Anyone got a Hive Heating System?

Rebeckski

Has anyone got a Hive Active Heating System? I have just entered a competition to win one. Are they any good on saving money?

zenmaster

The guy who sits behind me at work has one and bores the pants off everyone by endlessly logging in and showing us how he can spot when his wife's got the heating on and dial it down a few degrees!

It looks a great system but, as for saving money, Hive themselves state

With Hive, you’ll never need to heat an empty home again, so you could save up to £150 a year on your heating bills

so the savings appear to be modest.

I'm sure someone with an installation (perhaps even my mate) will be along soon with some actual figures but, really, I think the system is too new to give a definitive answer.

System

Smart heating control savings are based on an academic study modelled on a 3-bedroom property with no heating controls in a controlled environment. Have a look at the table 'test results' on the last page:

http://www.salford.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/562989/pdf2-BEAMA-Heating-control-White-paper.pdf

I have installed Evohome with smart TRVs on all my radiators. Over the past 18 months my gas usage has fallen by 20% (that is not the same as saying that my bills have fallen by 20%). That said, we are now more comfortable than we were as we now have heat on continuously where we want it. Systems such as Hive do offer some control flexibility. For example, if you are late at the office, you can turn your heating down.

Most savings are quoted ' as up to x%' meaning that the assumption is as I said that the system is being installed in a property that lacks even basic heating controls (timer and room thermostat).

Robin9

I've had one for about 18 months. The Hive is a good combined controller/thermostat that can be controlled remotely

Yes if you find you are going to be home late you can alter the timing saving costs - but conversely if you find you are coming home early then you can witch it on and that costs money (in the old days you would have come home to a cold house and simply pressed the override)

Save money - perhaps.

macman

The bigger savings with Evohome come about because you can effectively make each room with a TRV a separately controllable zone. A standard Hive install is merely a remotely controlled room 'stat with some supposedly smart software.
The former is much more likely to produce bigger savings, but at about £50 per TRV it could take some years to recover the much bigger outlay. For most people, it would probably only be considered as part of an entirely new install, rather than an upgrade to an existing CH system.

System

macman wrote: »

The bigger savings with Evohome come about because you can effectively make each room with a TRV a separately controllable zone. A standard Hive install is merely a remotely controlled room 'stat with some supposedly smart software.
The former is much more likely to produce bigger savings, but at about £50 per TRV it could take some years to recover the much bigger outlay. For most people, it would probably only be considered as part of an entirely new install, rather than an upgrade to an existing CH system.

As this is a money saving forum then I would agree that most people are unlikely the recover the cost of Evohome. It matters little whether the system is installed on an old system or a new install. My boiler is 14 years old so arguably Evohome is saving me more money than would be the case with a modern condensing boiler. As I said earlier, the real advantage of zoned heating is that rooms in use are heated when needed. For example, zoning works well for the elderly and those who want to keep a baby's bedroom warm at night.

Yes, zoning is probably a luxury but so was a TV remote control 30 years ago.

[Deleted User]

Questions to ask yourself:

How much do you spend on heating each year?
How old (or inefficient) is your current heat source?
How much time do you and tours spend at home when heating is needed?
Is the house as energy efficient as it should be?

Then decide if just turning down the thermostat or amending the hours that the heating is on would be a good (and cost free) answer.

For myself, my total gas bill is £250pa for heating and water, so any savings would take decades to repay themselves as I doubt I'd get any meaningful reduction in annual gas used.