which smart thermostat

[gaz_moose]

Can someone recommend me a smart thermostat that's easy to use and doesn't incur a subscription fee etc..

 

I have a 3 bed house with a  combi boiler with all the radiators on 1 circuit for upstairs/downstairs controlled by TRV's. My current Plumbase wireless thermostat is starting to play up so its time to upgrade.

 Id like something that i can control via an app or similar where i can turn the heating on when im out and about so its warm for when i get home. Im the only one who lives here full time and my time at home varies from day to day so i just turn the heating on when i want it on and never use a timer. 

 

I know nothing on this subject and some of you guys seem to have a PHD in it 😁 so i figured you might help to steer me down the right pathway. 

[JohnMo]

For me you need low and slow heating, switching heat on and off really doesn't save money, the boiler just has to run balls out to catch-up and never really heats the building fabric. Run low and slow allows the building fabric to soak up heat and you can generally run the house quite a bit cooler for the same or better comfort.

 

Not sure what boiler you have but with radiators your smart move would be an opentherm thermostat this will tell your boiler to modulate to get best efficiency out the system.

 

My plan would start by running the boiler flow temperature as low as you can while keeping the house temperature stable, and taking most of the schedules off.

 

Not the answer to your expecting I assume. But on/off boilers controls came from the 60s and that's where they really belong.

 

 

[Kelvin]

Agree with @JohnMo We run the house at a lower temperature on no schedules but it stays at that temperature pretty much rather than heating up and cooling down which you will feel more than a more constant but slightly lower temperature. 

[gaz_moose]

Ive only just started using the heating again and kinda forgot that this thermostat was playing up which is why i was just turning it on and off. 

I do need a new wireless thermostat though as this one randomly switches its self off. I set the time at 10:00 last night and it now thinks its 5:35am when its actually 9:35 So into the bin it will go.

 

I was looking at the Tado X

 

[JohnMo]

2 minutes ago, gaz_moose said:

Ive only just started using the heating again and kinda forgot that this thermostat was playing up which is why i was just turning it on and off. 

I do need a new wireless thermostat though as this one randomly switches its self off. I set the time at 10:00 last night and it now thinks its 5:35am when its actually 9:35 So into the bin it will go.

 

I was looking at the Tado X

 

What boiler do you have and does it do opentherm?

[gaz_moose]

a baxi 800, Which google suggests is opentherm compatible. It has a wire coming out that goes to the receiver of the wireless thermostat. i assume i just wire the receiver of the new thermostat to that?

[JohnMo]

I would do this 

https://shop.tado.com/en-gb/products/wireless-smart-thermostat-x-starter-kit-incl-programmer-with-hot-water-control-and-opentherm

 

40 minutes ago, gaz_moose said:

It has a wire coming out that goes to the receiver of the wireless thermostat. i assume i just wire the receiver of the new thermostat to that

All the existing would go in the bin. The wire will need to be checked where it's actually connected. Tado do a boiler specific instructions.

[gaz_moose]

Brilliant, Thank you for your help.

[-rick-]

Tado seem to want to charge a subscription for their AI features. I've just got a Wiser system whose advanced features are entirely free (at least at the moment). Not had it long enough to recommend but suggest you at least look at it before comittiing.

 

Screwfix are selling it at a discount right now (wish I'd seen it when I bought mine).

 

https://www.screwfix.com/p/drayton-wiser-wireless-heating-1-channel-thermostat-control-kit-white/7785v

[gaz_moose]

I read somewhere that tado were charging a subscription for their advanced features but i only need the basic stuff which is free.

 

I did look at that one on screwfix but its out of stock round here.

 

how do you find yours? for easy of use/ installation etc..

Edited 5 hours ago by gaz_moose
addition

[marshian]

I have wiser too - the app is pretty good - the system is fairly reliable and if you just want the ability to remote switch on or off it's a pretty simple interface - Just one word of warning I went down the route of "smart" TRV's on every radiator - I'm now unwinding that and fitting "dumb" TRV's on every rad

 

(battery life and simplification of the schedule now I'm running WC on the boiler are the main drivers for this - they are just "fancy room temp sensors" once you run a weather compensated flow temp.)

[gaz_moose]

I didn't see the point in the TRV's, who actually goes round adjusting them all the time?. 

 

Seems you lads are swaying me to get a Wiser unit.

[-rick-]

28 minutes ago, gaz_moose said:

how do you find yours? for easy of use/ installation etc..

 

Installation couldn't be simpler if you already have all the right wiring setup. I removed my old dumb Honeywell controller and re-wired the base and installed the new one, only to realise that the Honeywell base was exactly the same and I didn't need to rewire anything. Basic setup in the app is easy, two annoyances:

1. The base doesn't support 5G wifi and I had to re-enable 2.4G to have it connect (this is the older V1 model that is currently being replaced by a V2 - partly why prices are getting discounted - but the V2 is more expensive and is sold as a more comprehensive smart home hub rather than a heating system. I think the wifi is the only real limitation that affects me.

 

2. The way they setup scheduling is frustrating to edit. Currently my system is still not fully set up as I want to change over to opentherm for CH while keeping the HW at a higher temp*. Because of this I'm still running the system in manual mode without the advanced features. Turning off all the scheduled times was time consuming.

 

* I'm not 100% sure I can fully use opentherm in my setup. I know it's supported with combis but with a S-plan system boiler I need to verify things. Unfortunatetly my installer really ballsed up the wiring and I'm not even running properly as S-Plan right now (there is one signal line to the boiler, not two) and thats before adding opentherm cabling. Royal Mail literally just rang my door and walked away before I could get to it with my delivery of stuff needed to change the wiring over. So guess I now get that delivery on Monday and will be able to report back how things go later in the week.

[gaz_moose]

sounds like we share the same kind of luck.

[Tetrarch]

Thanks to the OP for this thread. My daughter has been asking the same question and I am leaning toward Drayton over Hive (that I have)

 

The Drayton BF sale has prices even lower than Screwfix (marginally) and free delivery

 

https://wiser.draytoncontrols.co.uk/pages/black-friday-2025

 

I'm looking at a package for a combi boiler with 5 TRV's for £250

 

Regards

 

Tet

[JohnMo]

Heat Geek did a review of various thermostats, that run opentherm and Tado came out well or top with best control algorithm when using opentherm.

 

6 minutes ago, Tetrarch said:

Hive

Is just on off - Wiser and Tado (if you buy the correct one) can run opentherm so your boiler modulates instead of switching on off. On off thermostats, really belong in the 1960 parts bin, no place with a condensing boiler - which became mandatory several decades ago. 

[-rick-]

10 minutes ago, Tetrarch said:

The Drayton BF sale has prices even lower than Screwfix (marginally) and free delivery

 

https://wiser.draytoncontrols.co.uk/pages/black-friday-2025

 

Damn it! I really should have waited. Could've saved a load.

 

10 minutes ago, Tetrarch said:

I'm looking at a package for a combi boiler with 5 TRV's for £250

 

Not sure if the TRVs are really worth it. I got two, partly for temperature sensing but they seem to add complexity and not sure the wiser interface makes managing them great.

 

1 minute ago, JohnMo said:

Heat Geek did a review of various thermostats, that run opentherm and Tado came out well or top with best control algorithm when using opentherm.

 

Link?

[JohnMo]

33 minutes ago, -rick- said:

Link

You'll have to look for yourself, think it's a video of that helps

[-rick-]

1 minute ago, JohnMo said:

You'll have to look for yourself, think it's a video of that helps

 

That was kinda what I was after but even with that a quick search of youtube doesn't bring up anything recent. Theres something from 3 years ago but I'm not sure I want to trust a 3 year old review as I think that's before Tado moved some of their stuff behind a subscription.

 

Unrelated to the above but relevant to this thread. The below (very geeky) video from Cameron Grey was what caused me to pull the trigger on Wiser after thinking about it for over a year.

 

 

[JohnMo]

9 minutes ago, -rick- said:

Unrelated to the above but relevant to this thread. The below (very geeky) video from Cameron Grey was what caused me to pull the trigger on Wiser after thinking about it for over a year.

That's just an on off thermostat he is installing. Why bother spending good money to a fancy looking thermostat that had the functionality of a switch?

[-rick-]

1 minute ago, JohnMo said:

That's just an on off thermostat he is installing. Why bother spending good money to a fancy looking thermostat that had the functionality of a switch?

 

Look again, he is running it with Opentherm with full Home Assistant integration. Though he says some of the details of that are in part 2 (which he hasn't released yet).

[JohnMo]

First on Google, video on page as well.

 

https://heatgeek.com/articles/articles-home?p=choosing-the-best-smart-thermostat

 

Pay wall is for AI features, but who needs them?

[JohnMo]

5 minutes ago, -rick- said:

 

Look again, he is running it with Opentherm with full Home Assistant integration. Though he says some of the details of that are in part 2 (which he hasn't released yet).

Got to the bit where he started drawing and lost the will to live, fast forwarded now and sorry yes opentherm.

[-rick-]

Not sure that is what you were referring to earlier. Can't play the video as my ad-blocker seems to be interfering with it, but the text of the article seems to say to use Nest and that Tado is an on/off type controller (with the opentherm version withdrawn from sale in the UK).

[-rick-]

1 minute ago, JohnMo said:

Got to the bit where he started drawing and lost the will to live, fast forwarded now and sorry yes opentherm.

 

 

I watch at 2x speed and don't mind skipping here and there. Makes a lot of youtube creators watchable when they otherwise wouldn't be.