Where could Hive Active Heating be improved?
I really like the Hive system – and I think British Gas is worthy of applause in pushing this kind of technology. You can look over to the USA where Google have just bought Nest for $3.2bn to see the potential of the ‘intelligent thermostat’.
I do however think they are missing a trick. Yes, you can control the heating in your home from anywhere, but surely to give complete heating control you need to be able to adjust room by room.
99% of homes in the UK are heated using radiators. Thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) can be installed on each radiator to allow you control the temperatures of individual rooms. Why then have British Gas and their Hive Active Heating system not incorporated automated TRVs in the setup.
Granted – this level of control might be too much for some people, like a TV remote with too many buttons, but the kind of person attracted to this type of technology in my opinion is already going to be tech savvy.
An app on the phone, allowing control of the heating system is not going to appeal to an 80-year-old pensioner, it is going to appeal to the PlayStation playing 30 / 40 something.
Consider the Heat Genius Heating System as an Alternative
Take the Heat Genius heating control system for example – it allows you to do exactly that, so it comes with all the Hive Active heating kit, but then has individual room sensors and thermostats to allow you to fine tune your heating system even further – The tighter the control available, the larger the potential energy savings.
So yes, Heat Genius don’t have the same reputation as British Gas, but they have taken the heating system to the next level.
In Summary
Thermostats are a necessary part of home heating system – without them you can’t realise the energy savings that should result from increased levels of insulation, draught proofing and double-glazing. The Hive Active heating system from British Gas is great; it will no doubt save you money – provided you don’t have a brand new thermostat already.
There are however already more accomplished heating control solutions out there, it just appears they might not be able to fend off the British Gas marketing department!
Pages: 1 2
I cant believe you can now control youe heating and utilities from a mobile phone its crazy lol, just think about sitting on the beech thinking damn the heating is still set to 20 degrees and being able to just turn it down from your mobile…. love it totally amazing
Great idea and hopefully the other energy suppliers will follow suit. The main draw back I can see is that you need to leave your router turned on though this only consumes 10-15w on my Virgin unit which is probably is offset by the gas saving.
The Heat Genius heating control system does seem to be more flexible than the British Gas offering. Has anyone used this yet on this forum?
I have an Atag weather-compensating thermostat – any ideas on how the systems could integrate?
Hi Paul, we had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours with Alasdair Woodbridge of Heat Genius at Ecobuild, I think his solution is certainly more flexible than the other intelligent heating controls, providing both learning ability (as seen by the Nest), and the ability to create many zones (up to 50 TRVs can be included in one system) which is the key selling point of the honeywell evohome so we shall see how he gets on against the competition!
To clarify a few points:
1. The boiler control unit isn’t necessarily next to the boiler.
2. You haven’t mentioned the fact that your hot water can be controlled too.
3. You can manage the system over any internet connection (e.g WiFi)
4. Set up your existing thermostatic radiator valves accordingly… That way when the existing central thermostat hits temp the other rooms will be at your required level. Much simpler and much cheaper!
5. One of your commenters mentioned that the cost of keeping the Virgin router on would outweigh the cost of any savings. New batteries for the calculator please!
talking about batteries- our experience is that we have to replace them every 2 months even with top quality batteries. You need to offset the cost of these against savings about which i am rather sceptical. We have also had a bit of hassle with it as it goes wrong now and then. it came “free” with our new boiler otherwise i would be seriously miffed. if i were having to buy one i certainly wouldn’t bother with this. Frankly i can’t see why anyone would want to bother with the ap- we just left it as a free standing controller. i cannot envisage circumstances when i would want to use the ap. The other drawback with this is that there are only two on/off time slots per day- not terribly sophisticated
I already have a wireless thermostat and TRV’s in most rooms. If no one is at home we don’t have the heating on. Our boiler has a built in frost protection. Our current boiler can heat up very quickly so we just turn on the heating when we get home ( house is warm in 10 minutes) and turn it off an hour before we go to bed. I fail to see how turning the heating on 45 minutes before we get home is going to save me money. Just by getting an efficient boiler installed has reduced our energy by 48% in 1 year ( though we did have a mild winter) To be honest I would not expect to use this app more than 6 times in a year. So in my book a total waste of £200 which I would never recover. You would be better off spending £200 on extra loft insulation.
I installed the pre-Hive remote control system from British Gas. This was in a house with plenty of loft & cavity wall insulation as well as high-efficiency double glazing. I also have hot water provided from solar thermal panels so I am now maxed out on energy savings in terms of heat generation & insulation.
The benefit from a system such as Hive is that it enables scheduling timing & temperature control on a day by day basis. My remote thermostat is in the open plan living room/kitchen so directly controls the temperature in this space.
Recently I have installed LightwaveRF Wi-Fi controlled thermostatic radiator valves (TRV’s). I had hoped the Hive type system would provide further functionality of this sort (i.e some form of zone heating control) but that has not happened. However the combination of the Hive type system for boiler on/off and the Lightwave TRV’s means that I can now monitor/schedule temperature in each room and limit when rooms are heated on an individual room basis. This all works through a smart phone app in the same way as Hive.
Given the ever increasing cost of energy even a modest saving will pay back in a relatively short time. Being able to control heating from a smart phone will soon be seen just as vital as that insulation in the loft?
Totally useless. The Thermostat seems to continually loose communication. I am having to replace it’s batteries several times a year. If you want a reliable system do not get one of these.
Im having mine removed. Never works. Geating bill has gone up not down as i cant change schedule remotely when im away.
Passwod constantly needs to be changed
buggesr waste of money ever
Fantastic! No problems with this at all! The App is easy to use and valuable….turning the heating on when being away for the weekend is great…and to turn the hot water off timer when you forget when you go away!
I believe Hive is a product for those who do not have a brain. With Thermostat controlled valves and a simple timer. I, like most responsible adults have managed our heating systems for years. Hive is a gimmick, a product of someones warped imagination, the sort of thing someone thinks of and then tries to create a market for it. How easy to fool the British public into buying something they will rarely use.
I find Hive extremely good but unfortunately today the app is not responding look ok from my end so only presume it’s something on the gas boards side.. Can’t get any information very frustrating!