Radbot Reviews 42

I had Radbot valves fitted to radiators in my home last year. They will not switch off the radiators, so if I want to turn one or more radiators off in particular rooms whilst keeping others on, this is not possible. When turned to '0', the radiator remains as hot as ever.
They were fitted by a contractor, commissioned by a scheme - so there was no charge to me. However, the scheme providers say there's nothing they can do about this as they are advised that this is how the Radbot works i.e. if I enter the room where the Radbot is turned to green/0, it will detect that I am in the room and turn on the radiator.
Result - the original valves, that were fitted prior to the Radbot, would at least turn off an individual radiator. Now I have zero control. If I want that control, I'll have to get them replaced at my own expense.
If I could have given a zero rating, I would have done.

Do not fit . Had these as part of an eco system heat pump and they have cost me money and time . One radiator wouldn’t bleed as the balance was permanently shut ( now removed ) lately the system has been running constantly through the night. In investigation I found the valves have not been opening in the bedrooms where the hive thermostat is . Total waste of time AND money . I will now need to purchase original manual valves

Not impressed!
One has had 5 battery changes in 2 months and have had to search to find the company but hopefully will get a replacement in 28 days…

This is the trv that's just been fitted at my mates house on the government grant scheme, it's a joke that they are fitting something that is just a gimmic and costing much more and then needs batteries every few years

The only good point is that it's easy to install.
Otherwise:
1. Advised by Radbot that they won't work as a traditional TRV if the battery dies or is taken out when the valve is closed.
2. Noisy in a bedroom.
3. Flashing light in bedroom when battery low.
4. Won't work if you like your room dark and warm.
5. I expect, it's not suitable for Airbnb style properties as it will try to impose a routine that's different with every guest.
6. It's more complicated than a traditional TRV, therefore there's more to go wrong.
7. The inconvenience of constantly buying and installing batteries.

If you're replacing working TRVs, keep them so you can put them back on when you get fed up with the Radbot 1's not working as you'd like

Complete scam. Somehow, this company has convinced the government that they have made a good product. What they have made is a scam.

Radbots work via an extremely basic light sensor and a temperature sensor. When the radbot senses light, it checks the temperature to see if it is below the temp set by the user. If it is, then radbot turns the radiator valve on to allow more hot water into the radiator.

That is it. That is all these things do. They do not learn, they do not "self adjust", they detect light and then move a valve.

This system though is completely flawed, because you (like me) might quite like your dark rooms to be warm. What's even worse, is that radbot's temperature sensor is right next to the radiator, which is always significantly warmer than, say, anywhere else in the room. You might be sat on the sofa freezing your butt off whilst your radbot thinks it's a balmy 20C.

Did I mention that they're so loud that they'll wake you up every morning at sunrise?

Don't put these on your radiators. You will only have to take them off and spend money on TRVs that are actually designed to keep you warm.

Absolutely rubbish. Had air source pump fitted and solar on government funded June 2023 and had Radbot1 thermostats fitted in 3 bedroom and only one heats up. The main 2 big bedrooms are bloody cold and there’s nothing you can do about it. I then went into the information about how they work and what they work with!! Guess what they are not compatible with airsource heat pumps!! Now I need to replace with normal valves back on.

They keep one room warm and the rest of the rooms are cold

I can’t see how Radbot tells the central heating system to turn on and off. Can’t find any instructions on how the ‘someone enters the room’ feature.

These are a scam. They do not work at all.

Radbot has replaced a Pegler Terrier programmable rad valve. So far so good after 2 weeks, easy to fit and there is nothing to programme, it looks after itself. It was not clear to me exactly what prompted the Radbot to turn on, was it passive IR sensing or just light level? This is why 4 stars and not five.
It appears that light level is the trigger, and this can be daylight when there is no-one in the room, so a slight drawback for me. But it looks to be an excellent product so far.

Packaging good and instructions clear but installing the battery could be better, pushing a positive battery terminal onto a spring is not good. Initially had rapid flashing due to batteries not fitting correctly, refitted and ok

Despite lockdown they arrived safe and secure and in good time

Impressed with the speed of delivery and how easy it was to replace my old TRV’s with these Smart TRV’s. It took me less than 5 minutes per radiator to install and configure. When I say configure all I had to do was press the boost button on the radiator.

Only fitted these in April so I’ve only noticed a slight reduction in Energy costs from the same time as last year but I’m sure I’ll see a bigger difference in the winter months.

Excellent product, easy to install, good savings on energy costs.

I was looking for a way to save money on my British gas bill and I found this product earlier in the year. I have a Hive thermostat (sold by British gas by the way), but I didn't want to put more complexity in my house and add some connected radiator valves from the same brand.
I bought 4 radbots (installed myself) as I understand it lowers the temperature when I am not in a room and this is all I need. I will see the real saving on my gas bill along the way I guess.

Haven't yet tried them in the depth of winter - but so far impressed with the way these radiator valves work.

We wanted to do something to be more efficient with our use of heating in our house and came across Radbot... Digested all the great online info and videos and went for 7 of them to install in our most busy rooms in our house. Very easy to install and setup... loved the fact their is no gimicky app to manage them, they learn on their own and we can foget about them... The kids love their own Radbots in their room, they've called them names and tap on them when they want a boost! Great product. Highly recommended. I can't report on performance just yet as they have only been installed for 8 weeks.

Originally posted July 2019
Easy to fit and as far as it's been able to test it with the warm weather we've had over the last few months, they seem to be working - so waiting for some proper English summer, i.e. cold :-), to see how they perform then.

Update Dec 2019
Well we've now had long enough to live with them for a while and see how they work.
Well, they work just as described. Provided you use lights, then it learns your routine and turns on the radiators in each room according to it. That "provided" is the only issue I have - I tend to get up without putting a light on so as to not wake my wife, so I have to manually teach the unit that I'm up and about by changing the setting dial. But that's a minor inconvenience considering how simple they are to use otherwise.

Update Dec 2020
How time flies ! I now have a thermal store and the heating is fed with a modulating pump (adjusts it's speed down to match the flow through the radiators, and quiet to the point of being imperceptible). Now the Radbots come into their own as I can just leave the pump running, and the Radbots take care of the heating in each room - without the boiler short cyling all day.
A lot of the time we tend not to notice them, but I do find myself using the boost button when coming into a cold room and not using the lights (sometimes it's nice to just look at what's outside). If I do use the lights then it's not long before I can hear the motor working and the room is soon up to temperature.