Multiple electric radiators with single wall thermostat?

[Mont Blanc]

Instead of having multiple wall mounted electric radiators/heaters dotted around a studio apartment, all of which need set for temperature separately, is it possible to buy electric rads that are all controlled by a single wall thermostat?

If so, any recommendations?

(Wiring them isn’t an issue as everything is at the bare plasterboard and wiring stage anyway)

[MajorMantra]

You could do what I've done and fit WiFi switches to each radiator, and run a WiFi thermostat as well. I'm using Shelly components but you could achieve similar with other smart home systems.

(I chose Shelly because the relays fit in the back boxes, but I'm currently using their cloud app and it's not amazing.)

[Cristio Nasser]

Having them all kick on/off at once could cause electrical load spike issues. Unless they can be staged up and down to prevent that. Better off getting WiFi enabled ones and keeping them operating independently via their own internal thermostat, but with a common set point controlled centrally (eg via an app) is your best bet.

[Mont Blanc]

Just to add more detail:

The reason for wanting this, is that it would seem a big hassle to set the timer and the temperature, on 4 or 5 different radiators, and change them twice a year for daylight saving time, and then in top of that, we often get brief power cuts during winter and each time it happened all the rads would need clocks set again, and so on.

I was just thinking there must be a modern electric rad system where they were all linked either wired or wireless to a single wall thermostat/clock.

[Craikeybaby]

I'm sure my old flat had this sort of set up - one central timer, but individual thermostats on each of the electric radiators.

[ruggedscotty]

Mont Blanc said:

Instead of having multiple wall mounted electric radiators/heaters dotted around a studio apartment, all of which need set for temperature separately, is it possible to buy electric rads that are all controlled by a single wall thermostat?

If so, any recommendations?

(Wiring them isn’t an issue as everything is at the bare plasterboard and wiring stage anyway)

find out rating of heater - get stat rated to that requirement - wire heaters to that stat.

turn up temp on every heater to max and then let your room stat control them all.....

[Peanut Gallery]

Are all the heaters on a heater circuit? - Could you intercept that circuit just after the fuseboard, stick a big relay in there, controlled by the central controller, and then just leave all the individual heaters set to max. Central controller says house needs heating, it turns on the whole circuit, all the heaters turn on, house warms up, then the central controller turns off the whole circuit.

If turning on all the heaters at the same time causes a big spike (which it will) you can get delay relays, plug one into all bar one heater and set them to something slightly different.

These are just some links to what I am thinking of - these are just the first ones that I found, they may not be suitable, better options are probably out there
Contactor that would turn off the whole circuit
https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-fortres...
Time delay relay
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07R1RJMWN/

[Mont Blanc]

Peanut Gallery said:

Are all the heaters on a heater circuit? - Could you intercept that circuit just after the fuseboard, stick a big relay in there, controlled by the central controller, and then just leave all the individual heaters set to max. Central controller says house needs heating, it turns on the whole circuit, all the heaters turn on, house warms up, then the central controller turns off the whole circuit.

If turning on all the heaters at the same time causes a big spike (which it will) you can get delay relays, plug one into all bar one heater and set them to something slightly different.

These are just some links to what I am thinking of - these are just the first ones that I found, they may not be suitable, better options are probably out there
Contactor that would turn off the whole circuit
https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-fortres...
Time delay relay
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07R1RJMWN/

Thanks.

The heaters nor the wiring have not been installed yet. I'm just at the plasterboard stage, so the electrician says now is the time to run whatever cables I want for any system.

[Mont Blanc]

I have just made a couple of calls to electric heating suppliers about this, and they said that yes, switching all electric rads in a property from a single wall thermostat is easy, but... the switching box that will switch all the rads on and off is expensive at about £200-300 (as it needs to be capable of switching 5kw, 8kw, 10kw, or wherever. Then you need to buy a 230v thermostat, and wire everything to the one heating circuit etc.

They went on to say that the easiest way to do it these days, is by installing a WiFi gateway device for about £70. That unit will then talk wirelessly to all the heaters in the house, and you can use app to control the heating and timing. The rads all use their built in thermostats to keep each room at whatever temp you set on the app.

So basically.... buy smart enabled wifi radiators (which appear barely any more expensive than dumb electric rads) and then buy a gateway controller for them, and download an app. Job done.