Vaillant vSMART Control 4+

Some ideas for future functionality

I purchased Vsmart because it didn’t just act as a digital thermostat and schedule. The fact that you can access the boiler curve ( increasing the temperature of heating flow ). Overall I like the functionality , but like others I think there are 2 areas to be developed.

For the general user
There is the need for wireless Radiator valves and the ability to adjust the radiator flow temperature ( without having to go into advanced settings and being able to understand “curves”)

Fur the more techi, ( especially someone looking to fine tune the system). Access to information already available on the boiler display would be useful). To illustrate the point, my boiler is in attic space and checking stem pressure is a pain. It would be useful if all service codes were available in the advanced ( or even a service ) section. That way more info could be given to the boiler engineer.

A real treat would be the ability to choose what variables are trended (say limit of 4), which would allow efficiencies to be tuned to the installation.

For example. Choosing outside temp. Energy used and flow temperature along with heating events, would show how the boiler is achieving the inside temperature.

Adding different curves ( output profiles) for rising or falling temperatures.

I have loads of ideas, so if someone from developments need some specifications. Get in touch

Don’t get vSmart

The learning/smart features don’t work well. It takes 30 days to “learn” about your home, so if it then doesn’t work well, you have to figure out how to reset it (not intuitive) and have it re-learn (only to not learn and keep heating inefficiently). If you switch over to manual, you can set up a schedule via an unintuitive user interface that is easy to get lost in. If you set manual override to last 2 hrs before it returns to the regular schedule, beware that… it won’t return to the regular schedule. Customer service acknowledged this and suggested I try to setting it to 5 mins instead. But who wants their home 1-2 degrees warmer for 5 mins??? Also, be prepared that unlike Hive, Nest and virtually all other systems, the vSmart cannot get power from the boiler. It needs a power outlet. If you don’t have power outlets in your boiler closet, budget for an electrician or get ready to have extension cords running along your floor. I asked Vaillant for a refund because their app/tech simply doesn’t work. They said they don’t get involved in “3rd party disputes” and that I should have my fitter get a refund from the supplier they got the thermostat from. Dodgy! This is a company used to dealing with other businesses but not customers directly and it shows. In fairness, my boiler itself is great. I would recommend a Vaillant boiler 100%. But get Hive or Nest. Don’t be an idiot like me.

Developer Response ,

Hi. I'm sorry to hear that you are having problems with the programming features. Throughout February we are updating the vSMART App to give our customers a more user friendly experience. If you continue to have issues after the update please contact app-support@vaillant-group.com.

Very useful tool.

I have been using the app for more than 3 years and it has benn very useful to understand and have more control over the cost of the heating . It shows when it began to work to reach the level you wanted at set time, indoor and outdoor temperature, when it will finish the manual setting and begin auto again.
The graphics are very good , you can see when the auto is going to set the heating again, how much time the boiler was on, you can program when the boiler is going off and on automatically, not only by the time , but by the temperature as well. For me it has been great. 4 stars because the explanation , the vocabulary in the help window is too technical for the normal user like me.
About the desconection issues, in more than 3 years maybe happened 3 times and after connected via bluetooth, quickly done, it always sorted it out.