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After all the work on our house we’re just about to have athermostat fitted, which makes me wonder what to go for.

I wondered if anyone has any recommendations of what to fit?

Modern ones feel like they’ll age very fast, and an old fashioned dial or digital one feels like I might be missing a trick.

have you considered Nest or hive or something like that?

Got the nest and I'm very happy with it

In all seriousness, what is the point of a smart thermostat? Just don't see the need to be able to turn my heating on or off remotely tbh. Is there some other benefit I'm missing?

mainly it was free with the gas company.

the problem it solved for me was that our boiler is in the garage, and the wireless thermostat range was shit, and when it lost connectivity the hearing defaults to off..

with this, if the internet is down you can still use the boilers wireless receiver ...

I frequently employ the same technique in my house.

:)

They’ve crossed my mind. I’d likely avoid Nest, because I don’t want Google knowing even more about me.


What are the benefits you’ve noticed?


Apparently using location tracking on your phone, it can monitor when you’re coming home and warm the house according to it’s learned knowledge of your preferences. It’ll also turn off heating as you leave.

Personally I’m reluctant to give Google knowledge of my movements.

I’ve also read it can learn how long it takes to warm the house so it can reach a desired temp at a desired time, such as 22 degrees for 06:00. This saves it being on for an hour before you wake up on an old system and can instead make it come on 10 mins prior to waking If it learns it takes that long.

I can see the benefit of the final point, but will it save me much money on an annual basis? I imagine not.

Hmm, they both sound fairly marginal benefits over just an old-fashioned timer (and occasionally getting off my fat ass and manually flicking the heating on) tbh. But maybe I'm missing the point

I think all of that sort of stuff, smart meters etc, is being pushed by energy and tech companies for the information they can gather about you. As described, the benefits are pretty trivial but the information about your movements and consumption at home are what they are really after.

the only good thing about smart meters is you don't have to read them! no more estimating.

other than that you can guess what your big hitting electrical/gas items are

oh, and I can't believe they aren't standardised. what idiot thought pushing them out before they were was a good idea? change supplier.. change meter.. Doh.

I'm not always at home at set times, so I'm not wasting money heating when im not there.  It will automatically no I'm not in and won't heat all evening.

Also I can make the house warm if im going to be back early, if you are always in at a set time then it probably won't save you much.

Just to bump this we have just had a new boiler fitted, at present we just have the boiler but have been thinking about on of these nest/hive things, plumber doesn't seem to have a fucking clue, are they easy to fit and how do they talk to the boiler etc?

Any suggestions?

You get two cans and a very long piece of string  :)

cosy - (similar style product), only used it for heating as combi boiler so water is on demand.

Fitting - someone did it for us as part of the deal!

3 (or more) boxes:-

1. A box placed with the boiler. This is wired into the boiler somehow and is powered from the boiler. This is a receiver and overrides the normal thermostats call (on off) for heating.

2. Wireless themostat(s) - just need plugging into the mains. No doubt there is some kind of pairing up needed if you add extras.

3. Wireless control box. This needs plugging into the mains and ethernet connecting into the router. This is the bit that receives from the themostat or via internet and tells the boiler what to do.

Sorry can't be more specific. I guess nest/hive are similar and I have no idea how the water/multi zone heating stuff works as we have a very simple system.

Ta, ours is the same sort of thing with a combi boiler on demand water, will have a speak to the sparky and see if he has an idea?

You can buy them with installation included (not shopped for best price, just e.g)

https://store.nest.com/uk/product/thermostat/T3028GBBI

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Home-Kitchen/Hive-Heating-Thermostat-Professional-Installation/B011B3J6F4/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1544177938&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=hive+with+installation&psc=1

Your problem there is that technically the sparky needs to be Gas Safe registered to remove the boiler cover and wire in the receiver.

To bump this we went with a Nest and its been great so far (sparky has a mate who is a Gas Safe and they sorted it between them).

Now getting constant emails from suppliers about going over to smart meters, apart from not having to read the bloody thing is there any benefit or cons, an internet search seems to lead to lots of elderly men with tin foil hats being terrified of them?

I keep getting stuff on having a smart meter fitted.... my take is that I already keep my usage to a minimum, by the simple process of, for example, turning on the heat when it is cold, turning on the lights, in the room I'm in, when it is dark etc.

So a case of if it's not broken...

Correct, had nothing but trouble from ours, only worked when it wanted to,  ok when it did though,  but do you need something to tell you you're using more electricity when the kettles on than it is when it's off ?.   Electric bill seemed to increase,  not sure if this had anything to do with the meter had it investigated but as always 'we can find no fault' was the result,  so last time it went off we didn't bother to report it, can't say as we miss it.