British Gas Hive Active Heating

[mcompton69]

Background: http://www.britishgas.co.uk/smarter-living/control-energy/hive-active-heating.html

http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/hive-active-heating.html

We have a only a very basic 24 hour timer/thermostat for our CH system (Worcester 28i combi), which apart from being wireless is crap for two reasons 1) no 'just an hour' or similar 2) no different settings for weekends.

So the British Gas Hive offer sounds very interesting and I believe will save me money.

Has anyone got Hive or have feedback on someone else who has, good or bad?

Does anyone know of alternatives available in the uk (there are many US systems now, but they are of no use obviously)?

Does £199 for the system and installation seem good value (i am pretty sure it will be subsidised)?


Thanks for any advice or help!

 

[HERTS P&D]

Can't you upgrade to :

http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/ho...thermostat-with-twin-channel-programmer-mk-ii

Andy

 

[bazdaman]

Thats not a bad price from BG

 

[Slugbabydotcom]

Thats not a bad price from BG

It's actually the first time ever I have known them give not a reasonable but what I consider to be a cracking price considering the cost to me of a Salus equivalent was £156 just for the kit!

 

[scoobydo123]

Only trouble is that at this moment in time it does not support TPi control or smart start. Apparently some guys are working on this though.

 

[mcompton69]

Can't you upgrade to :

http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/ho...thermostat-with-twin-channel-programmer-mk-ii

Andy

Thanks Andy.

I could and i have looked at those before, but they cost about £150 retail, so plus labour for me, and it has an annoying feature that means we would need to access the boiler to change the timer, whereas at present the wireless timer/thermostat is a single unit, with only a receiver on the boiler.

So bearing in mind the price and features, it now seems very old fashioned compared to the Hive system!

 

[alan333]

I recently got Hive and it works great. I have a Scottish Gas service contract and recently called them to fix my thermostat problem. Engineer arrived and swapped the thermostat then told me that he could fit Hive for £100 instead of the standard £200 since he was already on site for a bone fide fault. An hour or so later and Hive was installed and working.

I can control my heating from an app on my phone via internet (or from the thermostat in my hall) and it allows you up to four "sets" per day. Note I say "sets" cos it doesn't need to be two off/on's, ie you can have, for example, from 11pm til 7am set at 16 degrees, then from 7am til 9am at 20 deg, then off til 4pm, then 20 deg til 11pm. You can set each day different, or weekdays different from weekends, or copy any day's settings and apply it to any selected other days etc. You can adjust the temp by a simple dial on the app. I can also control the hot water (but not it's temperature) in the same manner.

Edit...I didn't originally notice you had a combi so i din't think the hot water bit wouldn't be relevant to you.

Hope this helps

 

[mcompton69]

I can control my heating from an app on my phone via internet (or from the thermostat in my hall) and it allows you up to four "sets" per day. Note I say "sets" cos it doesn't need to be two off/on's, ie you can have, for example, from 11pm til 7am set at 16 degrees, then from 7am til 9am at 20 deg, then off til 4pm, then 20 deg til 11pm. You can set each day different, or weekdays different from weekends, or copy any day's settings and apply it to any selected other days etc. You can adjust the temp by a simple dial on the app. I can also control the hot water (but not it's temperature) in the same manner.

Thanks for responding Alan, that's really useful information!

I think i am going to go for it.

 

[dcawkwell]

Whilst I have no doubt things like this will be standard on boilers like this in 10 years time. Where manufactures can talk straight to boiler/heat source and diagnose a problem via your internet router and you can control your heating from where-ever you want. In my mind if I'm not in the house I don't want to be wasting heat anyway. The only time I want the heating on is when I'm in the house so I don't see the point.
Your central heating should be such that when switched it on it has the house rooms up to temperature within 15-30 minutes so what on earth is the point of this and I certainly wouldn't waste £200 on it.

 

[Steelmasons]

+1
The Honeywell CMxxx enables six temp and time settings per day with different settings each day of the week , all for the princely sum of around 120 notes , can see a few issues with this HIVE carp.

Gotta be a fool to entertain it.

 

[Steelmasons]

I recently got Hive and it works great. I have a Scottish Gas service contract and recently called them to fix my thermostat problem. Engineer arrived and swapped the thermostat then told me that he could fit Hive for £100 instead of the standard £200 since he was already on site for a bone fide fault. An hour or so later and Hive was installed and working.

I can control my heating from an app on my phone via internet (or from the thermostat in my hall) and it allows you up to four "sets" per day. Note I say "sets" cos it doesn't need to be two off/on's, ie you can have, for example, from 11pm til 7am set at 16 degrees, then from 7am til 9am at 20 deg, then off til 4pm, then 20 deg til 11pm. You can set each day different, or weekdays different from weekends, or copy any day's settings and apply it to any selected other days etc. You can adjust the temp by a simple dial on the app. I can also control the hot water (but not it's temperature) in the same manner.

Edit...I didn't originally notice you had a combi so i din't think the hot water bit wouldn't be relevant to you.

Hope this helps

Why would you consider controlling your heating via mobile phone considering the unit enables 4 time and temp settings per day? , more to go wrong in my opinion.

 

[Corgigrouch]

Did anyone else hear on the radio about the hackers who were hacking internet linked home appliances?

 

[ALEC1]

central heating systems of radiators need and have designed into them a time factor to raise the temperature of buildings...relative to outside temperature.. usually it would be two hours at -3c outside and 20c inside.

of course things like Hive will just get binned when the novelty has worn off...or people come home to cold house unless they know they are going to be there some time before they need the house hot...there really are no advantages to things like Hive..

 

[mcompton69]

central heating systems of radiators need and have designed into them a time factor to raise the temperature of buildings...relative to outside temperature.. usually it would be two hours at -3c outside and 20c inside.

of course things like Hive will just get binned when the novelty has worn off...or people come home to cold house unless they know they are going to be there some time before they need the house hot...there really are no advantages to things like Hive..

I don't think you understand how Hive works....

You are definitely wrong about getting binned when the novelty wears off - You obviously think that Google would pay $2 BILLION for a company that make a very similar device to Hive, and will just bin it off soon. How soon you think?

http://bit.ly/1nuu42r

 

[nickso]

Don't worry about ALEC1 he is well known for speaking before thinking on here.

I have had the version before Hive for well over a year now and it is still useful to me, in fact I couldn't do without it.

I do agree with some comments about how a family would see the benefits though.

Also disappointed to see they haven't increased the set times from 4 to 5, that and the **** progammer on my version are my only complaints.