Worcester Wave Heating Controls

highguyuk

There seems to be very little reviews or thoughts online about the Worcester Wave system - unless I'm searching for the wrong thing! I'm surprised I can't even find many threads on MSE about it.

So I thought I'd fire it out there directly. Who's got one? Who decided against? etc. etc.

I'll be installing a Worcester Bosch 28i in the very near future and can't decide between the standard Worcester controls and the upgraded Wave system.

popularfurball

We haven't yet invested for the same reasons....

Tallmark

Here's a copy of a review I wrote elsewhere. I hope it's useful.

I had the Wave professionally installed together with a new Worcester 38CDi Classic Combi boiler. If you have the Wave installed at the same time as a new Worcester boiler, the standard two year guarantee is extended to the same as the boiler - currently seven years with a qualified installer. The unit combines both programmer and thermostat and requires a wired connection to the boiler. Initial set up was very simple with the unit quickly recognising my 2G wi-fi network and automatically updating its software over the web.

The key difference between the Wave and other Worcester controllers is that you can access its settings remotely over the web using a smartphone app. This app is available for free for both iPhone and Android phones and is essential to control the Wave - you can only change the temperature setting using the unit itself. The app allows you to view the current temperature, set the target temperature and change the programme and options. So, for example, you can turn the heating on just before heading home from work which is really useful.

The app can also display a very basic report showing how much gas your boiler has used for heating and hot water, month by month, or total used during the year. You can choose whether this is displayed in pounds or kWh. There is however no benchmarking with other users or year on year comparison facility.

In practice I've found the app reasonably easy to understand and there are some helpful user videos available on the Worcester web site. This is just as well as the documentation that came with the Wave was out of date and didn't cover some of the features which was a bit confusing at first.

One of the main advantages of the Wave over other internet connected thermostats such as Hive or Nest is that, when connected to a compatible Worcester Bosch boiler, the Wave is able to vary the boiler's water flow temperature around the radiators. This enables the boiler to run more efficiently and for the house temperature to be maintained more consistently. The Wave achieves this with two different features - load compensation and weather compensation. The Wave's load compensation adjusts the output of the boiler depending on the actual room temperature compared to the desired room temperature. If there is a large difference the boiler will use a higher output, a lower difference and a lower output. This feature is always on and works well in my house.

The other feature is weather compensation which can be optionally switched on via the app. This takes the local outside temperature, as listed on an external weather web site, into account in setting the boiler output. However I found that with weather compensation switched on, the boiler struggled to reach the temperature set on the thermostat. I have subsequently been advised by Worcester technical support that in larger, poorly insulated properties, weather compensation is not as efficient as simply using load compensation and I have therefore switched the weather option off. It would be helpful if this guidance was available in the Wave documentation - which I found very basic and fails to cover all of the features.

The Wave also includes a feature where the house temperature is linked to your presence in the house, as indicated by the location of your smartphone. You can set different temperatures for when you're in the house awake, asleep, or out of the house. You can link multiple devices to the Wave and the highest preferred temperature is the one used. This is great in theory - but in my experience doesn't work reliably. On several occasions, when checking the Wave while out of the house, it has indicated that it believed someone is still at home and consequently operated the heating. I have therefore switched this off and hope this will be sorted out by Worcester soon.

There are reports from other users of connection problems between their phones and the Wave. However i haven't had any difficulties using it over Virgin Media and Virgin's Superhub. Worcester also issued an updated IOS app in March which mentioned improved connectivity as a feature.

Overall the Wave offers a very convenient way of controlling your boiler and offers additional efficiency gains through load compensation that other similar internet based products do not offer. There are some minor issues but they don't detract too much for the overall system.

deltatango

I am about to get a new central heating installed the 34 cdi greenstar boiler and a wave thermostat in a 3 bedroom detached this is going to happen in July

How are you getting on with the yours now ?

Terry

garryselby

As a heating engineer if I was you forget the Bosch boilers they have aluminum heat exchanger and are a pain to clean on a full service buy a Valliant , Viessmann or Baxi , stainless steel heat exchanger self cleaning but fit a Magnaclean , as far as controls Salus make one probably half price
Other plumbers will disagree with me but most just fit never fix with years of experience the Bosch is a well built boiler but poor design . and lots of plastic , after a few years they start to fur up with oxides in the heat exchanger reducing efficiancy and performance and Bosch say you dont require to open up for 3 to 5 years why am I cleaning ones after 12 months . leave that thought with you .

deltatango

Worcester boilers have been top of the Which for 4 years so they must doing something right, also I get 7 years guarantee on the boiler and the Wave thermostat when fitted at the same time,

AWeeCuppaTea

I'm just going to jump here and see if anyone else has any thoughts about the wave. Just bought my first house so not used to all this just yet!

I have a greenstar combi boiler and a fw100 weather compensator controller....I HATE it lol. The weather compensator is a nightmare to use. For example right now, its telling me the 'required' room temperature is 19degrees, the room temperature is 18degrees i.e. lower than it should be, yet the heating isn't on!! I'm constantly having to fire up the 'required' temperature to 22-25 degrees to make sure it comes on and stays on. It just has a mind of its own, and I was so used to my mums system in her house which was just a simple on/off type system.

I'm considering getting a new controller, and the wave seems to be the most up to date with better control of the system, plus we have iphones/ipads etc so that would be handy. However, I'm also tempted just to get a simple programmer, no weather or thermostat, just so I get set it to come on/off when I want, with the advance/boost option for an hour here & there if it gets cold. I'm a simple easy life kind of person, so the wave might be too fancy for my liking.

Any thoughts?

alan.t

firstly you wont find many reviews of the wave controller as it is such a new item hardly anyone has bought one yet, or at least not enough people who can be bothered to give feedback on websites etc.


Weather compensation is a really tricky thing to set up for the most knowledgable of installer so as the above reviews have stated probably not a worthwhile option to rely on an external weather feed to set things up.


Also I get the trend for every thing internet and app based but why do you want to change your heating controls all the time? buy a decent programmer/timeswitch or programmable room stat and set it up to suit your lifestyle and leave it alone, unless you have a job with really varied hours why pay loads of money to mess about with something that works perfectly well when programmed to suit your needs

AWeeCuppaTea

Thanks for your reply.

I have contacted a friends relative who is a gas engineer, and explained I just wanted a simple programmer, so he is going to come out and fit something basic.

I might only be 26, and up to date with technology etc, but even I don't see the need to control things with apps. Just a simple system so suit the hours I home thanks! :rotfl:

deltatango

Hi here's a update to my heating system 34cdi boiler and Wave
3 bedroom detached house 7 rads 1 in the conservatory
My gas bill for heating and hot water for the quarter Oct Nov Dec
Was £140 magic very pleased I was on storage rads before

Sheardy1968

Hello Deltatago - perhaps a random response your post but I have your very same setup, i.e 34cdi/wave - all installed in May 2015 so this is the first winter. Hence I am concerned with the graphs I'm seeing via the app on my phone. It indicates Nov & Dec being £100+ where Jan is less than £70. Weirder still is Feb is already passed £80 even though no real change in usage. Wondering if it's down to where my Wave is installed (room above garage) so perhaps it's struggling to reach say 18c and therefore I'm using more gas? I can't explain the low price for Jan but have overall concerns that my 3k system isn't saving me money. :-( Any got any bright ideas please?