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Updated on 03/10/24 by Abby_OVO

 

So you are with an amazing energy supplier but still want to save money on your heating bill? Look no further! Although OVO offers an incredible deal with Tado, there are alternatives. I am not saying the product I have implemented into my home is better than Tado but I will go over why I chose Hive over Tado further on.
 

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Let’s talk about the advantages before we get to the disadvantages. So the advantages with replacing your current thermostats with a smart one? Well, let’s rewind this back in December when I got the thermostats installed into my home as this is when people tend to use their heating right? So rewind to December 2017. British Gas man arrives at my house to install thermostat in the hallway and upstairs, offer the man a cup of tea and he refuses, so far not a good start turning down a cup of tea. The whole installation process took 45 minutes due to the way my house does it’s heating. I have a separate thermostats to control down stairs and a separate one for upstairs heating. Ok, getting off topic here.

Like I said, installation took 45 minutes so the next part was to connect my thermostats to the hive hub or the receiver I believe some people call it. This just simply allows hive products to connect to my router. A simple process like many other hive products in my house (lights & plugs) you just open the app on the phone, turn the products on and link it to the hub. All done great! So now what? Not like I can tweak it to cook me dinner so what is so fancy about smart thermostats? What is the advantage owning one? Well for one, I can now control the heating with either my phone or at the time use IFTTT (if this then that) to use my google home to control the heating. But now google home has updated to be compatible with Hive products. Secondly, I can control the heating while I’m at work and make sure my partner isn’t cranking it up to 30c! So a big bonus there! The hive thermostats have a pipe freeze protection so when the house reaches a certain temperature. For mine it’s 8c, the heating will kick in to stop pipes from freezing.

There is not much I have used the thermostats for because they just work, I have the thermostats set so when my phone GPS is a certain range to my house the heating turns on. And when I leave the heating turns off. Other than this, I still have loads of features to try. I would highly recommend you look into purchasing Tado or hive.

The only disadvantage so far with hive is the app for iOS still does not support iPhone X display. This doesn’t stop the functionality of the app but would be nice to use the app with a big screen.

 

 

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Like I said I only went with the hive thermostats because I already have lights and plugs in my home so it only made sense to keep it all standardised.

 

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Sorry for blabbing on as usual! But hopefully you enjoyed it

Any questions, drop them down below and I am happy to answer as efficient as possible.

 

Keen to learn more about how you can control your heating with a Smart thermostat? Check out this great guide.

OVO offers an exclusive deal on a tadoº Smart thermostat, or check out what one of our members had to say about using a Hive in their blog below.

A programmable thermostat is a very energy-efficient tool. It allows you to program what hours your home will be vacant and when you will be asleep.
Hi @lindsayventure



Which thermostat do you have?



I Like to think of different ways to help save money and planet. I currently have Smart thermostat along with smart lights which I schedule when the heating to go on and lights.
Hi just moved into an oldish council house. And I have converted all the lighting to Led's.

Next will be getting a smart thermostat as I just have a temperature controlled one now.
Many years ago I fitted a Honeywell CM901 programmable room thermostat. It works well enough but does suffer from its display failing over the years. So it has been repaired once by me and after a few more years needs repairing again. (See internets for details). I use a couple of rechargeable AA cells so running costs are essentially zero. Which probably isn't true of the WiFi devices.



I know it isn't a big deal but the standby/background power of all the devices in the house is a rather annoying 100W or so. Need to do another survey to track down the culprits..

Just seen this pop up, really great to hear something firsthand - I’ve made it into a tutorial!

 

Anyone else have a Hive thermostat or an equivalent to review?

 

 

@Tim_OVO 

Sounds bad but I forgot I wrote this article 😂

Only just found this thread.

I have an internet controlleable thermostat made by Inspire Home Automation which I think looks the business!  It comes in black or white, doesn’t need a hub and simply replaces the existing thermostat. 

It has a total of four profiles although I only use two, one for summer and one for winter.  It can also be changed manually for luddites like my wife. 

The 22.5 shown here is not the setting but the actual room temperature!

 

Hi just moved into an oldish council house. And I have converted all the lighting to Led.
Next will be getting a smart thermostat I just have a temperature-controlled one now.:kissing_heart::kissing_heart::kissing_heart::kissing_heart::kissing_heart::kissing_heart::kissing_heart::kissing_heart: :motorcycle:That being said, you have come to the right place to find the best programmable thermostat. Need comfort under a budget? No problem! We got your back and have a list of the best programmable thermostats under $50 ready for you. :motorcycle:

Hi @james121 I recommend you get an internet controlleable thermostat, it’s well worth it for the extra flexibility; the ones on your link are cheap, under $50 but you get what you pay for.

 

If you just want a no-internet programmable thermostat, I’ll sell you a second hand one for £10 :)

ooh wow, how to control a thermostat with the internet .is it really available in the online market? @PeterR1947 

Yes @james121 the most advertised are NEST and HIVE although these need connections to boiler, mine from https://www.inspirehomeautomation.co.uk/ (see my post above) simply replaces the existing thermostat and connects to your WiFi

I do shudder at the thought of only having working heating when the Internet is up and for as long as the system is supported by the vendor. We’ve seen far too many issues of vendors getting bored, needing new revenue streams, etc. and abandoning services (yes Nest, we are looking at you for one!).

That’s why, when I wanted to fit a smart heating system, it HAD to be one that would work without the Internet and without the vendor’s cloud. The two reasonable systems I short-listed were the Honeywell EVOHOME and the Drayton Wiser. I went with the Wiser system as the TRV’s were ½ the price of other ones. If I had the money and were doing things over, I would probably choose the EVOHOME which is certainly the better of the two. However, the Wiser system isn’t bad.

You really DO need the TRV’s if you are going to try to have a smart system, a smart thermostat makes a bit of a difference but having individual room control makes a massive difference.

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