to hide it and use different room thermostats (more on that later) and the phone app (stability of which recently didn't really strike me as a good one). In Wiser's case its just the app, so nothing to worry about.

For me the central control unit adds very little value. I agree that a phone-only option is just as good

- Radiator valves. Again, I kind of felt that I would be paying more for the Evohome functionality that i would not be using: temperature display and lots of controls. Minimalist look of Wiser actually is very much an advantage and I even read someone had to return HR92s because his wife looked at it said "are you kidding me?" (I actually felt like I would behaving the same conversation with my missus).

The HR92s are a bit ugly. I had Tado briefly before I returned it and they are much nicer, and the Wiser valves also look smart. Again, the LCD doesn't add any particular value. I wonder what the noise of the Wiser TRVs are compared to HR92s...

[someuser08]

I wonder what the noise of the Wiser TRVs are compared to HR92s...

I wonder that as well. Can HR92 be used in standalone mode without the controller? Wiser's one can't, so any Evohome user would not be able to do an easy comparison...

[Jabes]

I wonder that as well. Can HR92 be used in standalone mode without the controller? Wiser's one can't, so any Evohome user would not be able to do an easy comparison...

The HR92 can be used without a controller

[someuser08]

I will try comparing if I ever score a cheap HR92

[Kevin]

I understand with the Wiser system that you can’t have more than two wired (zone valve) areas with independent thermostat control. In fact maybe only one in reality, i.e. your main house zone and one additional wired zone... is that the case ?

You can buy a 3 zone controller, one of which is for hot water and the other 2 operate as above, but you can’t add any additional zone controllers above that , unless you want to create two totally separate systems.

I appreciate you can add zones by using TRVs with independent thermostats in rooms.

[someuser08]

Yes, wiser doesn't have any physical actuator devices other than TRVs, so it's only what heat hub supports.

At it happens though their app was updated a week ago with change log stating addition of support for UFH, so may be more devices are coming.

I do wonder if a regular TRV could be used as or in addition to zone valve to achieve the effect of physical zoning...

[Kevin]

Hopefully UFH might create a workaround.

i have (rental property) an already 5 zoned system and unfortunately can’t add TRVs easily.