Optimal thermal comfort thanks to the features offered by the Netatmo Smart Thermostat, such as Auto-Adapt, which works out when to turn on your heating by taking account of your home’s insulation as well as the outside temperature.

As with the main Thermostat, the smart-looking Radiator Valves have an E Ink screen that shows the current temperature. Twist the Valve’s head, and you can increase or decrease the temperature for three hours, giving a handy boost if you’ve got one cold room. Dive into the app, and you get more control, and you can choose how long you want each temperature change to last. It’s the battery-powered thermostat that’s really attractive: this small cube (83x83mm) can either be wall-mounted or attached to a stand, so you can place it where you want or even move it around your home. Netatmo ships the thermostat with five colour “accent” strips: white, red, orange, green and blue, enabling you to match the thermostat to your decor. Netatmo Smart Thermostat – Features

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The Smart Thermostat uses some advanced heating algorithms, designed to save money – up to a 37% cut in energy bills – to help keep your house from getting too hot or cold. The same goes for the living room and the laundry room - you’ll want to use the heating to ramp up the temperature in one, but there’s no need for the other to be quite so hot, given what you use it for! To save energy, you’ll probably want to set a schedule so each radiator only comes on at certain times of day. The Netatmo Smart Thermostat comes as two components: a relay and the thermostat. Both have been designed by Stark, and they’re attractive and rather understated boxes, intended to blend into your home. To aid with heating, the Netatmo Smart Thermostat also takes into account the local outdoor temperature, so that it knows when to turn on the heating: earlier, when it’s really cold; later, when it’s warmer. The temperature can be pulled from the internet, using your home’s location, although more accurate readings can be taken from a Netatmo Weather Station if you have one linked to the same account. Netatmo Smart Thermostat – Smart Radiator Valves A remote-controlled heating system with a smart thermostat has many advantages and a wireless kit like this can be the best solution for many homes looking to lower the price of running their boilers.

Saving energy: in fact, controlling your heating remotely is a considerable advantage given that lowering the temperature by just one degree can already reduce your consumption. What’s more, with the rising price of gas and electricity, it’s important to be able to limit the use of our heating systems. The Netatmo Smart Thermostat allows you to set a custom heating schedule that suits your lifestyle and enables you to heat your home and hot water only when necessary and to the right temperature. This allows you to reduce your heating costs and avoid heating your home unnecessarily when you’re away. The first mode, Away, is set to 12°C and is used when you go out. It’s a shame that geofencing isn’t built in to do this automatically, although you can create a similar feature using the excellent IFTTT channel. The second mode, Frost-guard, sets the temperature to 7°C and is there for when you leave your home but don’t want the pipes to freeze while you’re away.

As such, it’s important to be able to control the heating levels in your home, so you can set the right temperature for each room as and when you need to use it. That’s key to achieving thermal comfort within your home, as well as making the most efficient use of the energy consumed by your boiler. Netatmo could make the available options a little easier to understand, though: hysteresis algorithm and proportional-integral-derivative (PID) algorithm are hardly descriptive. While the manual explains what each one does, they’re a bit wordy. As Google Nest users in a previous property, the idea of Netatmo was appealing on account of its simplicity and lower price. For many users you'll be able to self-install the thermostat where your previous model once sat (without necessarily needing to open up your boiler at all), or sit it in whichever room you choose on its mobile stand. Overall the Netatmo Smart Thermostat isn't as fancy-looking (it's got an E Ink display after all) or as overall 'smart' as some of the competition (there's no geographically-based austomation features, for example). But that doesn't necessarily matter: it has no subscription model to worry about, it's easy to install, and it handles your heating with ease whether via the thermostat itself or by using the app wherever you are. For me that makes this smart heating system well worthy of consideration, and one I wouldn't have wanted to live without these last couple of years. Also consider

The second method is easy for a DIY enthusiast and needs no new wiring. If you have to go for the first option, you’re probably best getting a professional to install your unit, as it involves using 230V mains power.

A gorgeous-looking thermostat that can be expanded with radiator valves, but the scheduling is fiddly to configure

More than ever before, with rising gas and electricity prices, being able to manage your heating remotely can help you avoid high energy bills. Beyond the financial aspect, there’s also an ecological aspect, because a house that’s not overheated is a house that emits less CO2! When making a temperature change, you can also adjust the slider to make the change last for a longer or shorter period. Remotely controlling your heating system can also be done directly through your radiators. Today, some radiators have embedded wireless technology so you can manage your heating even when you’re away from home. But with so many established smart thermostat systems already on the market - Nest, Hive, Tado, to name but three - does Netatmo's simpler battery-powered offering provide enough features to keep up?

Also it would be remiss of my to not point out that the Netatmo system is smart, in that it can learn using what's called the Auto-Adapt function. This, says Netatmo, "uses your home’s insulation and the outdoor temperature to programme when your heat should switch on". The theory there being it can assess outdoor temperature and pre-heat ahead of schedule time depending on environmental factors, so it'll adapt through the seasons. It's no secret that there are plenty of other smart heating options on the market. I think Google Nest is the best-looking solution, which I've installed in a former home and really liked, it's got more features but does also need subscription costs for best use-case.I've received one Radiator Valve to review but have been unable to install it. I'm not sure why, but it disconnects the downstairs Relay from the network when attempting, so the app just spins out unable to connect to it. If you're keen on the Radiator Valves then take note they can only replace thermostatic valves on radiators; if you don't have that then you'll need a plumber. Multiple valves are also pricier than the Smart Thermostat system itself, so the costs will add up if you're doing a lot of zoning.