After collective views on a standard smart thermostat ahead of the winter. Appreciate a few threads on this focused on hive/tado/nest but these control all radiators or track movements and cost over £100. That isn’t saving money… This just needs to set the timer and turn the heating on and off remotely.

The house is often empty for couple days at a time on an irregular cycle due to work.

Gas combi boiler, no hot water tank and the thermostat and controller are currently one single combined unit.

Amazon have a few options for around £50 which promise to control a combi boiler and have an app. Any experience of these or similar products that aren’t the equivalent of an Apple PC or T5 transporters…

CeX frequently have Nest thermostats for about £60. That’s what I’d go for. You might need to have a think about how the wiring ia aet up on your boiler though and grab some Wago connectors to do the job.

Check also to see if your boiler manufacturer makes one and look on eBay. If it gives modulating control it’ll be worth paying somewhat more in the long run.

Hive thermostats are about £50 if you buy in bulk/wait for the sale. Tied into hive though… It’s not all about cost though, it’s doing your bit if you can afford it. That said, it’s getting more economical given energy prices…

2nd hand good shout, thanks. Hive / Nest seem to need heat link / hubs in addition to the unit itself. Both over £150 new at moment and something tells me won’t be getting cleared down on black Friday this year.

Also interested in any links to sites / forums on homebrew, raspberry pi type options if that’s a thing by now.

I’ve not got a lot of experience with Hive, but Nest is rubbish, not smart at all, well unless you want it to turn your heating on randomly because you once did it at 3pm on a Thursday…….
I use Drayton Wiser now which seems to be much better and expandable, usually able to get kit 1 for about £100.

The things that homebrewers use (Inkbird?) might work, but the PIDs are really designed for things like industrial use and might not be ideal for what you want. Yes, they would be cheaper, but you would still have to wire them up and that’s going to come with its own challenges.

Also, they would look shit.

but Nest is rubbish, not smart at all

Whilst I agree with this, one thing it’s fine at is being remotely controlled (the OP’s requirement) as it’s about the only thing I use mine for these days

The things that homebrewers use (Inkbird?) might work, but the PIDs are really designed for things like industrial use and might not be ideal for what you want. Yes, they would be cheaper, but you would still have to wire them up and that’s going to come with its own challenges.

Also, they would look shit.

No they wouldn’t*, they’re the same as the round white dial type thermostat, just digital. There’s nothing smart about them.

*be smart, unless your wall is deep enough for a DIN rail I’m not sure how you’d install it anywhere you could see it anyway

Does anybody actually keep the Nest “auto learn” function turned on? It’s pretty easy to set a routine manually, and it avoids it randomly messing with the routine in stupid ways.

We have a Nest, it looks very fancy but the main reason I bought it – so it can turn the heating off when we’re not there – just doesn’t work very well. It’s meant to be able to tell from your phone whether you’re in or not, but it’s at best flakey and at worst just completely nonfunctional.

I have Tado, and it works well once it’s set up. Have a look at the Tado refurb store refurbished

tado does the geofencing stuff, remote access, demand for single rads if you only want one room to heat, scheduling is pretty intuitive, it talks to alexa if you’re so lazy you can’t be bothered to pick up your phone you can just tell it to turn up, or down, the temperature.

I’ve bought a few rad thermostats from the refurb store there, to add additional rooms onto the initial setup I bought, and they’re as new as far as I can see.

CeX frequently have Nest thermostats for about £60. That’s what I’d go for.

yeah, don’t think you’re going to find much cheaper than that. Nest is super basic compared to others but if you literally just want to be able to remotely adjust the temperature or turn it on/off it works perfectly.

Also interested in any links to sites / forums on homebrew, raspberry pi type options if that’s a thing by now.

google has loads of hits with DIY options, unless you really want a project I would defo save myself the hassle though & just buy something off-the-shelf that is a known, working solution!

The Wiser is app based too