Hive thermostat

Zither · 26 November 2017 at 3:39PM

Afternoon all,

I moved into a house a couple of months ago and it came with one of those little wireless Hive thermostats with a separate receivers wired to my boiler (the previous owner didn’t either use/leave a Hive hub to connect to my router).

Overall, it’s awful. The thermostat keeps losing connection with the boiler receiver - it comes up with endless messages for ‘No RF’ and ‘Rejoining’ when I want to adjust the temp - I need to take the batteries out of the thermostat to reset it otherwise the thermostat at is unresponsive.

I’m not a technophobe - I like the idea of Hive - e.g. so I can turn heating on using my phone away from home ( if I bought the hub ) to use via my mobile but on a basic level Hive is awful.

So what are my options? Does the thermostat (somehow?) need a firmware update? Do I need to get someone in to get rid of the Hive boiler receiver? And should I get another smart thermometer like Nest? I don’t really want anything to do with British Gas because all their products seems ridic expensive. Is it straightforward to get/install a new wireless thermostat from screwfix/wherever?

Thoughts welcome

Thanks

Z

Alex1983 · 26 November 2017 at 4:06PM

The hive shouldn’t be fitted in stand alone, no hub, it causes connection issues and it’s not able to receive any updates. You either need to get a hub and online account from BG or replace the stat and receiver.

shortcrust · 26 November 2017 at 4:37PM

I didn't know they could work without a hub. I bought a Hive set up last week, hub included, and it works perfectly. I'm really pleased with it.

The hub's only 50 quid on amazon. Get an amazon echo too and then you can turn your heating on with your voice from under a warm duvet!:D

Zither · 26 November 2017 at 5:06PM

Thanks both.

If I got a hub from Amazon for £50 (which is 2/3rds) of a typical monthly bill!

) do you think this would solve the problem? Specifically, do I need a subscription on top of the cost of the hub to make the thermostat work properly? Literally no clue!

If it wouldn’t, what would I need to do to just get Nest or just a ‘standard’ thermostat installed?

Thanks,

Z

Alex1983 · 26 November 2017 at 5:19PM

I can’t say if it will cure it but I’m sure it will help, I’ve only ever had issues with hives that don’t have hubs and there own help desk blamed not having a hub as the issue as it was unable to update.

Once you have a hub you won’t need any subscription, just a online account.

paulpud · 26 November 2017 at 11:39PM

I installed my complete Hive system including hub a few weeks ago and I've yet to have any kind of connection issues with it. It's a reliable and versatile way of controlling heating and I now even control it using voice commands to Alexa.

gary83 · 26 November 2017 at 11:57PM

Early days for me with hive, installed last week a thermostat, receiver wired into the boiler, hive hub & a couple of bulbs, installation was very easy, only frustration was having to ring the call centre and getting stuck on hold for twenty minutes as needed a firmware update to correct the date & time.

I’m quite impressed with it so far, wouldn’t have bothered with the lights probably had they not been a free extra, seem a bit gimmicky & didn't really need them but the heating seems great so far

missile · 27 November 2017 at 11:01AM

I use Hive and love the feature to turn off heating when I leave and on so that house is toasty when I return after holiday.

Gloomendoom · 27 November 2017 at 1:30PM

Zither wrote: »

I’m not a technophobe - I like the idea of Hive - e.g. so I can turn heating on using my phone away from home ( if I bought the hub ) to use via my mobile but on a basic level Hive is awful.

As it's missing a vital component, that is hardly surprising. It's like saying your TV is rubbish when you haven't got an aerial connected to it.

There are plenty of Hive hub units on Ebay, new and secondhand.

One of the sellers is probably the bloke you bought your house off.

Wassa123 · 27 November 2017 at 2:43PM

Gloomendoom wrote: »

One of the sellers is probably the bloke you bought your house off.

Seems odd that he would leave the thermostat though. I'd have thought he'd have taken the hub and thermostat or none of it. I'm guessing it was the moving company packed everything up that wasn't fixed to the wall.

malky39 · 27 November 2017 at 8:49PM

Are you sure you have the hive. There is a room thermostat that BG use that looks very similar to the hive, uses the same receiver at the boiler but does not require hub.
If it is the hive if should work without a hub. The construction of the building and distance between the receiver and controls can affect the connection just like wifi. If thats the issue getting a hub could improve the connect if it is between the controls and receiver

Hive thermostat

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