Smart Heating Controls

[Midwest]

I've a mate who's having an extension done to his property, and he's going to replace his aging boiler etc. He was thinking of using some of the new smart/intelligent heating controls, like Wave, Nest, Hive etc. Integration into an existing system aside, what are your views on these products? Are they any better than convention controls (other than turning on your heating form a mobile). What feedback have you had from customers.

 

[londonfire]

I have nest and wouldn't recommend it.
The signal always drops out so it appears off line a lot. The learning feature doesn't take into account the outside temperature to adjust itself on a particularly cold day.

It's missing functions like boost if you only want an extra bit of heating for a few hours.

I will say they look very good though.
If I was buying again I would have brought hive or had I run 5core cable in I would have purchased wave to go with the new boiler as it needs hard wiring.

 

[Octopus]

I have the Salus IT 500 and like it. I've also installed this for clients....

 

[dansk]

I've done a number heatmiser neo, I'm not sure the physical temperature control is any better than any other thermostat, but the app makes life convientant and with geo-location will turn your heating on or off depending on the distance from home = useful. Easy to use and set up.

 

[Midwest]

Thanks chaps. The aside bit now. Never having installed any of these, can they be used in an existing system (such as S plan) and use existing wiring, i.e. the 4 different control points, thermostat, programmer, boiler & zone valves? Take it that the thermostat & programmer are combined.

 

[Octopus]

The Salus IT 500 replaces the controller and the room stat - so yes you can "use" the majority of the wiring. You can download the installation instructions from their site. Don't for get the customer needs broadband / a router for the salus RF device to plug into .