Hive Heating

[TokyoSushi]

Does anybody have Hive heating? Do you like it? Would you recommend? How did you get it installed?

Thinking of getting it but wanted some 'real life' experiences first please!

LittleEsme we have oil central heating and have a hive thermostat. All works fine.

The thing that puts me off Hive is that the hub can’t be factory reset for new owners when you sell. So it’s totally useless for the new owner without spending more money. It’s an absolute rip off. Nest can be factory reset and accounts unlinked so that new owners can set up an account. With Hive the first account set up is the only account allowed.

Out heating was controlled by switches on the boiler - I could never understand them and struggled to reach and see them. Had a hive fitted ( and got a free echo dot as part of the deal ) - it is the best thing ever....So easy to use and great to just put the heating on constant when I need to.

We had it fitted with a new boiler when we moved in to our current house. It's amazing. Really easy to use, the boost option is super handy, and the ability to put it on before we get home is great (especially as we can see the house temperature too). I also like being able to put the heating on from my bed before having to get up (timed heating really annoys me because it's like another alarm clock).

We’ve had HIVE for 3 years now and I love it! I got it installed through a British Gas tariff. I now pay £2.99 a month, which is like a warranty plan. Batteries last around 2 years in the thermostat and I’ve had no trouble with the app or the system itself.

I love it because I can monitor my home’s temperature remotely and adjust accordingly. I also found setting up the hot water schedule was so much easier than with our old Honeywell system. The other thing I noticed was how much hotter the radiators were after switching to HIVE, which leads to be believe our old thermostat wasn’t working correctly.

I also have HIVE bulbs everywhere and a couple of HIVE plugs too. When we were with British Gas we got loads of freebies throughout the year, like free bulbs and plugs, was great 😊 I love being able to set up lighting schedules for when we are out and it’s dark, to give the impression we are still home. I also love being able to ask Alexa to switch things on and off as needed, as well as being able to tell her to dim the lights to a certain percentage as I don’t like bright lighting.

I would definitely recommend it 😃

Nest seem to be more popular, we have one at home and it's great.

Yes it's really good! I can turn on the heating from bed! Bloody bliss!

I have a Nest and didn’t really consider Hive as an option, mainly because Nest is a Google product and links in with lots of other home automation stuff, and if anyone knows tech it’s Google. British Gas however in my experience are incompetent fools, tech is not in their repertoire!

I may sound utterly dense here, but what if we're not on mains gas?!

No problem. It will still work.

Does anyone have it in a bigger, drafty Victorian house with a loft conversion? We've got some bits of the house that are hot spots and some that get really chilly. I've heard some quite negative reviews about them not working so well in this kind of situation.

@FinallyHere, I think the only option is to shell out for a new one, I don't think you can change the name on the account.

@FreiasBathtub

DH got ours for me for Christmas. I was a bit disappointed that he has set it up using his email address. It took a couple of goes for me to work out how, now has my email address instead .

You can also change the name on the account.

Oh wow can you really @FinallyHere, will definitely see if I can dig out contact details via the estate agent then! Thank you so much!

Ah, sorry can't change the actual name but email, payment methods etc. can all be changed in the my details screen in the app. Not ideal but better than buying it again.

@JammyDodgersandPeas

Does anyone have it in a bigger, drafty Victorian house with a loft conversion? We've got some bits of the house that are hot spots and some that get really chilly. I've heard some quite negative reviews about them not working so well in this kind of situation.

No loft conversion but massive Victorian house with single glazing🙈 liking my hive so far.

I will say I have a multi zone hive if that makes a difference.

Bought from Amazon. Installed myself. Very straightforward with a modicum of technical nous. Very happy with it.

British Gas fitted mine. It's great.

Yes. Four years we’ve had it and no issues but we did need to add a booster plug cause our boilers in the garage. Booster in the kitchen nr the garage and main hive and wifi router in the living room.
We put it in a year after buying our house as previous owner had no thermostat at all!!!

@Sexnotgender

I will say I have a multi zone hive if that makes a difference.

Thank you, will look at the multi zone ones!

Multi-zone HIve will only work if you have a multi-zone heating system

Have been planning g an extension and wondering how the heating would work. Multi zone Hive appears to be exactly what we would need.

Thank you, MN and whoever mentioned it.

Just another vote for Hive, we've had it two years and I LOVE being able to set it from my phone and boost it whenever we fancy. Also recommend Hive lights and plugs too!

I came back from Thailand late one night in November to Scotland. Had the heating off or very low whilst away. I was able to switch on the heating and hot water from Heathrow just before flying up to Scotland so came into a toasty house late at night and could have a hot shower. Awesome.

I think I'm going to wait until Black Friday and then get it, thanks all!