Smart heating is a big buzzword, and it’s easy to see why. The new breed of smart valves puts controllable heating at your fingertips so you can heat room by room just by using an app on your phone.
Using smart radiator valves not only lets you zone your heating; it also increases energy efficiency and reduces costs. Functioning with a home hub, these cool gadgets make controlling your heating a breeze. Just fit and link to the home hub for remote heating control of each radiator. Make sure that you review the other smart kit available from the same manufacturer if you intend to go further than just automating your heating.
Devolo Home Control Radiator Thermostat
If you’re looking for a good-looking and intuitive smart valve that you can install yourself and that looks great with any style of heating from convector to column radiators, look no further than the Devolo thermostat.
This takes just minutes to install and lets you control your heating room by room so you don’t waste money and energy heating rooms that aren’t in use. You will need a smart thermostat to turn your boiler on and off, however. The minimal styling makes it very streamlined with the latest column styles, and you can visit Apollo for a selection of column radiators that this smart valve would look great with.
Devolo supply a great range of smart home accessories, but there is a downside: the mobile app isn’t as intuitive as you might like. However, the full website more than makes up for it.
Elgato Eve Thermo
This is another streamlined module, but it lacks some of the features that we’ve seen in cheaper valves. For example, there’s no visual display like the Devolo.
The Thermo is targeted at iPhone users. There is full Apple TV integration, but the app isn’t wonderful. Even though this integrates with your Apple devices, it won’t work with most smart thermostats.
Lightwave Smart Radiator Valve
It’s not the prettiest solution as this requires the Lightwave Home Hub to work, but if you’re already invested in their smart switch ecosystem, that won’t be a big deal. The app isn’t the most intuitive, but with full Apple Home Kit, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant integration, voice commands are the way to go.