Hive Active Heating and Hot Water Thermostat Without Professional Installation-Works with Amazon Alexa

I had previously purchased a Drayton Wiser control as this had wireless TRVs. However I had soooo many problems with it such as signal strength, programming, lack of Google Home compatibility, I ended up returning it. I had previously looked at Hive so despite some bad reviews, bit the bullet and ordered it. Self install option. Given that I had a standard back plate it was very simple to install. I had to link out my fixed thermostat but that's not hard. If you have rudimentary electrical skills - you really won't have a problem installing it. The hub setup was quick and simple as was the controller and thermostat. The only slight issue was mine had a registration card with a scratch off panel. It advises you to phone the number shown with the uncovered code. However, the phone number was no longer in operation! As it turns out, you don't need this at all so unclear what that was all about. You can register your hub online and that was straight forward too. Once installed, it works really well. I have a long house so was concerned about signal strength given some of the reviews. However, no problems at all. Pretty much full signal. The thermostat is a pleasure to use and is very functional and intuitive. The app is a little clunky but works very well. Google Home works well. There doesn't seem to be a published list of commands you can use but again, fairly intuitive. ie: set the heating to 21, or turn on the hot water. Hive tell me they are going to update their website with GH command soon. All in all, very please and I'd recommend this product.

I bought this product via Amazon. Thermostat, Hub and Service Box and had it professionally fitted, as per the instructions. My immediate next door neighbour bought his Hive at the same time but bought his at Screwfix. It all worked fine until about 3 weeks ago when I returned home after a couple of days away, to find that the system was “offline” and wouldn’t connect or run from the thermostat. I went into the restart procedure on the App, then went through it again and went through it again, I chatted with my neighbour and he was having the same problems with his system. So, having failed to get it working, I then contacted the customer service on the 0333 number and ended up with a call centre in South Africa, talking to a young lady whose first language was definitely, not English. A difficult 50 minutes then ensued which culminated in a still failed system. However, I could operate my central heating by pushing the button on the service box. By the next morning,the system had still not restarted and I went through the restart procedure again, 3 times, all to no avail. I then contacted the call centre again and went through another agonising 50 minutes with a young man whose first language again, was not English. By now, tempers were becoming frayed and a sense of humour failure was on the cards. By the time we had finished, I requested to talk to a Supervisor, but told there wasn’t one available. So I recorded a complaint, but my system still wasn’t working. I went through a third frustrating day of a 50 minute call to the 0333 number and recorded another complaint. But still my system wasn’t working and my neighbour was having the same problem as me. The call centre had not returned my call or registered my complaint. I then waited 3 days, operating my system by pressing the central heating button on the service box. Eventually, I received a call back from the Supervisor and we went through the reboot procedure again. But, this was their call, so I was little more tolerant, but not by much. That day culminated in my system being suspended, while they did some remote work on the hub. 24 hours later, I received another call from the same lady who confirmed that the Hub had been a fault from the outset, resulting in a failure of communication between The Hub, The Thermostat and The Service Box. We went through a complete reboot and the system fired up, including connecting with my Alexa. As a matter of fact, my neighbours system connected without him having to make a call, which suggests that our systems were linked through the Hive server. Both systems are working fine and so far, we have not had any further problems. The system, when it works is brilliant. I can’t fault it and the convenience of using it via an App or Alexa is brilliant. My only gripe is the Customer Service Centre based in South Africa and no option to talk to an English operator or connect with an call centre based in UK. The 3 x 50 minute phone calls cost me £65 and I have not received any offer from Hive to offset that cost. So, by all means, go ahead and buy the equipment. I can’t fault it, when it’s working. However, keep your fingers crossed that it doesn’t fail and you’re forced to call “ The Call Centre” 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫. If you’re forced to call them, take a big dose of “sense of humour”, because you will need it. Ciao ciao 4 Now.

Only 3 days in, but so far the system is performing faultlessly and is so much easier to use and adjust than my previous programmable thermostat. Remote control via 3G phone has also worked OK, as have notifications in the Android App when away from home to suggest turning down the heating. There was an initial hiccup during setup: the unit was inexplicably set to standalone operation, so the 'search' did not find anything. If you are doing self-install make sure that the receiver has a distinctly amber Status light when powered up. If you've not fitted one before you could (like me) not realise for a while that the pinkish coloured Status light is 'white'. Otherwise, provided you have a standard backplate behind your old programmer, self-install is a breeze. My old programmer was mounted immediately below the boiler, which in theory can cause a problem with the signal strength (a 30cm separation is recommended). Not wishing to move the wiring I've gone with it as-is, and so far had no signal issues. If you have a room stat in your system there are some choices to make. The standard advice for a simple 2-wire stat would be to remove it and either join the wires safely (to simulate the stat being 'on') or to change the wiring at the receiver backplate to remove the thermostat loop. Because my digital room stat (which was in the hall and too near the kitchen) has a nice temperature display I decided to join the two wires at one of the stat terminals and leave it in place to display the temperature in the hallway. This also has the advantage that it can quickly be brought back into use if the Hive system plays up or is removed. The Hive stat is now in the Lounge and giving much better control. UPDATE After almost 2 months of use I'm still very happy with the device. I've had just one occasion when the receiver lost contact with the rest of the system (red light instead of green) and the only (but easy) way to restore service was to remove one battery from the Thermostat and replace it, thus re-booting the system. There are complaints about geolocation not turning the heating on and off automatically, but this would be tricky where there is more than one person resident, and also not much use if popping out for a short period.