Heating bills included - who decides when to heat

Pixie5740

If the heating is only set to 17 deg C when it's on then the property won't be particularly warm regardless of whether the heating is on or off.

Controlling the heating at 17 deg C! Who is the landlord? Ebeneezer Scrooge? If the landlord has such a bee in his bonnet about heating the home up adequately then he shouldn't make all bills inclusive and leave it up to the tenants to pay for the gas and/or electricity.

If I were the tenant then I would already have bought myself some electric heaters and an electric blanket. I would also speak with the landlord about the heating and if the landlord won't budge and be reasonable I'd contact Shelter for advice escalating the matter to the council if necessary.

Vectis

kiddy_guy wrote: »

Hi all

Thanks for replies...

Yes - it's a Hive system.

I'm not sure whether the controls are in a secure cupboard they can't access.The temperature is set around 16 to 17 degrees which is usually fine but goes off around 10pm and at this time of the year they're still up, around and about. Blankets abound! Im not sure of the contract situation but I suspect given the recent Hive installation I doubt thr contract has anything in.

I'll ask my colleague and update post Christmas.

Here's a wacky thought...why not suggest to your friend that they ask the LL to adjust the central heating timer to a more suitable time? Beats tampering with the router or racking up large electric bills for the LL by using fan heaters etc.

Having said that though, it's not unreasonable to turn off central heating at 10pm at night. Many would switch theirs off earlier. Ours, for instance, goes off at 9pm. As mentioned by someone else, the house remains warm for quite some time afterwards.

getmore4less

Did I read the system went in recently?

Maybe the installer set the temp/times or they are on default and just need the landlord asking for them to be changed.

I run my house at 19c(hall stat) as that works for our place, living room gets warmer.

I tried 18.5 and that was a touch too cold for normal light clothes.
if the outside temp is below 5c we feel the chill(0.5 drop) starting after about 1hr of the heating going off.

silvercar

rtho782 wrote: »

Hive comes in three parts.

1. Hub, connects to broadband via LAN, no Wifi.

2. Thermostat, wireless, can be battery powered, has a boost button on it and a dial to manually set temp.

3. Relay, hard wired to boiler, switches it on and off.

If you can get to #2 or #3, you're sorted as you can either change the temp on #2 or press the override on #3.

If you can't, you can't just link another phone in. The Hub has no built in web interface (I have one, just checked) and is attached to an online account. Without access to the online account, you could possibly link it to a new account (If you can get to the hub - follow the ethernet wire) but then the owner will know as he will be unable to control it.

Without access to the online account you cannot change the schedule or add additional thermostats, etc.

We have Hive and we add new phones to the system as and when. Hub connects to broadband and the apps on our phone link to it via wifi or data. Adding new phones does not stop the existing phones from working it. (Other than a 30 second block to prevent phone fights in controlling it!)

silvercar

What you really need to do in the short term is find the thermostat and pres the button on the top of the box on the right. That will give you 30 minutes of heat at 22 degrees.

FBaby

Controlling the heating at 17 deg C! Who is the landlord? Ebeneezer Scrooge? If the landlord has such a bee in his bonnet about heating the home up adequately then he shouldn't make all bills inclusive and leave it up to the tenants to pay for the gas and/or electricity.

haha, well here go, showing how we are all different. Ours is set at 17 because that's how we like it. If I seat down in front of the TV, I much rather have a hot water bottle than putting the heating on higher.

Saying that, understand it isn't the norm and who knows, maybe the LL has it up to 24 in his own house! Have you actually discuss it with him and if so and he said tough, have you considered offering an increase in the rent to put it up?

In the end, the only other alternative is to get warmer clothes, water bottle, and get used to it, or move out somewhere where you pay for your own utilities (although that might indeed come at a higher rental price).

rtho782

silvercar wrote: »

We have Hive and we add new phones to the system as and when. Hub connects to broadband and the apps on our phone link to it via wifi or data. Adding new phones does not stop the existing phones from working it. (Other than a 30 second block to prevent phone fights in controlling it!)

Right, because you log in to your hive account on the new phone. He doesn't know he landlords username and password, so would have to relink the hub to annew hive account, locking the landlord our.