We are thinking of chipping in and getting my dad Hive heating controller and maybe radiator thermostats as well.
Three of us siblings already have Hive but I know there are plenty of other manufacturers out there
Anyone got anything different or has looked into the different types?
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I just "failed" an Octopus survey for a heat pump*, so although I could go elsewhere and probably get a quote (Heat Geeks come highly recommended) I've decided to upgrade our existing system instead.
I'm thinking a smart controller (temperature and on/off at least, if not with zones, but I can't see the need) and some matching TRVs where I want to control on/off of individual rads.
I could buy disparate unbranded parts much cheaper on AliExpress and make them work together through Home Assistant but in an effort to make it more "user friendly) I'm looking at the same stuff you are - having it all under the control of a single app and not dependent on keeping the Home Assistant running.
Amazon had a good Black Friday deal on Drayton Wiser so that's winging its way to me - controller plus two TRVs were (I think) £114 plus another TRV was a further £41. The offers may have gone already though. This was what I got tinyurl.com/348xprvv
I suspect they are much of a muchness, and the Drayton system can be controlled from Google Home as well as Home Assistant so it ticked all my boxes ( - i expect Hive and other can be too) Hive did anger a number of users when they discontinued support for a range of security products earlier this year and also dropped IFTTT support a year o so ago. I suppose that made me a little cautious of them but that's a bit unfounded.
* The heat pump failure was primarily no suitable space to site the unit, primarily due to its size meaning there wasn't a large enough area to put it which didn't foul drains, power and other walls. There were other factors which made it less straightforward, in particular new tank would need to go in loft, and they need a dedicated electric supply from consumer unit to the pump, which would be impossible without fairly significant disruption to all the work I've had carried out over the past 18 months. There are "innovative" solutions they could have used (e.g. unit on garage roof, wiring inside cavity wall) but such stuff isn't in their repertoire.
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>> Anyone got anything different or has looked into the different types?
Stick with hive, its easy to install, its not overly complicated, and you and your siblings are well versed in its ways and able to provide the inevitable "help desk" function.
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A lot of people value simplicity over a small gain in efficiency. An old fashioned room thermostat and thermostatic radiator valves are easy to understand and rarely go wrong.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Sat 22 Nov 25 at 15:10
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My dad is 93 but IT savvy. Controls his smart plugs, Alexa etc etc through his iPhone iPad and voice controls. Has an Alexa in every room so that he can always add something to his shopping list when he remembers.
He could easily afford to keep his heating on 24/7 but is a tight git. So heating doesn’t go on until he is up in morning and goes to boiler and manually turns it on. But has been complaining lately of being cold in bed and won’t consider electric blanket cause they all catch fire (bit like he won’t buy a Ford as they don’t start when it’s damp)
So we are thinking Hive and thermostats give much more flexibility and allow him to keep his room heating on all night without having the rest of the house radiators on. Think he would accept that.
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Question for those with Hive radiator thermostats? Do these run off an individual schedule on the app? eg.
Kitchen to come on at full heat at 8am -10pm
Living room 4pm onwards
Dining room Tuesdays only 4-8?
Sort of thing?
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>> Question for those with Hive radiator thermostats? Do these run off an individual schedule on
>> the app? eg.
>> Kitchen to come on at full heat at 8am -10pm
>> Living room 4pm onwards
>> Dining room Tuesdays only 4-8?
>>
>> Sort of thing?
yes you can set a temp and schedule for each TRV - . However unless every radiator has a TRV, setting a temp higher on one TRV will raise the temp of every rad without a TRV. (ie it overrides the main house stat)
They are best used for lower temps (or off schedules) in certain rooms
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 22 Nov 25 at 16:49
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>> So we are thinking Hive and thermostats give much more flexibility and allow him to
>> keep his room heating on all night without having the rest of the house radiators
>> on. Think he would accept that.
Then ALL rads will need hive stats. (or manual TRV's)
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 22 Nov 25 at 16:59
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Cheers for that info Zero.
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Wee question Zero. On a normal system. you normally have one radiator always on don’t you (usually bathroom). Is that the same with hive? Would you keep one permanently on?
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>> Wee question Zero. On a normal system. you normally have one radiator always on don’t
>> you (usually bathroom). Is that the same with hive? Would you keep one permanently on?
If you mean one radiator always open to disipate pump overrun heat, then yes you can. In your scenario you would just leave it on, untouched by TRVs of any sort, and it will disipate heat when heat is called by a Hive TRV, or the main Hive Zone stat/programer.
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So if we left bathroom as this without any TRV, then it means if he has bedroom radiator on all night, then the bathroom would be as well?
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Yup, any radiator not protected by a TRV, will be hot if any other individual Hive TRV or Central stat calls for heat.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 22 Nov 25 at 21:01
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Some boiler mfrs specify that an automatic bypass valve must be fitted, especially when you have TRVs installed. It maintains a minimum flow rate to protect the heat exchanger and means that you don't need to ensure that one rad is left permanently open.
You may have one already installed but they're cheap (~£20) and relatively easy to fit if not.
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>>But has been complaining lately of being cold in bed and won’t consider electric blanket
Has he got a top quality down doona? Perhaps a better one than what he has been using would be the simplest solution.
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Decent thermal jim jams? They you go Bobby we have also fixed your christmas present dilema as well.
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Ha he already has new quilt, thermals etc!
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>> Decent thermal jim jams? They you go Bobby we have also fixed your christmas present
>> dilema as well.
>>
Even if we still haven't fixed Zero's spelling problems...
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I'm sure it's done for effect, Duncan, just to keep you on your toes. :-)
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Looking at this.
I don't want/need anything sophisticated jut want to replace the 'dumb' thermostat in the hall with something that can be accessed remotely.
Thinking of circumstances like yesterday when we'd been away for the week with the heating on constant but the stat set well below 10 degrees. Would have been much more civilised when we got home if I could have set the stat back to it's normal 18 degrees while at Fuerteventura airport.
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Yes that's like what I'm trying to achieve really, plus adjusting the rads up/down in the lounge/bedroom as I get hot/cold from the comfort of my armchair/bed :-)
Though I am seeing elsewhere that people say that interrupting the flow isn't always a desirable thing to do on a heating system - and especially not with an ASHP.
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>>I don't want/need anything sophisticated jut want to replace the 'dumb'
>>thermostat in the hall with something that can be accessed remotely.
>Yes that's like what I'm trying to achieve really, plus adjusting the rads
>up/down in the lounge/bedroom as I get hot/cold from the comfort of my
>armchair/bed :-)
Hive does both of those via the phone app.
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>> Hive does both of those via the phone app.
He will need fingerless gloves. (cheaper than gloves woth phone friendly tips)
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>>
>> He will need fingerless gloves. (cheaper than gloves woth phone friendly tips)
>>
...but they can lead to typos...
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British Gas did a survey for a Hive system when all I wanted was a digital thermoststat in the hall. I didsn't go ahead because of the amounty of work involved. New pipework with a thermostat on the hot water tank and a host of other work.
Is there such a thing as a digital thermoststat? The one in the hall is just not sensitive. I bought it to replace the previous one with absolutely no difference.
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We have a 'dumb' Honeywell digital one in the hall. Bought to replace an earlier one with a dial on it that lost sensitivity/accuracy after 25 years.
Does what's asked of it just fine.
House is slow to warm from cold when you come in and want to be able to workaround that.
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>>Is there such a thing as a digital thermoststat?
I've an ESi, wireless one that came with the boiler and reckon the old wired one in my old place was better.
The most sensitive I can set it to is 0.5C. That means if it's set to 20C, the temp has to fall below 19.5C and it won't turn the boiler off until the temp's above 20.5C.
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>> The most sensitive I can set it to is 0.5C. That means if it's set
>> to 20C, the temp has to fall below 19.5C and it won't turn the boiler
>> off until the temp's above 20.5C.
May be missing something but between 19.5 and 20.5 isn't a massive difference. Given that a thermostat is binary on/off there will be territory where a very sensitive device will be up and down, or rather on off, like a fiddler's elbow...
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sun 23 Nov 25 at 15:03
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"Hysteresis" is the technical term. :-)
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>> The most sensitive I can set it to is 0.5C. That means if it's set
>> to 20C, the temp has to fall below 19.5C and it won't turn the boiler
>> off until the temp's above 20.5C.
So you want internal temps within .5c? Nothing, environmentally wise, is that binary. Including your own body temperature sensors
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 23 Nov 25 at 16:05
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We have Nest rather than Hive. It does everything discussed above, but also does some basic geofencing. I don’t know if the Hive does too (probably). It tracks your phone and puts the heating on if it needs to as you approach home, and perhaps more importantly tracks when you leave the house, detects if nobody else is home and automatically sets the heating to “Away”, which is a temperature you define. So you don’t leave the boiler heating the house merrily accidentally.
I have it connected to Google and to Alexa. So if I want I can say “ok Google, set the living room to 20” anywhere, perhaps as we leave to come home from somewhere, while driving.
I imagine all these thermostats do the same, but perhaps not?
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The Hive free service does the basic heating thermostat and immersion heating with control via the App or from the physical thermostat unit. Anything more complex requires a subscription.
I am delighted with my non-subscription Hive but have no experience of other makes to make an informed comparison. It’s certainly much easier to set and adjust than the previous conventional programmer.
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Hive type controllers - smokie
