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If you love saving money and want to be warm, then these heaters are for you! With the ever-changing world of technology, heaters are the next home device to get a WiFi makeover. So sit back, relax and read how WiFi Smart heaters can help you stay warm on a budget.
In a Hurry? Jump to Our Smart Heater Buying Guide
What are WiFi Smart Heaters?
WiFi Smart Heaters are standalone or wall hung electric heaters which connect to a WiFi network. The heaters have features such as low energy usage, 7-day timers and programmable thermostats which can be set and controlled by a smartphone app or integrated panel.
How do WiFi Heaters Work?
WiFi Smart Heaters have built-in WiFi capability. This enables the Smart Heaters to connect to a WiFi network and be controlled via your smartphone app from anywhere, as long as the smartphone has an internet connection.
What does this mean for you? Well, the main advantage is energy saving. This means you can turn the heater on before you enter a room or perhaps before you head to a summerhouse or garage so it’s warm and cosy when you arrive.
You can set the temperature you want the heater to reach and then turn off. Alternatively, you can set the heater to turn on if the heat in an area drops below a certain temperature. For example, using the heater to frost protect a garden room.
All these changes can be made by using an app on your phone. This makes Wifi Smart Heaters the perfect form of heating for holiday homes and static caravans.
The heaters use smart thermostats. This means the heater can be set to turn on if the temperature is low or turn off if the temperature of the room gets too high. This makes them very economical heaters to run
What size WiFi Smart Heater do I need?
Firstly, don’t overdo it! You don’t need a huge heater to heat a small room. There are a few examples below to give you an idea of the wattage you may need to heat a room. As a rough guide, 100 Watts will heat one square metre of floor space.
- A room measuring 4 m x 5 m = 20 square metres. 20 sqm x 100 Watts = 2000 Watts (2 kW) Heater would be sufficient.
- A room measuring 2 m x 2 m = 4 square metres. 4 sqm x 100 Watts = 400 Watts heater would be required. Ideal for heating the average bathroom.
What can WiFi Heaters do? – A Buying Guide
We have put together a few pointers that might help you to make a decision when looking for the Best Smart Heater for a bedroom, bathroom or garden room.
- All the heaters have a fixed length cable of between 1.2m – 1.5m long. Ensure you have a power point within easy reach of where you would like to place the heater.
- On average Smart Heaters weigh approximately 7.5 kg depending on the model. Below 10 kg may not be heavy, however, If you are fixing the panel to a wall, ensure the wall can take the weight and use the correct fixings for the wall.
- Infrared panels are the slimmest panels measuring on average 20 mm deep. Convection smart heaters measure around 80 mm deep. If the depth is important to you check the measurement including the brackets before you buy.
- Most Smart Heaters are rated between 400 Watts and 2000 Watts. We found one very impressive 3000 Watt Smart Heater with WiFi – The Klarstein Cosmic Beam Smart Heater which can be used inside and outside, an impressive piece of kit!
Smart Heater Features
- Smart Heaters can be grouped together into heat zones for better control and efficiency.
- Heaters can be wall hung or freestanding.
- Open window sensor which detects sudden temperature drop.
- Countdown Timers.
- A choice of panel colours.
- Auto cut off if a heater gets knocked over.
- Heaters have integrated control panels in case there is a loss of WiFi.
- Adaptive Start– Learns how long is required to heat the space. Then uses this to calculate the best time to start heating.
- Dimming digital displays, for panels that might be used in a bedroom.
- WiFi Smart Fan Heaters are also available.
Infrared Smart Heaters Vs Convection Smart Heaters
There are two ways electric heaters can work to make you feel warm, convection and infrared:
Convection Heating
Convection heaters have heating elements within a panel. As the panel heats up, it naturally draws cold air from the room, up past the hot panel, warming the air and sending it back out into the room.
This is a natural cycle of warm air rising, pushing the cold air down and then being drawn back through the warm panel again. Eventually, all the air in the room becomes warm.
Infrared Heating
The heat you feel from the sun is a simple way of describing infrared heat. Infrared heaters use technology that converts electricity into radiant heat. The heaters warm people or objects directly and not the air in between, just like the sun can warm your face on a cold day but the air around you is still cold. That said, the air does eventually become warm as the heat energy dissipates.
Infrared heating is the most economical and efficient form of heating. However, infrared heating does not always warm you the way you might like. It is possible that you will only feel the heat from infrared heaters on the parts of the body that are facing the heaters. This is why you will often see infrared panels mounted on the ceiling or on opposing walls. Ensuring a person feels heat from all directions.
Infrared heaters are the best heaters for allergy sufferers too. They do not encourage the movement of air that convection heaters do. The heating panels are also super slim, so there is less surface area for dust to settle on.
Are Smart Heaters Noisy?
Unless you are using a Smart Fan Heater, Smart convection heaters don’t have any moving parts, so there is no fan to whirl away. The only noise they occasionally make is a slight ticking when the metal body of the heater expands as it heats up. Exactly the same as the central heating radiators can in your home, on a particularly cold morning.
What do IP Ratings mean?
IP Ratings stand for Ingress Protection. The ratings give a consumer an idea of how well an electrical device is protected against unwanted intrusion. For example, protection against water ingress, moisture or their ability to protect against things/objects getting into the mechanical or electrical parts of the device.
In simple terms, this means, are they waterproof, splash-proof can fingers or bits of Lego be inserted into the device! You can read a comprehensive guide here.
An IP rating could look like this IP24.
- The first digit is protection from foreign body and particulate ingress.
- The second digit is protection from moisture.
In our example, the IP24, the 2 is the Protection against solid objects larger than 12mm (accidental finger contact). The 4 is the Protection against splashing water from any direction, tested for a minimum of 10 minutes with an oscillating spray (limited ingress permitted with no harmful effects).
If you are buying a smart heater for the bathroom, the manufacturer will quote IP ratings and the heaters suitability for bathroom situations. It is worth doing further research to ensure you have the correct device safely installed. Always consult a qualified electrician.
What does LOT20 Compliant mean?
LOT20 Compliant is an EU directive to make heaters more energy efficient. Even though the UK has left the EU, it is likely that the UK will continue to follow the directive. Which is no bad thing for the environment!
Smart Heaters with Alexa, Google Home and IFTTT?
If you have smart devices already installed in your home, it is likely you will want to connect your heater to Alexa or Google Home device. The majority of WiFi Smart Heaters provide this capability. This means you could use Alexa to operate the smart heater through voice control rather than using the app on your phone or tablet.
IFTTT is a free way of connecting many of the apps you might use with your phone or smart devices. For example you could set up an IFTTT applet connection that says when I leave the house, turn off the heating. IFTTT is a great system, and you can read more about it here.
