As I am now a Scottish Gas customer, I can get Hive supplied and installed for £199 ( saving of £50).
Anyone got it? Gimmick or useful ?
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Nest is very good - we have a Smart thermometer. It's remote accessibility makes it worth the money.
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Well as you'll know from other posts I'm geeky about this home automation stuff and I reckon that controlling your heating from afar is considerably less than impressive. I might spend £15 - £20 on it tops, were it available at that price. Just consider how often you might use it.
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I can't say it particularly interests me, I might have a play about once with it and then shove it in a drawer if it was free, 200 quid? Not a chance.
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I use it pretty much every day, when the heating is running. Geofencing on the phone turns off heating when we go out more than a mile or so, turns it on again when a couple of miles from home on the way back.
Heating never forgotten or running unnecessarily when out, but house always to temperature when you walk in.
All with Nest.
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It's pretty slick, it was bundled in with our new boiler so the cost wasn't really an issue.
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>>Geofencing on the phone turns it on again when a couple of miles from home on the way back.
I know I haven't got the most efficient and updated heating system, but I'd have to be crawling on my knees for my central heating to heat up my house when I'm a couple of miles from home.
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It's actually five miles, could be anything. Plus if I know that's not going to be enough time, then (as long as I remember!) I can turn it on from my phone perhaps a couple of hours before getting in or whatever.
Helps that you can see the temperature in the room (and what the outside temperature and weather is too) at any time on the phone, so you can decide wherever you are whether to do a manual override and turn it on.
Conversely, you go on holiday and you've forgotten to turn off the heating - it's all happening automatically, but you can again turn it all on and off remotely as needed. Same with the hot water, so if you MUST have a bath the second you get home after an eight hour drive, at least you can get the water hot in advance.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Mon 7 Oct 19 at 17:20
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When we bought our Bosch dishwasher in 2005, we chose the penultimate one in the range. We were informed that the top model 'could be programmed and started from anywhere in the world'. My wife and I looked at one another, burst out laughing, and asked 'so, who's going to load the b..... thing?'
Incidentally, that 2005 dishwasher now lives my son & his wife and is still going strong.
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>> When we bought our Bosch dishwasher in 2005, we chose the penultimate one in the
>> range. We were informed that the top model 'could be programmed and started from >>anywhere in the world'.
Whilst searching for a new washing machine, one assistant told us that 'this machine spins at x thousand RPM and you can stand a glass of wine on it without spilling a drop'. I replied that if I wanted to stand a glass of wine on something, then I'd buy a table - I was asked to leave the shop!
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>> I might spend £15 - £20 on it tops, were it available at that price.
Likewise. My pocket didn't like it the other day when I went and bought a new Honeywell room stat for £18. We'd already complained to the landlord about the one on the wall being broken and not regulating properly, and the numpty gas engineer he sent round to replace it, fitted a 2nd hand one that was even worse.
Ended up changing it myself.
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Hive system now available at half price for British Gas rewards customers.
My gadget / technology / gizmo wallet might be tempted
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You get more for your money on other home automation stuff, and much more fun.
I'm testing a light switch which was about $15. I already have a number of WiFi controllable devices, as you'll have seen elsewhere. Heating control is really unexciting compared to other possibilities.
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I can't get excited about any of this home tech stuff. It's more to go wrong and for my family, when there is usually someone at home for at least 18 hours of each day, turning the heating off and on during the day is a waste of time.
I also believe that keeping the heating on the whole time is likely to be more efficient (as heat is absorbed into the brickwork which then act as a heat sink) and stops condensation mould from growing.
The real tech is in the construction of wholly efficient buildings so that the peripheral tech (such as Hive) is fully integrated rather than an add-on. That means buildings which need very little heating in the first place.
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Hive Active Heating - R.P.
