Hive/Hive TRV's

lohr500

I have a hive thermostat and I fitted two Hive smart TRV's to the radiators in our sitting room.
The temperature in the room varies significantly depending on if we have the log burner lit or not.

Personally, I don't rate them. As Bendo mentions they are very slow to respond.

Also, I am not convinced that they read the room temperature accurately as the two TRVs report vastly different temperatures. Right now, with no heating on, one says 17C, the other 19.5C, Both are out of direct sunlight. The reading difference gets worse once the heating is on and the room warms up.

My advice would be to save your money and use conventional TRV's which are much cheaper.

FreeBear

lohr500 said: Also, I am not convinced that they read the room temperature accurately as the two TRVs report vastly different temperatures. Right now, with no heating on, one says 17C, the other 19.5C, Both are out of direct sunlight. The reading difference gets worse once the heating is on and the room warms up.

Think about it for a moment - The sensor is sitting right next to the heat source (often close to the floor). It will be subject to cold draughts wafting around at floor level.. Accurate measurement of room temperature is normally done at a height of 1.5-2m, well away from any heat source and cold draughts. If you have smart TRVs coupled to a home automation system, it makes sense to use temperature sensors mounted elsewhere in the room well away from the radiators.

lohr500

FreeBear said:

lohr500 said: Also, I am not convinced that they read the room temperature accurately as the two TRVs report vastly different temperatures. Right now, with no heating on, one says 17C, the other 19.5C, Both are out of direct sunlight. The reading difference gets worse once the heating is on and the room warms up.

Think about it for a moment - The sensor is sitting right next to the heat source (often close to the floor). It will be subject to cold draughts wafting around at floor level.. Accurate measurement of room temperature is normally done at a height of 1.5-2m, well away from any heat source and cold draughts. If you have smart TRVs coupled to a home automation system, it makes sense to use temperature sensors mounted elsewhere in the room well away from the radiators.

I think that is the fundamental flaw with them!!!
I certainly won't be extending their use to other radiators and next time the batteries need replacing I'll probably remove them and put the old mechanical TRV's back on 

Bendo

I drive all mine via home assistant with temps ftom sonoff sensors in appropriate locations.  They work well that way. But then so do the cheap devolo zwave ones that cost £8 each.

MikeJXE

It’s always been a mystery to me how TVRs work on room temperature 

Water temperature going through the radiator yes I can understand that 

But air temperature next to a radiator is obviously much higher than the room temperature overall 

badger09

We had Hive thermostat fitted with new boiler & smart meter not long after moving here in 2021. After 2 -3 years of fine tuning, we have all rads in sprawling 1970s bungalow working as we want them to. I’ve also managed to drastically reduce gas consumption but still be comfortable (mid/late 70s couple). 

I like being able to control system from wherever we are in the world, with backup from my son if we’re out of comms range for short periods. 

I don’t think smart TRVs would add any benefit for us. 

lohr500

badger09 said:

We had Hive thermostat fitted with new boiler & smart meter not long after moving here in 2021. After 2 -3 years of fine tuning, we have all rads in sprawling 1970s bungalow working as we want them to. I’ve also managed to drastically reduce gas consumption but still be comfortable (mid/late 70s couple). 

I like being able to control system from wherever we are in the world, with backup from my son if we’re out of comms range for short periods. 

I don’t think smart TRVs would add any benefit for us. 

I agree with you. Aside from the flexibility of programming in multiple times/temps, we really like the ability to control the system remotely when we are out for the day and expect to arrive home early. Or when we go away and forget to set holiday mode to save heating the house and hot water when we don't need to!!

Reed_Richards

But various other makes of thermostatic controller are available with the same capability.  

badger09

Reed_Richards said:

But various other makes of thermostatic controller are available with the same capability.  

True, but the OP specifically asked about Hive. 

Reed_Richards

Personally, I don't like Hive because it is not Opentherm compatible for gas boilers and there doesn't seem to be away of controlling the cycle time to prevent short cycling.

With regard to the programmable TRVs, well a few, maybe, but do you really want to vary the temperature of all the rooms in hour house during the day?