Is your home a Hive?

Almost a year ago I wrote about a new product from British Gas – Hive, I remember thinking at the time oh if only it wasn’t so expensive I would jump at the chance to really give it a try (having said that it could have saved you well over the installation price in just 2 years so in the long term it does pay for itself), fast forward to now and many thanks to Legal and General I have been living in a Hive heated home for a little over a month.

What is Hive?

Hive is a different way to control your heating and water, it allows you to turn it off, on, up or down no matter where you are, all through the power of the internet and a neat little app on your favourite device.

I was signed up for a Hive upgrade the latter end of 2014 and it took around 4 weeks to be installed (this did incorporate Christmas and New Year; so longer waiting times were obviously expected). Appointment slots are given as either am or pm and we received a call around 15 minutes before the fitters arrived.

Installation

It took two people to install Hive here and it was a very quick process; over and done in less than half an hour. However the fitters did tell us that it can take a lot longer – some appointments had previously taken them a good couple of hours to complete.

Hive installations consists of four parts:
Receiver – this is placed close to your boiler; it is a small box with two lights on the first just shows it is up and running the second shows as on when your heating is on.
Hub – this needs to be connected to your router and requires a plug socket.
Thermostat – placed wherever is most convenient for you.
The App – your Hive engineers will set up the app with you and show you how to use it.

You are also left with a little booklet, which slots into the thermostat on who to contact should anything go wrong.

Use

I found Hive really easy to work and personally have it on both my phone and iPad (the App can be installed on up to 3 devices, while Hive also supports text commands).

One of the first things that impressed me with Hive is the fact you can set different schedules for different days, which means we can put in a rough guide for days when Ash is as work and day when he isn’t.

On top of that, if we are out longer than we expected and don’t want to heat an empty home, or happen to be coming home early and want to make sure it is warm, we can either use the app or text through to tell the Hive system to turn on or off.

Hive can also heat your water on schedule – however we have a combi-boiler and so this is a feature I haven’t personally tested.

My main worry about Hive was what happened if we lost internet connection and the answer is simple; while you won’t be able to use the app to control your heating, all you need to do is go back t using the thermostat; however your schedule will continue to work as normal.

I have to admit I do find controlling the heating from the app is much simpler than going and messing with the thermostat, you can quickly switch between schedule and manual if you need to quickly warm the place up as well. So yes I am one of those people who controllers their heating from the sofa or even in bed!

Overall I am really impressed with the Hive system, it has made heating the home so much easier as it means we can set the heating to come on at much better times and be more precise about when those times are.

I would be interested to know if it is saving us money, having had the washer dryer around the same time I do wonder if the non-change in electricity use is down to it being cancelled out by more effective use of heating.

If Hive is something you, yourself are looking to install in your home and your heating meets all the requirements I definitely say go for it, you might just be (like me) surprised by the difference it actually does make.

Hive costs £199 to be installed and while the installation and system is supplied by British Gas you do not have to be with them for gas or electric to qualify for Hive.

If I have piqued your interest about Hive do pop over to their website and have a look around.

What do you think about the sound of Hive; do you think it could work in your home?

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