You won't get the full benefits without a smart thermostat Otherwise the valves cannot communicate with your boiler to turn it on and off, so your radiators will only heat up if the heating is already turned on. This is what I have in my house and most of my rooms are set to “4”, with some set to “3” if a particular room tends to get a little too hot. The ability to smartly control the valves. But as we’ve seen, the current integration options are poor. If I could integrate smart valves into an ecobee thermostat, I think I’d run out and buy a full smart heating system. But right now that’s just not possible, so I don’t really see the benefit of having ‘smart’ radiator valves. We found the geofence feature worked well most of the time, but it will require a little more battery from your smartphone so it’s worth keeping an eye on your power level if you’re running low.

You can also set up heating schedules within the app to change the thermostat temperature throughout the day. In the diagram above, the thermostat is located in the living room. So you could set it to 18°C and also schedule this to change to 20°C between 7pm - 8pm, making it nice and cosy for you in the evening when you settle down in front of the TV. The room by room heating schedule helps save energy while you sleep, literally! Heat only the bedrooms at night time while decreasing the temperature in the rest of the house.

Cold weather boost

Forget expensive installations and hassle – the Nest Thermostat E has been designed so that pretty much everyone should find it easy to install. The new Heat Link E battery-powered bridge attaches to the wires that were used by your old wired thermostat – and that’s it. Starting from scratch, most people should have the system up and running in under an hour. If you don’t have a wired thermostat, you’ll need to have the Heat Link E wired into your boiler, which will most likely mean a professional installation. While the system supports OpenTherm for increased energy savings, at this point your best option is probably a different product.

More fine-grained control over when the valves open up. Right now I can just choose settings “1-5”, but this doesn’t allow me to say “This valve should be open under 18°C in the morning, and under 19°C in the evening”. This is something that I lose with my TRVs (compared to smart valves), but again – honestly – it’s not something I think would benefit me right now. Most of the rooms in my house are use evenly enough throughout the day, and most heat up (and cool down) consistently too – so I don’t need this level fine-grained control currently. Members of your family can also have their own logins to the Lyric app, allowing you to share control with others - and also revoke it if necessary. Handy if you’re having someone house sit for you while you’re away. You can change the settings remotely You don't have to go round your whole home changing each valve's settings, if you want to heat rooms differently. A smart radiator valve can save you money because it allows you to control your house’s temperature room-by-room. If you have a room that gets particular hot (for example), you can install a smart valve and make it so that that specific radiator comes on less.

A simple smart thermostat with voice support and clever geofence feature

Live more sustainably - get our free Sustainability newsletter to make changes for you and the planet Wi-fi radiator valves cannot communicate with a smart thermostat (so they cannot turn your boiler on and off). In contrast to the hardware, the app is beautifully designed. It’s very clearly laid out, with color coding for temperatures allowing you to identify at a glance the temperature for each room of your house. Performance Smart radiator valves let you remotely schedule your homes temperature room-by-room, letting you take control of, and ideally save money on, your energy this winter. Read on to learn more about the brands we've tested and if a smart radiator valve is right for you.