Our current central heating system has normal TRV’s downstairs (open plan and where the Hive thermostat is located) and dumb open/shut valves in the bedrooms.

This has been fine since we moved in and not been worth the while draining the system to fit TRV’s. However this week one of the actuators has developed a leak, so drain down is needed.

Whilst I’m at it, I want to fit TRV’s to the upstairs 3 bedrooms – two of which are currently spare and unused. In the not too distant future we’re likely to start a family.

Questing being, getting a 5 rad hive smart TRV system is £200 versus £30 for 3 normal TRV’s. Are the hive smart TRV’s worth the premium over normal TRV’s, bearing in mind we already have a hive thermostat system? Whilst my wife & I prefer a cool bedroom, I think babies are a bit soft and would prefer a warmer room? On the face of it, the ability to heat just the one room to a specific temperature during the night would be beneficial…

Thanks

I have swapped out a standard trv and put on the Hive one. The hive unit replaces the top of an existing one. The batteries need regularly changing like the Ring to the point I’ve just left it without batteries for now.
I guess if the whole house was done I might invest in more time to get it working. I’m not convinced with the robustness of the hive system here with the intermittent connection to lightbulbs.

Can’t answer the actual question but

I think babies are a bit soft and would prefer a warmer room?

Actually the opposite, I mean of course it depends what you think is cool but better to keep their rooms cool and use an appropriate TOG ‘gro-bag’

https://www.pampers.co.uk/baby/sleep/article/baby-sleep-temperature

https://gro.co.uk/product/grobag-baby-sleep-bag/

I’ve had the Hive valves for about the last year and a half in five bedrooms and two downstairs rooms. Have only had to change the batteries once in that time probably after just under a years use. Have found it to be very reliable and easy to set up.
We use it exactly as designed, to heat the rooms being used at different times of the day. With three teenagers there bedrooms are heated more of the time whilst our bedroom is left off during the day. All timed according to whether they were in the house or at college.
Easy to alter things on the fly using the app. ie if one room is a little cold boost that room for an hour or so without heating the rest of the house.
My one criticism would be they’re not particularly attractively designed.

I have swapped out a standard trv and put on the Hive one. The hive unit replaces the top of an existing one

Ah, so the hive is just the head. Which replaces the head of a trv. This is a dry job.
So, OP, you’ll need to do the drain down and replace the lock shield valves with trv’s, then you can make your mind up about swapping the heads for hives later.

you can make your mind up about swapping the heads for hives later.

Nice one, kick the can down the road and save me £270 for play money in the process. That’s what I call a result.

Cheers!