Hive Active Heating etc

pm1977x

Recently had the Hive 2 installed by Bord Gais and so far very happy with it, no connectivity issues and the app is very user friendly. I'm using it several times a day at the moment and it's coming in very handy.

Also purchased a Hive tuneable/dimable bulb to play around with and despite the cost it's an interesting entry point into smart lighting. Bought this via Amazon as although you can get them here, they are far more expensive.

Considering getting a door sensor too so if anyone has any experience with them, please share!


Just wanted to start this thread for other Hive users to share issues, tips or general waffle.

Stoner

pm1977x wrote:

Just wanted to start this thread for other Hive users to share issues, tips or general waffle.

Good stuff I've suggested this approach to the other mods and they are thinking about it. I have the GAA forum as an example where counties have their own mega threads

Doodah7

Thanks for this. OP: how many zones do you have in your home? I'm interested in the Hive (far more so than the Nest or Netatmo) but I'm holding on as the multizone doesn't seem to be available in Ireland yet, or at least the Bord gais website has no mention of it. In your opinion would it be easy to add an additional thermostat after the BG install?

ted1

tallpaul wrote: »

Thanks for this. OP: how many zones do you have in your home? I'm interested in the Hive (far more so than the Nest or Netatmo) but I'm holding on as the multizone doesn't seem to be available in Ireland yet, or at least the Bord gais website has no mention of it. In your opinion would it be easy to add an additional thermostat after the BG install?

You can get the multizone on Amazon for 99gbp

Roen

ted1 wrote: »

You can get the multizone on Amazon for 99gbp

You can? Is that the gen 1? The one I am looking at is £179.

Linky

Edit, ah the multi zone expansion, not the base unit.

Graham

You can, we have multizone. for 2heat + 1water:

Additional Zone thermostate: Clicky

pm1977x

tallpaul wrote: »

Thanks for this. OP: how many zones do you have in your home? I'm interested in the Hive (far more so than the Nest or Netatmo) but I'm holding on as the multizone doesn't seem to be available in Ireland yet, or at least the Bord gais website has no mention of it. In your opinion would it be easy to add an additional thermostat after the BG install?

I have just the one zone with Hive2 controlling both heat + water or water on it's own. Based on my experience so far I'd say it would be extremely easy to add another zone once your plumbing is multizonal.

pm1977x

For anyone considering buying from Bord Gais, you don't need to be a customer and if your boiler is due a service as ours was they will do a service + Hive 2 with full install for €349 all in.

If you're handy with electrics and know your plumbing it may be cheaper to just buy the unit from Amazon.

One word of warning, initial BG guy who came to install it said that because so much of our wiring was out in the garage with our boiler that we could only have the Hive1 and no separate water control - what's the point!? A week later and a different extremely helpful BG guy spent a couple of hours problem solving it and figured out a workaround, stuck in a Hive 2 and it's all been plain sailing since, so beware lazy installers!

Doodah7

Graham wrote: »

You can, we have multizone. for 2heat + 1water:

Additional Zone thermostate: Clicky

Thanks for this. How easy is it to install the additional thermo?

Graham

tallpaul wrote: »

Thanks for this. How easy is it to install the additional thermo?

Incredibly easy. You hand the box to the sparky and say 'fit this please', 15 minutes later it's done

For a DIY install I'm not much help I'm afraid. There's not a huge amount to it if you already have zoned heating, remove the (2nd zone) existing time clock/controller and install the new one, removing any existing stat in the process.

pm1977x

Just to update, my door/window sensor arrived this week, finally got around to fitting it in the garage.

I have an alarm out there but wanted an extra layer of protection for the door (really just wanted a new smart toy, but whatever!)

Discovering it on the app was quick and painless. It feels a lot sturdier than the picture suggests and the larger bit is bigger than I expected. I tested it at various points around the door frame and even across the largest gap (approx 1 inch) it was detecting correctly. The nature of the double sided sticking strips provided means that if needed you could create an overhang to bridge a bit of a gap but wasn't necessary for me.

I chose to be notified by push notification via the app along with email, and both send within a second or two of the door opening. Within the app you can set up other recipes for the sensor, such as - if sensors open then turn heat on, or turn bulb on, none of which are much use to me at the moment - might be useful to trigger a Hive bulb in an attic or something?

You can schedule the sensor to alert you just as you schedule the heating, so if you're in and out at regular times you can schedule alerts off.

One big flaw - the notification noise wouldn't wake me if someone broke in during the night, so I started playing around with a way to make it sound an alarm of sorts. I downloaded the IFTT app and in it made this recipe:

IF THIS: Gmail - receives message from [hive address]

THEN THAT: Android - plays specific song

Had no songs on my phone so this bit was really annoying, eventually sorted it and obviously you could just download a siren or whatever you want to act as the alarm.

As a result I have a makeshift garage door alarm which will send me an email, a notification and play a song within seconds of the sensor being triggered (although the song bit takes longer while IFTT and Music apps play catch up).

BoardsMember

Am I right in thinking that if I wanted to control two heating zones plus hot water via Hive I would need:

Active Heating and Hot Water: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B011B3J6B8/ref=abs_brd_tag_dp?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
and
Hive 2 - Active Heating Multizone: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B018E1SHQU/ref=abs_brd_tag_dp?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Hoping either/both come up as deals on Amazon over the next few days!

Graham

BoardsMember wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that if I wanted to control two heating zones plus hot water via Hive I would need

You are right

Shred

What's the deal with getting up an running with Hive if using an external oil burner? I'd be really interested in getting both my heating and water 'smartened' up and I'm due to get a new boiler fitted in a couple of weeks as part of a bathroom renovation. I really like the sound of the additional security capabilities pm1977x mentioned above also.

pm1977x

Shred wrote: »

What's the deal with getting up an running with Hive if using an external oil burner? I'd be really interested in getting both my heating and water 'smartened' up and I'm due to get a new boiler fitted in a couple of weeks as part of a bathroom renovation. I really like the sound of the additional security capabilities pm1977x mentioned above also.

WHICH BOILERS WORK WITH THESE SYSTEMS?
Hive and Nest cannot really be 100% specific about every boiler they support – there are a whole lot of boilers out there – but there are decent guidelines to follow.

Hive says any working gas or LPG heating system is supported, as well as some electric boilers. It suggests calling them if you have an oil boiler to find out if your system is suitable. It can work with some underfloor systems, but not ones that rely on electricity.

Nest says its system works with the following:

Combi and condensing boilers
System and heat-only boilers
Hydronic underfloor systems
Air-source and ground-source heat pumps
Switched live systems
Low-voltage dry-contact systems
Generally, though, compatibility should be very similar between the two systems, as it all hinges on the one component that "talks to" the boiler. Hive calls it a Receiver, while Nest refers to it as a Heat Link. This is the one part that really needs a qualified engineer to install.


Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/nest-vs-hive#702Quv5TWyRXd0vC.99

Graham

Shred wrote: »

What's the deal with getting up an running with Hive if using an external oil burner? I'd be really interested in getting both my heating and water 'smartened' up and I'm due to get a new boiler fitted in a couple of weeks as part of a bathroom renovation. I really like the sound of the additional security capabilities pm1977x mentioned above also.

We have hive running a 3 zone (2h/1w) Grant external oil burner.

Shred

I've literally just been reading that article; it doesn't mater if the burner is external?

Graham

Shred wrote: »

I've literally just been reading that article; it doesn't mater if the burner is external?

Nope, all the control is inside the house. Essentially you're just replacing your existing thermostat and the controllers that open/close zones.

pm1977x

Shred wrote: »

I've literally just been reading that article; it doesn't mater if the burner is external?

Best to call Hive with your specific setup before buying.

Shred

Well I suppose what I'm getting at is the 'receiver' being installed external to the house doesn't cause any (communication) issues; I would assume it doesn't but I'm just making sure. I'm continuing to research the options as I get time; another question out of interest - why did you choose Hive over Nest?

pm1977x

Shred wrote: »

Well I suppose what I'm getting at is the 'receiver' being installed external to the house doesn't cause any (communication) issues; I would assume it doesn't but I'm just making sure. I'm continuing to research the options as I get time; another question out of interest - why did you choose Hive over Nest?

Wifi range extenders should sort that, depending on distance.

I chose Hive as I specifically didn't want a 'learning' thermostat (Nest) as it doesn't suit my needs, but did want app functionality and additional smart options such as bulbs/sensors etc.

Shred

pm1977x wrote: »

Best to call Hive with your specific setup before buying.

Yes I will certainly be doing that before committing to anything but I'm just exploring the options in the meantime.

Shred

pm1977x wrote: »

Wifi range extenders should sort that, depending on distance.

I chose Hive as I specifically didn't want a 'learning' thermostat (Nest) as it doesn't suit my needs, but did want app functionality and additional smart options such as bulbs/sensors etc.

Cheers, the burner would certainly be within wifi range alright, not taking into account the housing of the burner and any interference that may/may not cause however.

Graham

Shred wrote: »

Well I suppose what I'm getting at is the 'receiver' being installed external to the house doesn't cause any (communication) issues; I would assume it doesn't but I'm just making sure. I'm continuing to research the options as I get time; another question out of interest - why did you choose Hive over Nest?

Why would you install the receiver outside the house? It's normal for even non-smart controllers to be inside.

Shred

Well I currently don't have a thermostat inside the house, each of the rads have thermostatic valves installed and my burner is powered straight from an AC mains plug internally connected through a bog standard timer. Is it not a case the received needs to be physically connected to the burner as per Nest's heat link?

Graham

Shred wrote: »

Well I currently don't have a thermostat inside the house, each of the rads have thermostatic valves installed and my burner is powered straight from an AC mains plug internally connected through a bog standard timer. Is it not a case the received needs to be physically connected to the burner as per Nest's heat link?

The controller would probably go where your existing timer is.

For Nest, we replaced 1-for-1 the old timer with the heatlink.
For Hive, we placed the controller where a timer would have otherwise gone.

Shred

So in my case, I'd simply be removing the AC plug off the cable from the burner and wiring straight into the controller? Apologies if this seems obvious, I'm in the process of locating full installation guides while juggling work atm!

Graham

Shred wrote: »

So in my case, I'd simply be removing the AC plug off the cable from the burner and wiring straight into the controller? Apologies if this seems obvious, I'm in the process of locating full installation guides while juggling work atm!

There's slightly more to it than that if you have zones for heating/water but that's certainly the gist of it.

Gmol

tallpaul wrote: »

Thanks for this. OP: how many zones do you have in your home? I'm interested in the Hive (far more so than the Nest or Netatmo) but I'm holding on as the multizone doesn't seem to be available in Ireland yet, or at least the Bord gais website has no mention of it. In your opinion would it be easy to add an additional thermostat after the BG install?

May be of interest but I got the Hive and a service from BG for 149 as long as I signed up for a 1 year contract

Shred

Graham wrote: »

There's slightly more to it than that if you have zones for heating/water but that's certainly the gist of it.

Sound, thanks.

Graham

Gmol wrote: »

May be of interest but I got the Hive and a service from BG for 149 as long as I signed up for a 1 year contract

A good offer if you can avail of it, we couldn't being oil/electricity and if I remember correctly the 2nd heating zone added a fair chunk to the price making the offer less compelling either way.

Graham

Hive active heating on offer at Amazon right now.

£125 without installation for the heat or heat/water controller.
£85 for the multizone controller

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hive-Active-Heating-without-installation/dp/B011B3J6B8/ref=sr_1_1?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1480037321&sr=1-1&th=1

pm1977x

Decent discounts on the Hive bulbs - if you can find a use for them or just want a new toy!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hive+bulb

SteM

Gmol wrote: »

May be of interest but I got the Hive and a service from BG for 149 as long as I signed up for a 1 year contract

Were you a new customer switching from a different supplier?

Gmol

SteM wrote: »

Were you a new customer switching from a different supplier?

No I was an existing customer who was thinking about moving to a different supplier essentially they match ESB offer and also gave 1000 clubcard points

SteM

Gmol wrote: »

No I was an existing customer who was thinking about moving to a different supplier essentially they match ESB offer and also gave 1000 clubcard points

Gave them a call and they had no interest. They said they couldn't do any discount on the Hive installation. Ah well.

Gmol

SteM wrote: »

Gave them a call and they had no interest. They said they couldn't do any discount on the Hive installation. Ah well.

Strange that, got it a couple of months ago and was put onto the retention team as was leaving BG

Graham

Gmol wrote: »

put onto the retention team as was leaving BG

I'm guessing the retention team is the key.

For most organisations the retention team only kick in with the sweeteners when you're on the way out the door.

pm1977x

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hive-Active-Plug-Works-Alexa/dp/B01B5P5Y6S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480090950&sr=8-1&keywords=hive+socket

Hive plug 33% off = £26 = HAD to get one for the christmas lights, would be rude not to!

THE ALM

can see myself adding motion sensors, door and window sensors and plugs down the line. I see someone mentioned they are trialling trv's which would be a great addition.

This IOT thread as seriously curtailed my work time!

pm1977x

THE ALM wrote: »

can see myself adding motion sensors, door and window sensors and plugs down the line. I see someone mentioned they are trialling trv's which would be a great addition.

This IOT thread as seriously curtailed my work time!

Would definitely fancy a few smart TRVs for it, wouldn't need to do every rad but guess it depends what price point they come in at - might be a purchase for Black Friday 2017 hopefully!

2006ciarn

I want to buy Hive without installation from Amazon and have a go installing myself just not sure if I need the with or without hot water option.

I have a gas boiler controlled directly from the boiler which heats all rads In house (or one zone) and hot water cyclinder. There's the main dial to select off, reset, water only or rads & water. The water only option on this main dial does nothing you have to select rads and water. There is also the main boiler thermostat/temperature level. Then there is a manual ring click timeclock. The only other control is a manual thermostat in the living room - with this set to anything between 20 to 30 degrees a motorised valve in the hot press is opened so that when the boiler is on rads and water are heated. Lowering this to 0 degrees shuts the valve so that when the boiler is on only the hot water cyclinder is heated and not the rads.

Which Hive do I need? Obviously I want to be able to control heat and water independently of each other if possible but because the fact that my current water setup is being controlled by a valve rather than the boiler doing anything different I'm not sure?

Help / advice appreciated, thanks

MackMack

Do the Hive thermostats bought in the UK work over here? Some of the reviews on Amazon have people saying they can't register the app in Ireland to control them remotely.

squonkie

Was lucky enough to get a Hive first generation free from Bord Gais. They said it was a thank you for having my boiler serviced with them for 6 years in a row. Had it fitted Friday. Nice surprise!!

Graham

MackMack wrote: »

Do the Hive thermostats bought in the UK work over here? Some of the reviews on Amazon have people saying they can't register the app in Ireland to control them remotely.

Yes they do work.

There was a bit of confusion as I registered them on the UK site rather than the Irish site so my mobile number caused the registration to burp. Quick phonecall to Hive support and they had it all sorted in minutes.

THE ALM

Away for a few days but had the hive delivered today so will be able to check it out when back. Have to make a few changes to the plumbing so will be a while before up and running.

Gadgie

2006ciarn wrote: »

Which Hive do I need? Obviously I want to be able to control heat and water independently of each other if possible but because the fact that my current water setup is being controlled by a valve rather than the boiler doing anything different I'm not sure?

Help / advice appreciated, thanks

Get the version with dual channel receiver (listed on Amazon as "Heating and Hot Water"). At worst, you will end up with a "hot water" button on the receiver that does nothing.

The single channel receiver ("Heating only") is for combi boilers which heat water on demand, so if you have a hot water cylinder then you almost certainly don't have one of these.

Here's the wiring for both receivers: https://plus.google.com/+ElvinNagamootoo/posts/f7sS5SDNqEB
Check your boiler installation manual (Google make and model if you don't have a copy) and find the section with the wiring for an external time clock. You'll need this if you have any hope of installing the receiver yourself.

bod71

Hi, is there temperature control on the hot water side of the stat,or is it just timed? Thanks.

Graham

bod71 wrote: »

Hi, is there temperature control on the hot water side of the stat,or is it just timed? Thanks.

Two temperatures; on and off

shurl

Got this from Amazon yesterday (heat + hot water), works well. Registration as others have mentioned is a bit of a mess as Bord Gais don't believe we are capable of self-installing it so won't accept registrations that they didn't "install"
I had no joy ringing the Hive support line either. Was told to send it back and pay BG to install the 4 wires for an extra €150.

However using a UK address allowed me to proceed with the registration on the UK site which works fine. Only issue is the app believes the "local" temp is whatever it is outside the Amazon office in London Makes no difference as I don't believe that temp is used by the Hive itself..

All in all quite a good setup , range between devices is good even in an old spread out dormer bungalow all work fine.

Will see how it behaves over the next few days!


S.

pm1977x

Got an Echo Dot to play around with - has a better sense of humour than some humans I know :pac:

Have it turning my Hive bulb on and off but haven't done much else with it yet other than ask it annoying questions!

Also got a Hive Plug for the Christmas tree lights as they end up plugged in behind the tree in a corner so very awkward to get to. Unfortunately once I added this device to my Hub it kicked my motion sensor to 'disconnected' - unplug the plug and sensor shows up back online. If Hive can't handle this many devices: heat/water/sensor/bulb/plug then it's very limited, but perhaps I just need to Google and see if others have had this issue/troubleshoot.