Drayton Wiser - Smart heating & HW

[Sam7711]

Hi - would appreciate some advice

I have a WB condensing system boiler paired with an unvented cylinder. Currently controlled by a 24/7 wired in programmer and room thermostat with TRVs on most rads.

I'm looking at Wiser Thermostat Kit 2 so I can control my heating and HW when I'm away from home - say returning from work. I amy also fit some of their Smart TRVs.

I looked at Honeywell T6R H/W but this seems more expensive than Drayton for a similar result.

Has anyone used Drayton Wiser and what do they think?
thanks

 

[Ken 99]

Hi, I installed the Drayton Wiser system about 20 months ago, on my gas combi boiler system. Initially I started out with the basic kit of controller, room monitor and 2 smart TRV's, linked to an app on my Android phone. It worked well, including controlling our heating from abroad when we were on holiday in January 2020 apart from a few minor hiccups around the house's Wi-fi sometimes dropping off the connection to the controller. Using the system to divide our home into zones proved effective and gave a bit of a cost saving. I subsequently added a Wi-Fi extender to improve the connection and a couple more smart TRV's, as well as linking everything to our Alexa. I can now use voice commands from home, or app control when we're out. I'm pleased with the overall results. Hope this helps - feel free to ask any questions you might have. Stay safe and well. Ken

 

[Sam7711]

hi - thanks for sharing your experience - I think I may just get the kit without the TRVs. Did you have to change the backplate of your original programmer when fitting the Wiser controller or did it slot straight on - I currently have a Honeywell programmer and I hope the Drayton will not require much fiddling! Did you also have a room stat in your old system and did you remove this as part of the installation?

 

[Ken 99]

Hi Sam.
I was lucky that my original system was also Drayton with a 'central' programmer/timer
based in the sitting room. A key factor in me selecting Drayton Wiser was that Draytons have a universal backplate, so it was simply a question of unplugging the old and plugging in the new. Having said that (bearing mind I'm a DIYer, not any sort of expert) it seems to me that most units are very similar in their wiring, so it should be easy to fit a Wiser backplate if that's the road you go down. In reality the boiler controller unit is just an on/off switch for the boiler. If you browse some of the other posts, you'll find other people talking about replacing different backplates and wiring tips.

As for your idea of not having Smart TRV's, that will work in terms of you having 'remote' control, but it will still have all the restrictions of your existing system. Having the Smart TRV's gives you the control to have individual rooms at different temperatures to the rest or to be on a different time cycle, but obviously comes at a price. I set my system up pre-covid when we were always abroad several months of the year, especially in winter, so all I wanted was the ability to have the system switch on/off at a particular temperature and change that temperature if there was a cold snap and to be be able to manage it from wherever we were on our travels. We haven't travelled since Feb 2020, so I invested in the extra TRV's so I could have independent control of individual rooms. It was more from a comfort perspective but there is a bit of an overall cost-saving, though it will take a few years for payback. In truth, it was more a question of doing it because I could, if that makes sense, and it made an interesting lockdown project for me.
If I were advising, I'd say it depends on how much control you want as well as the size of your house and how much you want to invest.

I hope this helps. If you do decide to invest in Smart TRV's I'm happy to share my experience of how to set up the zones for best effect.

Cheers. Stay safe & well.

Ken