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Hive

Making your money go further
wheypat
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Hive

#114807

Postby wheypat » February 1st, 2018, 9:55 am

You've heard the ads but for £250 I thought they were too pricey. However, on Black Friday at Amazon they were reduced to £150 (including fitting) so I thought I'd give it a go.

Prior to the hive we had the hot water on for 2 slots of 1 hour and the heating (thermostat controlled) was on for 1 hour in the morning, then from 3:30 to 5 and again from 7 to 9, so 4.5 hours on timed and boosted when required (I work from home). For years I've written down my gas/electricity usage so I have a reasonable base to compare to.

Man from BG came and fitted it, he was here for about an hour, set the app up and we are good to go.

First, it looks OK. Second, I love being able to turn the heating on when (if we are out) we are 15 minutes away from home.

Hot water - time slots are much more controllable so we have settled now on 3 slots of 15 minutes each day, so instead of heating the water for 2 hours a day we are down to 45 minutes.

Next, and this was the fitter's suggestion, just set it to come on in the morning and then only boost when you feel cold. You can boost for periods of 30 minutes, 1 hour (and then 2,3,4,5,6 hours). Old system you could turn it on, but you had to remember to turn it off again. Which we didn't always do.

So, gas saving? It's early days but it's down by 40%. I don't think it's been any colder/warmer than usual.

So yes, I'd highly recommend one. Should pay for itself in under a year

taylor20
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Re: Hive

#114879

Postby taylor20 » February 1st, 2018, 12:36 pm

Thanks for this review, its the sort of tech that I really, really would like to work, but I'm still not convinced it would make that much of a saving for me.

Do you think if you had just installed a (less expensive) programmable thermostat with better level of control and correctly programmed (to match when your in the house better) you would have saved a similar amount? Or does the Hive do some magic that is not immediately obvious?

Our routine is pretty constant throughout the working week, and then completely unpredictable at the weekend, so a static pattern for the weekdays I can already do, and the Hive would not add much benefit at the weekend as it could not learn our habits for those days, or am I missing something?

I love the idea of smart home stuff, but really struggle to find any actual practical application that is much more than a gimmick.

taylor20
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Re: Hive

#114895

Postby taylor20 » February 1st, 2018, 1:11 pm

Bit of a google, turned up this article (this one is about Nest):

http://www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk/tr ... ings-easy/

In 2016/17 we therefore ran a small-scale randomised controlled trial, this time drawing on higher quality smart meter data. We had a specific comparison group – the ‘modern suite’ of controls used by 49% of UK homes (a programmable timer, room thermostat, and radiator valves). Here we find evidence of savings of around 6-7% of the heating system’s gas use, or 4.5-5% of total household gas consumption. This is achieved with no loss of user comfort (and possibly a modest improvement)

wheypat
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Re: Hive

#114906

Postby wheypat » February 1st, 2018, 1:31 pm

taylor20 wrote:Do you think if you had just installed a (less expensive) programmable thermostat with better level of control and correctly programmed (to match when your in the house better) you would have saved a similar amount? Or does the Hive do some magic that is not immediately obvious?


Doubt very much if the hive would save more than a better thermostat. There is no magic with it.

The 'gimmick' is the ability to control it from outside (or just lie in bed and turn the heating on/off). I'm only going off personal usage but I'm very pleased so far.

Slarti
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Re: Hive

#115195

Postby Slarti » February 2nd, 2018, 12:07 pm

What will happen when the internet goes down?

Does it fail safe to a manual mode, or does it just turn everything off?


Slarti

swill453
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Re: Hive

#115202

Postby swill453 » February 2nd, 2018, 12:37 pm

Slarti wrote:What will happen when the internet goes down?

Does it fail safe to a manual mode, or does it just turn everything off?

I'd guess it just follows the last instruction given. I assume it's got a normal(ish) timer anyway, and the remote app just tinkers with that.

Occupants of the house would be a bit miffed if the heating went off whenever the person with the app turned off their phone or went out of coverage.

Scott.

chas49
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Re: Hive

#115208

Postby chas49 » February 2nd, 2018, 1:36 pm

From the Hive website :

Will my Hive products switch off if my broadband is turned off or stops working?

Your heating will continue to work. Until your broadband connection is restored you can control your heating manually from your thermostat. If your heating is in schedule mode it will continue to run to the schedule that you have set.

Itsallaguess
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Re: Hive

#115213

Postby Itsallaguess » February 2nd, 2018, 1:46 pm

wheypat wrote:
Next, and this was the fitter's suggestion, just set it to come on in the morning and then only boost when you feel cold. You can boost for periods of 30 minutes, 1 hour (and then 2,3,4,5,6 hours). Old system you could turn it on, but you had to remember to turn it off again. Which we didn't always do.


I solved the lack of 1-hour boost option on my central heating controller by making my own out of one of these timers -

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/EK320A.html

It's operated using one of these momentary-on switches -

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/MKK4878P.html

It's adjustable up to 2-hours, but setting it for the 1-hour boost is ample and a great addition to my normal electronic timer.

Your Hive sounds like a really useful controller, but it's not clear how much of your 40% gas saving is just down to the more granular timing set-up for your central-heating that you carried out at the same time, and I'm not yet convinced that a solution to that improved timing issue couldn't have been found much cheaper than by purchasing the Hive.

We also had a poor timing controller, and bought one of these Salus wireless units, which when accompanied with the above boost function, gave me a huge improvement in central heating operation -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Salus-RT500RF- ... B003ERP1LE

There's a newer version of the above timer out now that also includes the boost functionality, and I'd probably buy that if I were in the market for a better control system today -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Salus-Frequenc ... B072KL746L

Thanks for the report though, as I do try to follow and keep up with recent home-tech developments, and it's always interesting to hear first-hand from people using this relatively cutting-edge stuff.

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Slarti
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Re: Hive

#115264

Postby Slarti » February 2nd, 2018, 4:44 pm

swill453 wrote:
Slarti wrote:What will happen when the internet goes down?

Does it fail safe to a manual mode, or does it just turn everything off?

I'd guess it just follows the last instruction given. I assume it's got a normal(ish) timer anyway, and the remote app just tinkers with that.

Occupants of the house would be a bit miffed if the heating went off whenever the person with the app turned off their phone or went out of coverage.

Scott.


The reason I asked is that with a number of USA products, last spring, connection to the central server was lost and the controller shut down turning off all heating and hot water.

I was wrong, it was 2016 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/fash ... reeze.html

Slarti

AF62
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Re: Hive

#115718

Postby AF62 » February 4th, 2018, 6:39 pm

taylor20 wrote:Do you think if you had just installed a (less expensive) programmable thermostat with better level of control and correctly programmed (to match when your in the house better) you would have saved a similar amount? Or does the Hive do some magic that is not immediately obvious?


I recently installed one of the first edition Hive thermostats when they had been reduced to £50. It replaced a programmable Honeywell thermostat and the Honeywell actually had some better options than the Hive. To be honest I was quite surprised how basic the Hive is, and looking at the forums it is clear that simple things which people requested years ago have not been implemented and there doesn't seem any will to do so. Also some of the useful functions on the lighting are only available if you pay their ongoing monthly service plan.

I was aware of these restrictions and I also wanted a thermostat which ran off batteries (which the first version does) rather than being plugged into the mains, and didn't want to pay the price of a Nest. However if I could have found somewhere to plug it in, I would have splashed the extra cash for a Nest as that does seem to have ongoing development.

Like you I have a regular schedule, so I doubt the Hive will save a great deal over the Honeywell. Where it does score is when plans change you can alter things, either turning the heating off if you are going to be late or turning it on when early.

It didn't actually cost me anything to change as I installed it myself and sold the old Honeywell thermostat on eBay for £50.

taylor20 wrote:I love the idea of smart home stuff, but really struggle to find any actual practical application that is much more than a gimmick.


There is a real practical application...

If I wake up early at the weekend, I can turn on the heating whilst I am tucked up in bed using my phone rather than walking downstairs.

melonfool
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Re: Hive

#115789

Postby melonfool » February 5th, 2018, 10:08 am

I looked at the Hive and could not really see much benefit to me - when I turn my heating on, the house warms up in about fifteen minutes. I have a combi boiler so water heats as needed, so no saving to be made there.

I went for the Solus as trailed here, and Csearle fitted it for me. Having sent the details to another electrician who told me it would be 'too complicated for me to manage' (and that I should get a Hive) (!) I was more than determined to use this which cost c£30.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SALUS-RT510- ... 2749.l2649

It does everything I need, is NOT too complicated and the only thing it does not have is the ability to turn it on remotely. But I really didn't feel I needed that. Especially not for an extra £120.

As I had zero heating control until then this has probably increased my gas costs* to be honest, but at least I am warm!

Mel

* impossible to tell though as I am in conflict with Scottish Power on how much I owe them


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