Hive heating/hot water controller

i've won one from british gas and it will be installed on monday - hopefully.
my understanding of things electric is just about zero - ok i can programme things like the washing machine and the sky+ box it's just that my understanding ends at the back of whatever item going along the cable to the socket!

I agree with you Monica. I have a similar system myself....can't be bothered to "wire myself up to any more technology"...."if ain't broke, don't fix it" as they say. And as for Black Friday, I think we should refer to it as the "Long Good/bad Friday", it goes on for weeks!

It's a gimmick. Sorry.

What's a gimmick, wombat?

Monica
Like you I cannot see any thing from the comments here I haven't already in my property .I cannot wax lyrical about it as this is not new for me and all I can think of is that some enterprising person has jumped on the bandwagon by calling it Hive leading us to believe it the invention of 2017.I do have to personally alter my lighting come end of BST the rest is timed and temperature controlled by myself where ever I happen to be.

We've had one for about a year and I love it. I've got it linked to my Amazon Echo so I can just ask Alexa to turn the heating on or ask what the current temperature is in the house.

I know it's just a gimmick but I am a gadget lover so I like having it. When OH gets up in the morning to make breakfast I can check what the temperature is in the house and if the heating hasn't already come on and it's cold I can just turn it on from our bed, which is much nicer than getting out of bed and going downstairs to put the heating on earlier than usual.

I also bought a few light bulbs and plugs. I was always forgetting to turn the light on in the parrot's cage, now through Hive the light comes on and off at the right times. It's also really useful when you go out as apart from being able to check on your phone what the temperature is in the house you can make sure the house lights come on and off.

Not sure about the batteries lasting 2yrs though, we are on our second lot already!

That explains it, Mercedes. In our house the heating always comes on before we get up anyway, we do not vary the temperature in the house so we always know whether the house will be warm or not and essentially the system is programmed so that, except in theabsolute coldest weather, the house stays close to the target temperature all day, that of course is the result of good insulation, we do not have a parrot and are not bothered about lights coming on and off in our absence as we have an alarm system, which makes an awful lot of noise inside and out if compromised.

Mercedes You shouild get back to them about the batteries. Among the Amazon reviews were several people complaining about batteries failing far too soon - they got replies saying that was a fault and to contact them about it, and after doing that they added to their reviews that they had been sent a replacement.

Do you have an app that locks the front door too? However, when it gets hacked it leaves the door wide open and puts out a big sign saying, 'Burglars, please enter here!

I cannot see what advantages a Hive system would bring. I already have a very efficient timed thermostatic heater and hot water controller.

I suppose it's a case of each to his own really.

Last night we stayed up later than usual and thus the heating had gone off. When we started to get cold we just boosted the boiler for an hour without moving from our chairs. Lazy, but bliss!!

Our present control (for heating) is in a place where it is getting increasingly difficult to read the timings so I think I'm sold (when the budget allows). I also like the idea of this for winter when we are away for the lighs. Does anyone know if it is possible for you to run two households on one phone or laptop? I'm a bit cautious about hacking so if there is a problem with wifi is it possible to regain manual operation ie and operate manually long term?

OP thanks for starting this, very interesting and informative discussion.

We have a hive, it’s great to sit and control everything from your phone,it’s great if you’re coming home and it’s a bit chilly, to put the heating on, a warm welcoming house. I havent touched the thermostat since BG fitted it.

I wonder how secure the signals are. Having had a credit card cloned without it leaving my pocket. I am feeling very wary of such things.

Some of the early models sent data
un-encrypted.

This problem was found about two yrs ago. stopsmartmeters.org.uk/british-gas-forced-to-change-burglars-dream-hive-smart-heating-app/

Nellie It is not used for charging, so no credit card details are on it. It is just to control the operating of the boiler and whatever else you add to it.

Moocow I would think you could control more than one system from the net. If you add on the multi-zone to control two separate systems in the same house (for a big house with two heating zones) you can control them both, so it ought to work. You could ask them.

That link was to an article dated 2015 - I am sure by now they have encrypted the data that could have told hackers that you were away from the house. Actually, having lights go on and off as though you were there could do the opposite and make it look as though you are still at home.