Swapping a Hive for Another Smart Thermostat - Same wiring?

[cwcw]

I bought a Hive with professional installation on Amazon but I hate it so returning it for refund.

Since the receiver has already been wired up, am I right in thinking it will now be simple to swap the receiver over with one for a Nest or some other smart thermostat?

Hoping so or might be a bit stuck for heating...

 

[muggles]

You don't need heating, it's summer now

The wiring should be similar. A Honeywell T6 might be a good choice. Why did you not like the Hive?

 

[cwcw]

I don't like the schedule. I run my heating on and off many times per day to fit around being out and also just the efficiency of the boiler. It saves me money. I have to do this nearly every night during winter, due to daily variations, and the timer is on the boiler in an understated cupboard with those plastic pins on a dial. I assumed Hive would let me do the same digitally, plus the other benefits like holiday mode, but it's schedule is limited to 6 timeslots per day (effectively 3 on and off cycles) for some bizarre reason.

Do you know if the Honeywell let's me do what I'm wanting?

 

[muggles]

The thermostat function turns the heating on and off to maintain boiler efficiency - you don't need to do that manually. T6 is limited to 6 programmable cycles per day, but can be set to turn off automatically when you go out and turn on when you come home.

 

[cwcw]

I disagree about the thermostat. I need more timeslots because there are lots of periods in a day that I don't want the heating on at all. Setting a lower temp over a longer period is the only alternative and from experience that adds a lot of moeny to my gas bills, as well as not being warm enough during the short bursts required.

Do you know if the Nest has a decent scheduler?

 

[Hot&Cold]

Every one has different 'demands & needs' maybe a stand alone smart thermostat is not suitable for you.

Prior to installing the smart thermostat,have you had a heating technician visit your property,inspect your existing central heating system and discuss your demands & needs. This is the best way to get the correct product as every system is different and also customers.

sure a suitable resolution can be found

 

[cwcw]

I have not had a technician to inspect it but after a long chat with Nest support it seems a Nest does exactly what I need. You can schedule as many slots as required (but they have to be 1 hour minimum so max 24 slots in a day). The secondary purpose for the Smart element was being able to set over an app (e.g. getting home early, or keeping an eye on how hot my wife has set it when I'm at work!). Nest seems to satisfy what I want. I will never understand why Hive have such a badly designed scheduler though.

 

[75pete]

This is interesting. I fitted Hive a couple of weeks back, before that my old system was a 1970 wall stat in the hall and a electric / mechanical type boiler programmer, 2006yr.
Hive was a great step forward, the old programmer was very limited. Heating& hot water constant, hot water only, or time slots via the clock pegs to control both.
The above did work but was very much out of date and had, by to days standards, very limited control of heating and hot water. It's been only a couple of weeks but I find Hive a lot more flexible, not a surprise, user friendly and easy to adjust both heating and water requirements . I also think the Hive stat is quicker to react to changes in homes temperature , thus given a smoother temperature control.
The Hive Schedule is easy bypassed either via the stat or the App Dash Board, truly 21centery by my old standards. Can't comment on savings as yet but will see.

 

[75pete]

But you can see and change the wife's heating actions via the Hive over the net, also see what the heating ( house ) temperature looked like yesterday, last week, etc, You can boost either or both heating and hot water from the app if needed i.e getting home early.

 

[cwcw]

Yes, Hive did everything else I wanted, and aesthetically I prefer it to Nest, which is why I chose it originally. The timeslot limitation is just too big a drawback for me to live with though. Allowing as many timeslots as a user wants to add into a schedule should not be a difficult technical implementation at all, so I don't understand why they have such a limitation. Without being able to set at least 5 on/off cycles in a day (which means 10 slots over all since they force you to set the off periods too) my gas bills would only go one way - up!

 

[muggles]

They have the "limitation" because almost nobody wants more time periods. In fact, in 13 years in the industry, you're the only person I've ever come across who wants to operate their system in the way you have described. Most people only want four slots per day

 

[cwcw]

They have the "limitation" because almost nobody wants more time periods. In fact, in 13 years in the industry, you're the only person I've ever come across who wants to operate their system in the way you have described. Most people only want four slots per day

Except that's not true. There's several threads on the Hive support/suggestions forum, some with thousands of votes. See:

https://hivehome.uservoice.com/foru...tions/6929424-upgrade-to-unlimited-time-slots


https://hivehome.uservoice.com/foru...ons/4845092-more-scheduled-events-for-heating


Hive actually started with just 4 timeslots (2 on/offs a day) but increased it by demand, yet only to 6. From a programming point of view, unless they have designed it really badly, it shouldn't be much effort to increase to many more slots per day and at least leave people the flexibility of running their own heating how they wish to. The demand looks to be there, and they've lost my business to Nest as a result.

 

[Hot&Cold]

cwcw To be honest you need a tailor made system to suit your requirements,buying off the shelf and hoping it will satisfy your needs is a non starter.

Products are available to suit your heat needs but your heat emitters set up and your heat source need to be compatible to your smart needs,its all do able

 

[cwcw]

I think the Nest will do it. It's coming tomorrow and, after the usual DIY "10 mins", illI be able to give it a good try.

 

[cwcw]

You can probably guess the title of a new thread here tomorrow after said "10 mins" attempt (3 hours and lots of swearing)