Zigbee Heater Switch (Tuya)

A Zigbee geyser switch, the same idea as our Wi-Fi heater switches but on the mesh: a white glass touch panel with a champagne bezel that replaces the geyser's wall switch and puts the water heater on your phone. Turn it on from bed before you get up, schedule it to heat morning and evening rather than sitting on all day, set a countdown so it switches itself off after a set period, and check from anywhere whether somebody left it running.

• Read the gateway line before anything else
• When Zigbee is the better choice
• What a Zigbee geyser switch does at the wall
• The rating, with both published figures
• Only if you already run Zigbee

The thing to know before you buy: this one needs a Zigbee gateway. Unlike our Wi-Fi panels it cannot reach your router by itself. Without a Tuya-compatible Zigbee hub on the network it is a touch switch on the wall and nothing else, and several manufacturers in this family state plainly that it wants a Tuya-branded gateway rather than any Zigbee 3.0 hub. Budget for the gateway as part of the purchase, or buy the Wi-Fi version instead and skip the problem.

The trade is worth it if you are already running Zigbee. It does not consume a Wi-Fi slot, it is steadier on a congested network, and it joins the mesh with the rest of your sensors. If this is your first smart device in the house, the Wi-Fi one is the simpler buy.

On the rating. This panel is a 20 A device: that is the figure in the supplier's own copy and in every real spec table for this family. The manufacturers disagree on the wattage that goes with it, quoting 4,000 W and 4,400 W in different places, so we have printed both rather than pick one. A typical Tanzanian geyser element of 2,000 to 3,000 W sits comfortably under either. On the largest elements it is worth asking your electrician whether to drive a contactor from the panel rather than run the load through it, since sustained full-load switching is harder on a relay than occasional switching.

It needs a neutral at the switch position, and it is a mains switch on a heater circuit, so it belongs to an electrician.

Read the gateway line before anything else

A Zigbee geyser switch cannot reach your router by itself. It needs a Tuya-compatible Zigbee gateway on the network, and without one it is a touch switch on the wall and nothing else.

Several manufacturers in this family state plainly that they want a Tuya-branded gateway rather than any Zigbee 3.0 hub, so budget for the gateway as part of the purchase or buy the Wi-Fi version instead and skip the problem entirely. If this is your first smart device in the house, the Wi-Fi one is the simpler buy and we will say so.

When Zigbee is the better choice

The trade is worth it if you are already running Zigbee. A Zigbee geyser switch does not consume a Wi-Fi slot, it is steadier on a congested network, and it joins the mesh alongside the rest of your sensors rather than sitting on the router as one more client.

Standby draw is under 0.5 W, lower than the Wi-Fi panels.

What a Zigbee geyser switch does at the wall

It replaces the geyser existing wall switch with a white glass panel and a champagne bezel, and it still works by touch. From the app you switch the heater on before you get up, schedule it to heat morning and evening rather than all day, and check from anywhere whether it was left running.

The countdown does the work nobody remembers to do: set a duration and every time the heater is switched on it turns itself off again after that period.

The rating, with both published figures

This is a 20 A device. The manufacturers disagree on the wattage that goes with it, quoting 4,000 W in some places and 4,400 W in others, so both are printed in the table rather than us picking the flattering one.

A typical Tanzanian geyser element of 2,000 to 3,000 W sits comfortably under either figure. On the largest elements, ask your electrician whether to drive a contactor from the panel rather than run the load through it.

No IP rating is published for these panels, so it is safe to touch with wet hands but is not a bathroom-rated fitting. It needs a neutral at the switch position, works from -20 to 50 degrees C, and is a mains switch on a heater circuit, so it belongs to an electrician.

Only if you already run Zigbee

Read that literally. Without a Tuya-compatible hub on the network this is a touch switch and nothing more, and the manufacturers in this family are specific about wanting a Tuya-branded gateway rather than any Zigbee 3.0 box. If this is your first smart device, buy the Wi-Fi panel instead and save yourself the extra purchase.

If the mesh is already there, it is the better citizen: no Wi-Fi slot used, steadier on a busy network, half a watt on standby. The Wi-Fi versions are in AC and heaters, and Tuya document the platform at tuya.com.