Home Automation Gadgets

techno12

payupconsumervoice wrote: »

Hi,

Thinking of getting some home automation kit for our heating. Our new energy supplier offers a product but on a monthly contract.

I've seen Nest and British Gas's Hive.

Any experiences?

Many thanks

I have a Nest. Have only used it twice since I had it installed in June as it's not cold enough yet.

On both occasions (when it felt freezing outside) I used it via the app on my mobile to manually turn it on before I headed for home.

Worth it just for that!

Haven't used it enough yet to see how the 'learning' functionality performs, but I've never set a thermostat to come on at set times of the day anyway as I work irregular hours/days

bod1467

getmore4less wrote: »

Just checked Honeywell and they now do voice activated programmable connected thermoststs

See post #4.

getmore4less

If you want to go all the way then you can use programmable TVR and zone every room in the house separately and control them remotely.

getmore4less

techno12 wrote: »

I have a Nest. Have only used it twice since I had it installed in June as it's not cold enough yet.

On both occasions (when it felt freezing outside) I used it via the app on my mobile to manually turn it on before I headed for home.

Worth it just for that!

Haven't used it enough yet to see how the 'learning' functionality performs, but I've never set a thermostat to come on at set times of the day anyway as I work irregular hours/days

I suspect with nest the learning won't work that well for vary variable shifts, wonder if it can spot things like 4 on 4 off or is just looking for work non work days.

(Anyone found a specification for the Nest?)

If you know in advance your shift patterns with some system you can set them up in advance, then override as needed the main issue is that most are still 1, 5/2 or 7 day systems but that covers most of the population.

Strider590

What I do is set the timer for 5pm each day til 11pm, thermostat at 19c downstairs.
I then use electric fan heaters in whatever room i'm using and an electric radiator on the landing over night.

It's cheaper to use electric heaters in one room than it is to central heat the whole house and all electric heaters (except halogen) are near 100% efficient (yes really).

Don't even get me started on the over filling the kettle debate.

At no point do I ever wish I had remote control of the heating and when I go away for a week I just turn the thermostat down to 12c.

getmore4less

Strider590 wrote: »

What I do is set the timer for 5pm each day til 11pm, thermostat at 19c downstairs.
I then use electric fan heaters in whatever room i'm using and an electric radiator on the landing over night.

It's cheaper to use electric heaters in one room than it is to central heat the whole house and all electric heaters (except halogen) are near 100% efficient (yes really).

Don't even get me started on the over filling the kettle debate.

At no point do I ever wish I had remote control of the heating and when I go away for a week I just turn the thermostat down to 12c.

Some people like to come home to a warm house and don't bother heating the place all day if they are out just wastes energy.

Being able to set times and temps that fit your main pattern and then override on an in/out basis remotely is extremely convenient.

We also have the water on fully temp/time control so we can override the temp/time and have extra hot water on arrival home if we want.

Strider590

Maybe I just have better things to do, than to think about my central heating all day?

It's all just a gimmick, they know people are concerned about energy prices and they're using that to sell us stuff we don't really need. Of course it's also a PR stunt for the energy companies, because they're "helping us to save money", therefore they're saying "if you don't save money, it's your own fault" and in the meantime they keep ramping up the unit prices.

A 5 minutes explanation on how a thermostat works, is all that's needed to save money in most households.

As for the house being warm when I get home, it usually is. I think I can cope on the odd day when it isn't.

myhooose

I have a Nest. It replaced a simple wireless thermostat which could not keep the house at a constant temperature (too hot or too cold).

The Nest learns the thermal characteristics of the house to prevent the temperature over and undershoot to give a more constant temperature. It also turns the heating off after a while when there is no one in the house.

getmore4less

myhooose wrote: »

I have a Nest. It replaced a simple wireless thermostat which could not keep the house at a constant temperature (too hot or too cold).

The Nest learns the thermal characteristics of the house to prevent the temperature over and undershoot to give a more constant temperature. It also turns the heating off after a while when there is no one in the house.

The learning the thermal profile is fairly standard in newish programmable thermostats you set the times and temps you want rather than guessing with the timer.

mavisangelica

getmore4less wrote: »

I suspect with nest the learning won't work that well for vary variable shifts, wonder if it can spot things like 4 on 4 off or is just looking for work non work days.

(Anyone found a specification for the Nest?)

If you know in advance your shift patterns with some system you can set them up in advance, then override as needed the main issue is that most are still 1, 5/2 or 7 day systems but that covers most of the population.

Have you looked into IFTTT? I have the Evohome system and Honeywell have a channel on there. My son works shifts. I haven't had time yet but I want to try and set up something that will look in my calendar and pick up trigger words such as day shift and then set the heating accordingly.

I think that some of the other home automation systems also have channels on it. (Just looked and Nest have a channel)