Hive or Nest for heating

guitarfishbay · September 2023

Hi all, hope everyone is doing well.

I’m interested in thoughts and experiences with either Hive or Nest systems. Good or bad.

Our house is a pretty standard 3 bed semi-detached. We’ve been watching a bunch of comparisons videos but it’s hard to really understand if there’s much reason to go with one over the other having never used a smart thermostat before.

If it makes any difference, the boiler is being moved into the attic (accessible by drop down ladder, ie we’d rather not be going up too often).

Thanks!

Brize · September 2023

We've found Nest to be awful - just my tuppence worth.

Neilybob · September 2023

I really like our Hive heating system. It just always works, never had an issue.

Beware Hive are turning off some of its other devices in 2025.

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/252221/hive-is-to-switch-off-devices-thanks-alot-grrrr

I think TP-Link do a heating Wi-Fi system.

paulcaye · September 2023

I will be replacing our nest system in the next month or 2 probably with a Tado system, so I can control each room individually.

This is the second nest thermostat we have had, the first one the link between the thermostat and the control unit stopped working.

The next one the Wifi on the thermostat stopped working, which meant we cannot control it external to the system (i.e. via Alexa or the App) - apparently this is known fault and they had been replacing these units, they wanted the whole unit back and couldn't commit to timings on a new one and it was the middle of winter so we just got rolled with it.

There were some neat features with it, switching it on / off remotely (even having the app do this automatically when you are away from home) and using Alexa do turn it on / off / up /down etc.

As it is a learning system and kids loved to turn it at night before going to bed, sometimes I would wake up at the 3 in the morning the house was like an oven, but that is soon fixed with some tweaking.

guitarfishbay · September 2023

Brize said:

We've found Nest to be awful - just my tuppence worth.

Are you able to expand on this?

Thanks all for the replies

wibble · September 2023

Neither.

I have Tado. No complaints

EricTheWeary · September 2023

Hive here. Fine apart from when the batteries start going and it does bonkers things. We no longer have a traditional thermostat but really would be better off with one and a timer. Being able to adjust the temperature in the house when I'm on holiday is of limited value.

RiftAmps · September 2023

Our Hive system was hilariously awful. Had nothing but problems with it, got even worse after we had a new Worcester boiler installed. Never managed to get it to work with Alexa either. Utter dross.

Switched to Nest and it’s worked exactly as intended. Couldn’t recommend it enough.

yocky · September 2023

Tado here. Works really well except for the vertically mounted radiator thermostats seemed incapable of measuring room temperature rather than the radiator temperature. Expensively solved with separate room thermostats, but other than that it works flawlessly.

fretmeister · September 2023

Hive here. It’s been flawless.

Adey · September 2023

Thermostatic rad valves and timer with ordinary two-port valves. Works fine and doesn't rely on "on-going support"

Brize · September 2023

guitarfishbay said:

Brize said:

We've found Nest to be awful - just my tuppence worth.

Are you able to expand on this?

Thanks all for the replies

Connectivity issues, essentially - we found the system very flakey.

fastonebaz · September 2023

Hive use here. Works fine. Limited features. Never tried nest.

Bod · September 2023

Another vote for Tado here. I got rid of my Nest sure to poor support and complete lack of metrics. Having the individual radiators call for heat rather than a central thermostat has been brilliant.

ewal · September 2023

Another vote for Hive. We've had for 18 months and it has been 100% reliable.

FX_Munkee · September 2023

Just to throw a curve ball in here. Drayton Wiser - I went with it after a bit of research as it's the only one designed to handle a 2 zone heating system from the start (ie only one hub required), which I needed. Even if you don't have this requirement I'd recommend it. It's been flawless for the past 18 months, simple to control and the components aren't ludicrously priced. Basically does what it says on the tin.

Stratavarious · September 2023

The thermostats on radiators and on the wall here don’t give out family personal information to anyone.

BigMonka · September 2023

I was going through the same decision process last year and went with the Tado which I've been really pleased with over last winter.

TheMarlin · September 2023

I have Hive, never had a problem with it. But they spam the hell out of me trying to upsell services I have zero interest in.

axisus · September 2023

Hive and Nest? I have no clue what this thread is about.

I'm a bit out of touch ...

TheMarlin · September 2023

axisus said:

axisus said:

Hive and Nest? I have no clue what this thread is about.

I'm a bit out of touch ...

It’s a digital heating/thermostat system.

Let’s you set heating and hot water schedules from
your smart phone/tablet.

I got it free with a new boiler. Has actually saves us quite a bit of money on our hearing bills

axisus · September 2023

TheMarlin said:

axisus said:

axisus said:

Hive and Nest? I have no clue what this thread is about.

I'm a bit out of touch ...

It’s a digital heating/thermostat system.
Let’s you set heating and hot water schedules from
your smart phone/tablet.

I got it free with a new boiler. Has actually saves us quite a bit of money on our hearing bills

I live and learn! Sounds interesting, does it work with any boiler? Actually I should just go and look it up ...

Cirrus · September 2023

axisus said:
Actually I should just go and look it up ...

Yep

manicguitarist · September 2023

I've been happy with Hive.
Have it for my heating. Installed it myself - super easy to do.
I also have a stack of hive plug switches - these too work really well.

Re the heating, I like to be able "boost" the temperature for a set time (it can also make it colder).
Setting the heating timing is trivial on the app - different times and temperatures for different days and so on.

Re the plugs - I use most of them to control lighting - so they're set to come on 1hr before sundown - so the lights come on every day - and then switch themselves off at 1am. Also have a "quick action" button on my phone for all lights out and so on (for when I go to bed earlier).

Offset · September 2023

No experience of Nest heating control, but plenty of experience of their webcams for what it's worth.

We've had their cams in our pubs for the last 5.5 years. It was a fairly cost-efficient model for us but over time we came to understand their shortcomings. Firstly, reliability. We had to return several cams over time as they simply gave up and stopped working. These cost (from memory) £175 a pop. Secondly, cams would simply drop from the network on go offline for no good reason; they would require a cold reboot and disconnection from both power and wifi to get working again. Not ideal at 3am when they were supposed to be monitoring your premises. Thirdly, help. The helpline was tedious and in common with most modern tech these days, a voice at the end of the phone was the absolute last resort - you had to troubleshoot for yourself. Fourth, the software. Clunky best describes it, and creating video clips in particular is a PITA - very fiddly, time-consuming and frankly crap, especially when you're trying to create a simple clip for the cops. There are also certain key limitations on things like app access and control.

So... if the heating app is anything like the cam offering, both h/w and s/w leave a lot to be desired and I wouldn't recommend. I certainly wouldn't recommend the cams.

EricTheWeary · September 2023

axisus said:

TheMarlin said:

axisus said:

axisus said:

Hive and Nest? I have no clue what this thread is about.

I'm a bit out of touch ...

It’s a digital heating/thermostat system.
Let’s you set heating and hot water schedules from
your smart phone/tablet.

I got it free with a new boiler. Has actually saves us quite a bit of money on our hearing bills

I live and learn! Sounds interesting, does it work with any boiler? Actually I should just go and look it up ...

I think pretty much any boiler, it's a thermostat plus one-off switch basically.

I was thinking about it last night. Our house is generally occupied so being able to control heating via an app isn't particularly helpful. However, someone I worked with lived alone and had variable working hours. So, before she left the office she would get the Hive app on her phone and put the heating on so she went home to a warm house that hadn't been heated all day. You can also do a temperature profile rather than just a single thermostat temperature. So enough heat to take the chill off when you are busy during the day, but more for sitting watching TV in the evening or just have the heating come on later at the weekend when you have a lie in. And connectivity to other Hive/Nest devices (although I don't do this).

When it's heating the house to 28c at 3am that means the batteries need replacing.

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Hive or Nest for heating

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