Hive Heating Special – Hive Thermostat Mini & Hive Radiator Valves Review

The Hive Thermostat Mini is the latest addition to your smart heating set up but can smart heating save you money?

 

Energy prices have been providing families across the UK with major concerns with many of us looking for ways to save money on our bills so why not consider smart hearting with brands the main brands out there such as Nest & Hive along with brands offering smart thermostats such as Honeywell, Drayton, Tado, Genius & Wunda.

In this review, we have had the opportunity to have hive heating installed in my home and got the chance to test Hive’s new Thermostat Mini which comes with the Hive Receiver & Hive Hub for the cost of £119 with a pro installation costing £99. We were also provided with some Hive Radiator Valves which cost £54.

 

Why Hive Heating?

 

Hive heating makes your home more energy efficient and as a result, helps you save money. When you set up hive smart devices you can automate your home to make things simple. 

 

The key benefits of Hive include: 

• One App for everything from heating to lighting

• Smart home compatibility 

• Ease of use.  

• Switch your heating on/off from anywhere

• Geolocation reminders

• Automatic frost protection

• Instant alerts when something not working and troubleshooting to help fix the issue. 

 

First Impressions

 

I recently visited the Hive stand at this year’s Ideal Home Show where they have both the Hive Thermostat and Hive Thermostat Mini. Apart from the mini actually being cheaper than the older Hive Thermostat. The Mini is smaller and does not have the protruding buttons and knob instead it has gone completely touch screen.

Now when you purchase the Hive thermostat mini there are two essential products that come with it the Hive Hub & Hive Receiver now if you already have the Hive hub then the Hive receiver and thermostat mini will cost you £59.

Now as mentioned British Gas also offer an instal service for £99 now unless you are a gas engineer this extra cost is vital.  When we had the engineer attend to our home they disconnected the old thermostat and connected the receiver unit to the boiler and then also hook up the hub to our wireless router, installed the thermostat mini and also installed the provided hive radiator valves (TRV) more on that later in the review.  

Design/Build

The Hive thermostat mini was awarded Which? Best Buy Smart Thermostat July 2022 and it’s not hard to see why. The device itself is smaller than the original model coming in at 85 x 22 x 85 mm and comes with a colour display that has a mirrored front plate.

Under the digital display, there are three touch control buttons. Taping on the centre O button allows you to adjust the target temperature using the up and down buttons and it also lets you switch the heating on/off and put your heating into schedule mode.

 

The thermostat mini is powered by 4x AAA batteries meaning you do not need to be concerned about the thermostat being near the mains. The hive mini can also be mounted to a wall or you can purchase the Hive Mini Stand if you want to keep it on your coffee table. 

The main difference between the Hive thermostat and thermostat mini is the larger model allows you to create a schedule on the thermostat itself and tap a button on the top edge of the thermostat to switch the boost mode on. Now you can do all of that with the mini but via the app, when I spoke to the team at the ideal home show we agreed that the thermostat mini due to the fact it’s more reliant on the app is ideally better for a younger consumer where the larger model more suitable for a more senior consumer.  

The Hive App

The Hive app is vital when you use the thermostat mini as it allows you to boost your heating. The app also allows you to control your heating regardless of where you are either at home or if you want to warm the home up when you are on the way back from work.  

 

The app also lets you set up schedules and these can be as simple as switching the heating to the whole house or more complicated such as setting up slots when the heat goes on and when it is switched off you can even set up a target temperature. You can even set up a plan for the week that will just continue until you make a change.

To maximise the functionality of the app you really need to be using Hive smart radiator valves which also allow you to put the heating on in individual rooms and keep temperature targets for each room. The only downfall is the cost they are £54 each although you can purchase a multipack depending on the size of your home you can find this to be a very expensive operation.   

 

Hive Radiator Valves

 

What really does make your Hive heating smart and energy efficient are the Hive thermostatic radiator valves (TRV). The benefit of using these is you can adjust the temperature of each room and allowing you to save energy in rooms that are unused. We have one set up in the nursery as we have a new baby on the way and will want to monitor the temperature in that room and keep the newborn warm. 

The TRV can be purchased either on the Hive website directly or via Amazon. Now in terms of costs Hive charges £54 per valve or there are multiple purchase discounts for example 5 for £199. Now Hive has also introduced purchasing refurbished models for a 10% discount. The returned values have been tested fully and are “Good as New” and still come with the same 1-year guarantee. The benefit is you are gaining great value and stopping perfectly good products from going to waste.

First Impressions/Design

When the TRV arrives inside the box you are provided with the following:

• Radiator valve
• 2 x valve body adaptors (M30 and Danfoss RA)
• Hex key
• Adaptor guide
• 2 x AA batteries
• User guide

 

In terms of design, the TRVs are very modern looking that comes in which and are made of plastic with a small LED display and a small button below. The display offers information such as room temperature, battery life and signal strength. 

The size of the TRVs is not overly large either coming in at 93.9mm x 54.9mm and only weighs 134g. The main benefit of the TRV is it will provide you with the exact temperature which will result in not using any unnecessary heat being used.

How do they work? 

 

The TVR controls the flow of hot water into a single radiator. They can be set to open at temperatures lower than the desired home temperature or stay closed once that target temperature has been reached. You can also set up the TVR to be scheduled to reach certain temperatures at certain times. 

 

They help you save energy as you can via the app schedule heating in each room. So if you have a room that is not used as much you do not need to heat that room at the same time as more actively used rooms resulting in saving a considerable amount of energy and money saved. 

There is also a feature called heat on demand what this does is allow you to set your thermostat low without sacrificing comfort. They will automatically turn on when the heating is needed in the said room to bring the temperature back up so the room stays warm.  This will happen outside of your selected schedules and the TVR will inform the thermostat to provide a boost for a 30 min period. 

Installation 

 

We were lucky that when the British Gas engineer came to install the Hive heating this was one of the jobs he did for the majority of TVRs we had. However, since then I have invested in some additional ones for the rest of the house and installation is a painless procedure that only takes about 10 minutes to install. 

 

First up the Hive app will guide you through the installation process step by step including selecting the right adaptor. The app will tell you to first remove the old radiator valve this was done simply by unscrewing the valve ring.  

 

The next step is to install the batteries in the TVR to do this you need to press down the tab on the side of the casing that will remove the outer body.

Then insert the 2x AA batteries and then replace the casing and line up the window with the display you will hear a click when it’s in place and an M symbol will appear to indicate the next steps.  

Then simply screw the TVR into your radiator and rotate clockwise till you feel a click. You may have to rotate the casing back so you can see the display. The app will then allows you to set up the final steps of installation for example naming the location. 

 

Once installed via the app you need to start calibration where it will learn the optimum opening point of the valve. Basically, you need to take up to 2 hours for the radiator to warm up and the TRV to learn the optimum opening point. Expect a full calibration to take a few days to complete but could be longer depending on the weather. 

 

Also on the app you can set the temperature for each radiator as well as create a schedule and also link it to actions, for example, open the door and the Hive Sensor gives the radiator a quick boost and also switches a light on.

 

The app also has a manual mode for each TRV that will heat the room until it reaches your target temperature. There the heat will remain until you turn off the manual mode. We preferred to use the schedule mode as this manual mode could end up costing us more in unnecessary energy used.

There is also a boost mode that allows you to turn on the heating for a period of time. This feature is useful if you have a wife like me that is always cold it will give the room that short-term boost. The bonus of using the boost is it will switch off the heating after that set period of time.

Finally, the app when you select a TRV you can switch it off and this will not heat the home but Hive does provide frost protection which is set at 7C by default. If it’s a very cold day Hive will automatically activate your heating until the frost protection temperature is reached.   

Are they worth the investment? 

 

The TVR provide the offering of automated heating and the ability to control everything with either your phone via the app or even the use of your smart home assistant. 

 

We have TRVs on all 9 radiators in the house but we don’t have one fitted on the towel rail. When you put the heating on in one room for example the towel rail will also come in this is not a deal breaker but will use extra heating. 

 

Battery life in the TVR is expected to be 12 months we have not been using them long so I can’t say for certain but Hive predicts this period of time plus if you do not illuminate the LED display your likely to get a longer battery life.  If you need to check the battery life simply press the button under the display on the TVR.

Overall, we have only been using these TVR for a short period of time but have noticed a small saving as we have more control over the heating in the house. I expect a larger saving and can’t even do a comparison from March 2022 to March 2023 as the cost per unit of gas increased so we would not get a precise comparison. I will be interested to see how things go over the next 12 months. 

 

I found the Hive TVR offer the chance to plan your heating and also allows you to heat particular rooms giving you greater control. My only negative is the cost of the Hive TVR its very expensive especially when you buy multiple devices. However, when you make the purchase over a period of time it should provide you savings on your heating cost. 

Performance

 

We have had Hive Heating set up since the end of February and have been very happy with its performance. I am pleased with the overall design of the thermostat mini but considering most of what we did from turning on/off the heating and starting a boost is all done via the app it brings the question do we really need the thermostat. 

 

It’s useful if we have family staying in the house and want to put the heating on but do not have access to the app apart from that when we are staying in the home we generally just used the app. 

 

Hive Heating in general especially with the use of the radiator valves creates a multi-zone heating system that ensures you never run the heating when it does not require it. However, there is room for improvement as we move into the summer months the thermostat does not adjust automatically due to the weather or your habits at home which is something the Nest thermostat does do. 

Smart Home Functionality 

 

The Hive thermostat mini is also fully compatible with your smart home interface and works with the likes of Alexa, and Google Assistant and also provides support for IFTTT so you can set up complex automation with the use of additional accessories like the Hive Sensors, Plugs and lights. There is also a Geolocation which if you leave the house but forget to switch the heating off will do it for you.

 

 

There is also an upgrade to the app called Heating Plus which provides the user with heating trends and efficiency monitoring which tracks how quickly your home gets to the target temperature and provides an alert if it happens slower than normal. The Heating Plus option also allows you to keep an eye on spending by setting a budget tracker. If you decide to add Heating Plus to your system it will cost an extra £3.99 a month 

Hive Thermostat Mini & Hive Radiator Valve Verdict

 

The Hive Mini is an effective smart thermostat and it works very well, especially with the Hive app which acts as the control centre for the thermostat and Hive TVR’s. I was very impressed with how you could link this to your smart home set-up and also set up complex automations.

 

The Hive thermostat mini is designed for more of a younger audience due to the use of the app and cost wise it’s one of the cheapest on the market at the same time keeping the design to a minimum removing the need for the knob and protruding buttons for more of a touch screen set up.   

The Hive TVRs are a great addition to your overall hive heating set up and they have many benefits allowing us to have full control. The cost of an individual TRV or even multiple packs are very expensive but as mentioned over a period of time you will see the savings.  So would I recommend the Hive thermostat mini and TRV 100% Yes. As it offers you more control than we had before which means we can plan when and where in the house we heat therefore saving you money in the long run.

 

Product Rating   

Design: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Hive App: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Hive Radiator Values: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars4.0

Performance: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars4.0  

Smart Home Compatibility: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0 

Value for Money: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars4.0  

 

Overall ranking: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars4.5 

The Hive Heating Range is also available directly from Hive 

 

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