Drayton Wiser Multi-Zone Smart Thermostat Kit with 2 Smart TRVs

In-Depth Look

The Drayton Wiser is a smart heating system that controls individual rooms as well as the boiler. It sits alongside Hive and Nest as one of the options for UK homes.

Multi-Zone Out of the Box

The key selling point of this kit is that it includes two smart TRVs alongside the room thermostat and HeatHub. This means you get genuine multi-zone control from day one: set the living room to 21°C, the bedroom to 18°C, and let the system manage the boiler accordingly. Additional TRVs can be added to cover every radiator in the house.

OpenTherm

OpenTherm compatibility is a significant technical advantage. Instead of simply switching the boiler on and off, OpenTherm allows the Wiser system to modulate the boiler’s output, matching the heat produced to the heat needed. This reduces gas consumption and improves comfort by eliminating temperature overshoot.

Verdict

The Drayton Wiser Multi-Zone Kit offers multi-room heating control, made by Schneider Electric. For heating engineers looking at smart systems for customers, and for homeowners who want more control than a single thermostat provides, it is worth a look. Check boiler compatibility with Drayton before you buy.

How It Compares

The Drayton Wiser Multi-Zone Kit comes with a HeatHub, a room thermostat and two smart TRVs, which are radiator valves you can control from an app. The HeatHub is the box that connects to the boiler and links the thermostat and valves, using Wi-Fi to your router and Zigbee, a low-power wireless link, to the other parts.

The big difference from a single-zone smart thermostat is room-by-room control. With one thermostat the whole house follows a single temperature. With smart TRVs, each room can have its own schedule and target, and more TRVs can be added to cover other radiators.

Hive Active Heating is the closest well-known rival, and this site has a separate product page for it (hive-active-heating-thermostat). Nest Learning Thermostat and Honeywell Evohome are other names you will see. Their features and compatible boilers change over time, so check each maker’s current compatibility checker rather than relying on a comparison written months ago.

The kit lists OpenTherm and relay boiler control. OpenTherm is a communication standard that lets the controller tell a compatible boiler how much heat to make, rather than only switching it on and off. Whether your boiler supports it is something to confirm with the boiler manual or a heating engineer.

The product information notes that the HeatHub needs to be wired to the boiler, so it is not a simple swap like replacing a plug-in device. Get a competent heating engineer to confirm the wiring and boiler compatibility before you buy.

Common Questions

What does a smart TRV do that a standard TRV cannot? A standard thermostatic radiator valve holds one temperature setting on the dial. A smart TRV can follow a schedule and be set from an app, so the bedroom can be cooler during the day and warm before bedtime. It lets you manage each radiator separately instead of turning everything up or down together.

Do I need to swap every radiator valve? Not necessarily. The kit includes two smart TRVs, and the product information says more can be added. Rooms without a smart TRV continue to rely on their existing valves. Smart TRVs generally replace the head of an existing thermostatic valve and come with adapters for common valve types, so draining the radiator is often not needed. Check Drayton’s adapter guide against your valves, and ask a heating engineer if the valve bodies are old or you are not confident.

Can Wiser control my underfloor heating or hot water? The product information in this kit does not list underfloor heating or hot water control, so do not assume it. It describes room thermostat, TRVs and boiler control. Check Drayton’s current product literature for any extra modules before planning a system with those features.

What happens to the heating if my Wi-Fi or hub goes down? The product information does not say how the system behaves without the internet or the hub, so we cannot promise a particular result. Ask Drayton, and check the manual for the fallback behaviour, before you rely on it. Your boiler’s own controls and a qualified heating engineer remain the backstop.