Does anyone use Hive heating?

We also had get a new boiler a few months ago and went from a very basic analogue dial with push in pins for on/off and a thermostat set to something to a boiler with hive.

Now we don't use Alexa as a controller, we use the app or the remote thermostat box you get.

I find the app very simple, (iOS) we've set a weekly schedule  and should we want to change anything its just a case of either using the boost function or going into the schedule and adjusting the very obvious target temperature.

I can't help but think your missing something.. I am by no means as IT savvy as you are and I find the app really obvious and straightforward.

Is it the Alexa thats messing this up for you??

On the Hive thermostat press the three lines button and then select settings. Choose frost protection ad see what that's set at - if it's 20 set it to 7.

We use hive, no issues with setting a temperature that's not 20 degrees.  We've set a schedule though, have you got one set up?  If you manually turn heating on / off with no schedule then I think you may indeed get defaulted to 20deg.
If you really dont want to create a heating schedule t contril the temp then maybe set one with a minimum temp and then when you turn it on you can up the temp to whatever you want it to be. Or set a schedule to have the heating at 18 then when you turn it on it will be at that temp and not 20deg.

For us, the thermostat is dead simple to use - you probably have a newer one that ours though.

Does sound like something is amiss - my money is that Hive expects you to want to create a heating schedue rather than turn on when you feel chilly!

Yeah, and set a schedule - even if it’s off 24/7. Takes seconds to set the whole week as you can copy one day to all the rest. No need to touch anything at all on the box by the boiler. 

When you tell Alexa to turn the heating on is it carrying out the "Boost" function? If so,  you can change the default Boost target temperature in the app under Manage->Actions->Boost Heating->Thermostat->Set Target To.

same as above with copying the schedule on the web page. Also I think you can tell alexa to set thermostat to a certain temperature too

Our new-to-us-house has one. I'm pretty short-fused when it comes to tech,  but I find it grand. Just faff about with the menu and the big button and all eventually becomes clear. Fear not, you can't do any harm. Best bit is moving the nice shiny thermostat around to confuse the ambient (I bought a dinky little stand for it off ebay). I hide it from the missus, I find it hilarious when she's trying to find it to sneak the temp up.

@cougar the scenario you describe sounds just like what happened to my in-laws. My SO set the thermostat program for them and adjusted the temperature. But it would return to whatever it was before soon after. 

I believe my SO sorted it out by repairing the hive thermostat with the hive receiver.

As you also have Alexa in the mix you probably have a hive internet hub too. If the hub and the hive control are speaking with each other then the problem is only with the thermostat pairing. Unpair then repair. It should then be OK. 

good luck. When Hive works it is OK. When it doesn’t it is almost printer like in its hellish ways. 

I think this was the video that helped.

You might be on the money there.  I overlooked that there's three components.  I'll have a play tomorrow.  Ta.

I had a Hive thermostat fitted when my boiler was replaced, and I set it up using the app, and it works fine - you can set up a series of temperature settings during the day, then c’n’p them for the rest of the week.

If it feels a bit cool during the evening, for example, like at the moment, then I just manually scroll the temperature up several degrees, and let it do its thing. You can easily do the same thing with the wall mounted thermostat. I don’t use Alexa, or Siri or any other voice control system, because I’ve personally seen how useless they are when friends sit there repeatedly telling the stupid thing to do something, which I could have done in about 15-20 seconds with my phone.

They’re an answer to a problem that nobody actually has, apart from those who are actually disabled in some manner. 

I don't use Hive yet but am imminently getting my boiler replaced.

I said I didn't mind what it was controlled with as long as I could control it from my bed and away from the house for the times I forget to turn it off, so I assumed either Hive or Nest are the ones to go for.

Any reason to choose one over the other? We don't have much of an easily programmable routine due to shifts so 7 day timers have never worked for us.

Posted by: phil5556

↑

so I assumed either Hive or Nest are the ones to go for.

Those would be the two I would avoid. My preference is Tado, but as with 90% of people I only have experience of the system I have installed, so hard to be objective. There's also Drayton Wiser, and Honeywell do a smart system, probably others too.

There are load of threads on this if you search some of those names. This is possibly the most recent; https://singletrackworld.com/forum/off-topic/hive-heating-alternative/#post-13484641

Hive is great, Nest is rubbish. Nest tries to be too clever and turns off if it detects no movement for example so if it’s in a room with little traffic it’s a pain. It also tries to pre-heat the house so it’s at the temp you set by the time you said you want it on so it’s inefficient IMO. It tries to learn how long it takes to heat up the house etc. Hive has this feature but you can turn it off which is what I expect most people do as it’s a shite feature . People like Tado but I’ve never used it. 

Hive is IMO the absolute worst "smart" heating solution of the bunch! I assume it's only popular as they're owned by BG so you get strong-armed into it when they fit a new boiler (but why would you go with BG rather than a trusted local independent? That's a thread in itself though!)

It's fine when it works, but frustrating when it doesn't (obviously!) Fairly common occurrence if you Google. The main problem is, there are three independent points of failure - the internet connection (which is a permanent requirement) and the connection to the Hive doobrie itself. If you lose either of these, you'll end up with something less functional than the dumb thermostat it replaced (as your scheduling won't work). Plus as with all cloud-based services, if their servers have a outage it's not going to work either.

Hand-in-hand with the normal disadvantages of all cloud-based services is the possibility of them going out of business, or simply switching the servers off, and you being left with an expensive paperweight. You'd think it shouldn't happen what with them being owned by BG parent company - but they've already done it in North America, and they're already shutting down non-thermostat services here in the UK later this year (cameras, leak sensors etc) so who knows. Certainly wouldn't be where my money went with that kind of form!

On paper Nest should be awful (and it is, if you use the "intelligent" features) but if you just want something basic & mega-reliable to schedule the heating and/or manually control it via your phone, it actually works great. I've had it in my work premises for 10 years or so (more possibly) and had literally zero problems over that time (which is fairly incredible for smart tech)

Tado gets a lot of praise, but it isn't (out of the box) a fully local solution, and there was a lot of fuss over on the Tado reddit a few weeks back as there were rumours (based on certain users receiving emails) about them bringing in a monthly charge to use the app which obviously upset a few people. That aside, apparently it works well.

(There's also rumblings about a "Premium" paid-for Alexa service (think they're trialling that in the US now?) which is inevitable I think but something to bear in mind if using it to connect to other smart tech. I'm sure initially they'll bundle it in with Prime but doubtless it'll become a separate subscription at some point.)

I have Drayton Wiser, which bar a few niggles with the hardware (which I think have been sorted now) I've been happy with. The main reason I went with it is it's an out-of-the-box fully local (i.e. not cloud/internet dependent) solution & works great with Home Assistant.

Happy with hive here. (Heating, bulbs, plugs, motion sensor, door open sensor) 

we use schedule and the boost functions on heating (and holiday mode)

I have a open sensor on the garage door. 

outside light is on at sunset off on schedule.

We use hive  plugs on a variety of lights and things , did go through the novelty of turning the kettle on from bed.

only integration with Alexa is lights off (turns all inside house light off)

Has got a few actions that allows very basic ‘programming’   (I believe I could turn an alarm on if the garage door opens after 10 at night etc or ditto with motion sensor. 

Can get its knickers in a twist if internet fails/goes away but been very reliable

Hive works fine here. Maybe the best technological advancement of the 21st century is being able to make sure the house is warm for when you get back from being out. 🙂 

18° too hot ?

SWMBO will switch the boost on if it goes down to 18 !

I've tried the whole put a jumper on talk, but it just falls on deaf ears ( cold ones apparently ) 🙄 

To be clear:

I have a Hive thermostat, a Hive hub and presumably something Hivey receiving within the boiler.

At this point in time I don't care about schedules (which is a whole other complaint), I want "on" and "off" to preset temperatures.  Which it seems wholly incapable of doing.  I've just rebooted everything and it's going "20, then?" again.

Are you sure the “Frost protection “ isn’t set to 20??

The main problem is, there are three independent points of failure - the internet connection (which is a permanent requirement) and the connection to the Hive doobrie itself. If you lose either of these, you'll end up with something less functional than the dumb thermostat it replaced (as your scheduling won't work). Plus as with all cloud-based services, if their servers have a outage it's not going to work either.

That’s not correct, if the Internet goes off all you lose is the ability to control it via the app, all the scheduling etc is stored on the thermostat and it’s all connected to its own mesh network via the Hive hub. If you lose the Internet you can still control your heating/hw via the thermostat itself. 

Posted by: oceanskipper

↑

Are you sure the “Frost protection “ isn’t set to 20??

Yeah.  If it's in Frost Protection mode (more commonly known as "off" to normal people) it sets itself to 7'C and shows a snowflake on the thermostat display.

I want "on" and "off" to preset temperatures.  Which it seems wholly incapable of doing.

In their defence they designed to the 99% not the 1. That market was already covered by the dumb thermostat. 

I refuse to believe that on and off is functionality not required by 99% of Hive users.

The most important thing is to make sure that the thermostat is in the room that you want the target temperature to be at and that you don't have a TRV on the nearest radiator.

@cougar - so if you go to this screen and select off it goes to 20?

No he’s saying when you turn it on it goes to 20. He wants it to go to 18 without fiddling each time.

i don’t know why I’m getting involved 

This seems to be describing the same problem you are having - which does sound like a bug / feature.

Your best bet is probably to create a dummy schedule (e.g. 7c all day, every day) and then use the boost feature to bump the temperature as required. If you Boost it in the app you can adjust the max boost temperature which it then remembers for next time (including for Alexa).

Alexa, set the heating to 18 degrees.

Posted by: oceanskipper

↑

Hive is great, Nest is rubbish. Nest tries to be too clever and turns off if it detects no movement for example so if it’s in a room with little traffic it’s a pain. 

@oceanskipper - you can turn this feature off. We did with ours.

On the main Nest Page (the blue one that says Home or Away with the thermostat displayed underneath) select the settings cog, then "Home/Away Assist" and then "What decides if you're home"

Under "products" it will have your named thermostat & you can set this to 'no' so it won't use the activity sensor in the thermostat to decide if you are home or not.

i don’t know why I’m getting involved 

this

but doesn't it have an "away" mode or similar you can activate rather than literally just turning it off? Otherwise kind of stumped about what you're trying to achieve.

I don't understand why you're stumped, I didn't think it was complicated.  I want to be able to turn the heating on and off.  When on, I want the thermostat set to a temperature which isn't 20 sodding degrees.

The old system had a mechanical timer with those clicky little pegs and a control switch which could be on/timer/off.  The thermostat was a wireless analogue dial upstairs.  It was ideal.  When the timer died I replaced it like-for-like rather than a more advanced digital one as I have no need for different schedules on different days, it's just as cold on Tuesdays as it is on Thursdays.

Posted by: shinton

↑

Alexa, set the heating to 18 degrees.

That's all well and good for me, but I'm trying to prevent my partner from bankrupting us and she's the sort of person who would think it's a bit chilly, set it to 30' so that it "warmed up faster" then go out for the morning leaving it on.

Posted by: Simon

↑

This seems to be describing the same problem you are having - which does sound like a bug / feature.

It's exactly this, yes.

I don't understand why you're stumped, I didn't think it was complicated.  I want to be able to turn the heating on and off.  When on, I want the thermostat set to a temperature which isn't 20 sodding degrees.

what I'm saying is, can't you just put the Hive into "away" mode rather than turning it off? Then when you put it into "home" mode again, it'll go back to what it was before (maybe) rather than defaulting to 20.

What bits do you have ? Are you using ?

Presumably

hub (connected to router)

receiver (connected to boiler)

thermostat (Round stick out dial or old flatter one with buttons )

Hive app (* what mode is it in, manual, schedule or off) , do you have a schedule set up, have you got any automation /actions set up) 

Alexa app (*have you got any automation set up)

how do you turn the heating on ?
- via app

- via alexa

- via thermostat 

Oooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

https://www.reddit.com/r/HiveHeating/comments/104cuy8/homekit_temperature_always_starts_at_20c/?rdt=44072

set a schedule up 

This reminds me of threads where Cougar gets exasperated at people who refuse engage with tech at a basic level and then moan that the tech is rubbish! 😁😁

You've said that you don't want to set a schedule - fair enough. That means that for Hive, you need to put up with changing the temperature when you turn it off then back on. 

Or just go through the (really, really easy) process of setting up a schedule ONCE and then never worry about it again. Turn off and on to your heart's content, safe in the knowledge that it will then be set to the temperature you set in your schedule. Happy days. 

Posted by: scc999

↑

Turn off and on to your heart's content, safe in the knowledge that it will then be set to the temperature you set in your schedule.

Not according to that link above.  I'll try it.

I'll double check mine does what I've confidently stated above when I get home!

So rarely actually turn it off though, I just rely on the schedule.....

Yeah, putting aside Hive potentially having a major bug, I don't really understand the turning on/off thing.

Not a Hive user, but whole point of a smart system is that you never need to worry about that. Geolocation turns it off if you are out. Thermostat turns if off it it's already warm enough.

Posted by: towzer

↑

What bits do you have ? Are you using ?

Presumably

hub (connected to router)

receiver (connected to boiler)

thermostat (Round stick out dial or old flatter one with buttons )

Hive app (* what mode is it in, manual, schedule or off) , do you have a schedule set up, have you got any automation /actions set up) 

Alexa app (*have you got any automation set up)

how do you turn the heating on ?
- via app

- via alexa

- via thermostat 

Hub wired into a wireless bridge in the bedroom (it was too crap to connect when the hub was downstairs and I moved the thermostat upstairs to where the old one was); receiver inside the boiler presumably, I have no way of knowing without taking it to bits; thermostat (google would suggest it's the "Mini" one, big silver knob and touch controls rather than buttons).  I have no reason to suspect a connectivity issue.  And yes, I have turned it all off and back on again. 😁

The app is installed but I've barely looked at it.  I think I wiped off what seemed like ten thousand preinstalled schedules and set up one to rule them all, but I'll need to return to it to check exactly once my phone is charged.  This shouldn't matter as it's in manual mode, I'm not using schedules (though of course, "shouldn't" doesn't mean that it won't...)

When I say "off," it isn't actually off off because gods forbid that any 21st Century appliance would do that, rather it goes into an anti-freeze mode which is 7' and shows a big snowflake on the display instead of a target temperature.

Control is via Alexa.  There are no routines, I'll worry about that when I have basic functionality.  You can also control it manually via the thermostat but neither I nor my partner want my partner to be buggering about with that.  It's taken me the best part of three years to get her to understand the "auto" setting on the climate control in the car rather than me being blasted backwards out of my seat by the Fires of Mordor after she's been driving it.  This is what boils my piss, I specifically told both the guy servicing the old boiler and the subsequent other guy and young lass installing the new one that I didn't want anything complicated because whilst I love my partner dearly she is a luddite.  The first I knew about them installing a Hive system was when the installer's Padawan asked me where my router was.

Alexa turn the heating to 18

Alexa turn the heating to 12

That's what I do with mine

Posted by: timmys

↑

Thermostat turns if off it it's already warm enough.

No.  The thermostat turns if off when it's too warm.  That's literally the whole point of this thread.  I want to be able to say "turn the heating on" and it turns the heating on to a predefined temperature that I've set rather than one it's made up.  This should not be tall order.  I genuinely and sincerely appreciate that you're trying to help but I swear some people have browsers set to write-only. 😁

I've seen the geolocation thing.  I'm not sure as it'd work for us, I'd need to give that some actual thought before implementing it.

Posted by: imnotamused

↑

Alexa turn the heating to 18

Alexa turn the heating to 12

That's what I do with mine

Yes, but again, as soon as she realises this is possible it'll be "Alexa, set the heating to Gas Mark 6" and I'm trying to save money (and sweat).

sounds like a dead man switch required. 

Set a routine in Alexa. When you say "alexa turn the heating on" get it to follow a routine with the instruction "alexa turn heating to 18 degrees". That way you look like a winner and she's none the wiser.

I can't even find scheduling in the app now.  Hateful bloody thing.

Posted by: pocpoc

↑

Set a routine in Alexa. When you say "alexa turn the heating on" get it to follow a routine with the instruction "alexa turn heating to 18 degrees".

Oh, that's genius, if it works!  Why didn't I think of that?  Fool of a Took.

It works!

You absolute legend, I owe you a pint.

Good to hear. I've yet to find much of a use for routines beyond a smart plug that turns the Christmas Tree lights on an off at a certain time. 

Posted by: pocpoc

↑

I've yet to find much of a use for routines beyond a smart plug that turns the Christmas Tree lights on an off at a certain time. 

I do this also.  I routed what felt like half a mile of fairy lights around the house one Christmas.  It took half a day of hammering in pins and cable clips.  After Christmas I thought "I'm ****ed if I'm taking them down just to hang them all back up again in several months' time" so they've stayed up year-round.  They're on a smart plug which is on a Routine, left to its own devices (no pun intended) they come on at dusk and go off at dawn.

The other Routine which is invaluable is "Alexa, goodnight."  This shuts down every smart thing in the house.  Lights, plugs, TV, and now the heating as well.