WiFi Heater Switch 20A - Black

A black geyser switch: a glass touch panel that puts the water heater on your phone. It replaces the geyser's existing wall switch, so the plate on the wall stays a plate on the wall and still works by touch when the internet is down. What it adds is everything you cannot do with a rocker switch: turn the geyser on from bed twenty minutes before you get up, set it to heat for an hour each morning and evening rather than sitting on all day, and see from the app whether somebody left it running.

• The same panel, in black
• What it does that a rocker cannot
• Sizing a black geyser switch against your element
• What waterproof does not mean here
• Black or white

The most useful setting is the countdown, which the manuals call inching. You tell it a duration, say thirty minutes, and from then on every time the heater is switched on, by touch or by app, it turns itself off again after that time. For a household where somebody always forgets, that one setting pays for the switch.

It is rated 20 A, 4,400 W, which is the rating printed on the relay physically inside the panel rather than a number off a box. Ratings in this corner of the market are often quoted optimistically, so if you are comparing this against something cheaper that claims more, ask the seller which figure is on the relay.

4,400 W is comfortably above a typical Tanzanian geyser element, which is usually 2,000 to 3,000 W, so the panel is rated for the job. Two honest caveats even so. First, sustained full-load switching is harder on a relay than occasional switching, so on the largest elements it is worth asking your electrician whether to drive a contactor from the panel instead of running the load through it. Second, the supplier copy describes the glass as waterproof: no manufacturer publishes an IP rating for these, and what they mean is that the glass is safe to touch with wet hands and wipes clean. It is not a bathroom-rated fitting.

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

The same panel, in black

Electrically this is identical to the white version we stock. The reason to buy a black geyser switch is the wall it is going on: against dark tile, a charcoal feature wall or black switch plates elsewhere in the room, a white panel is the thing your eye lands on first.

If the rest of the plates in that room are white, buy the white one and save yourself the mismatch.

What it does that a rocker cannot

It replaces the geyser existing wall switch, so the plate stays a plate and still works by touch when the internet is down. The app adds the rest: switch on from bed twenty minutes before you get up, heat for an hour morning and evening instead of all day, and check from anywhere whether it was left running.

The countdown setting, which the manuals call inching, is the one that earns its keep. Set a duration and every time the heater is switched on, by touch or by app, it turns itself off again after that time.

Sizing a black geyser switch against your element

It is rated 20 A and 4,400 W, taken from the relay physically inside the panel rather than from a box. Ratings here are often quoted optimistically, so when comparing against something cheaper that claims more, ask which figure is on the relay.

A typical Tanzanian geyser element of 2,000 to 3,000 W sits comfortably under 4,400 W. On the largest elements, ask your electrician whether to drive a contactor from the panel instead of running the load through it, because sustained full-load switching is harder on a relay than occasional switching.

What waterproof does not mean here

The supplier copy describes the glass as waterproof. What that means is that it is safe to touch with wet hands and wipes clean. No manufacturer publishes an IP rating for these panels, so it is not a bathroom-rated fitting and should not be treated as one.

It needs a neutral at the switch position, fits an 86 x 86 x 35 mm position, and runs on 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi with no hub through Smart Life or Tuya, with Alexa and Google Home. It is a mains switch on a heater circuit, so it belongs to an electrician.

Black or white

Nothing electrical changes between the two. Buy the black one if the plates around it are dark or the tile behind it is, and the white one if they are not. It is worth a minute standing in the room before ordering, because a mismatched plate is the sort of thing you notice every day afterwards.

The rest is the same conversation as any geyser switch: a neutral at the switch position, and a word with your electrician about the size of your element. See AC and heaters for the white and Zigbee versions. App documentation is at tuya.com.