Anyone using 'Nest', 'Hive' or 'Tado' smart heating thermostats?

[Kingy]

Just an update a few months on ...

Have continued to tweak it until we've got temps that suit the house. Now, other than occasionally turning it off completely we never touch it.

Daytime is set to 19 degrees. Nightime is set to 15 degrees.
Allowing for the time it takes to warm the house (and for it to cool down) we have the heating on during the week from 7.30am and off at 9pm. Weekends its on 9.30am and off 9.30pm.

We've found this works spot on. House is never cold. To be honest we sometimes end up a bit too warm in the front room (where the thermostat is) or bedrooms (with heat rising) so end up opening the door or a window to cool it down! Not a bad thing though as it's better a bit too warm than too cold.
How people live with heating set to 21 degrees (like my neice) I don't know!

Even though the heating is ^^ set for all day, once folk leave the house it imediately turns off and lets the temp drop to 16 degrees. It's assuming you aren't out too long or you would switch it off. This is a great feature as you can be out for a few hours (or all day) and the house stays warm without the heating firing. Worst case if it drops below 16 degrees it just fires up long enough to edge it back up.

If you know you are out all day you just turn it off and then it will only fire the heating if the temp drops below 5 degrees.

I can't yet quantify how much money it has saved as the ongoing bills will tell me that in real terms, but as we have the heating on MUCH less compared with our previous use I will be amazed if its not paid for itself quickly.

That said, the most impressive thing for me is that we've now got a warm house all the time. I always used to get home to a cold house when Yaz was working. As I could come in anytime from 6.30 to 9pm I never set the heating as it was a waste. Now the Tado picks up when I get close and fires it up. Niiiice.

So far, very impressed.

[jollyjoiner]

Hahaha so all this techno and you still have a switch like me

[Kingy]

(01-06-2015, 07:07 PM)Jollyjoiner Wrote: Hahaha so all this techno and you still have a switch like me

Sort of ....





Thats ^^ off the laptop. Same screen on the mobile(s). No switch flicking required.

[Yogi]

She has ours set to 23 most of the time !!

Must sort something like this.

[jollyjoiner]

(01-06-2015, 09:35 PM)Kingy Wrote:

(01-06-2015, 07:07 PM)Jollyjoiner Wrote: Hahaha so all this techno and you still have a switch like me

Sort of ....





Thats ^^ off the laptop. Same screen on the mobile(s). No switch flicking required.

Hahahaha ok, switch tapping then lol

[Yogi]

update please

[Kingy]

Working well.

Hard to quantify £ saving as I've switched electricity suppliers so am on different rates. I intend to sit down and go through unit usage when I'm sufficiently bored though so I can see.

We did have one issue when out BT Hub failed. No internet = No heating control.
It took me less than 10 mins to disconnect the Tado system and we resorted back to our 'old' system for the few days it took BT to piss about trying to blame everything but the failed modem that I had told them. Idiots. Once replaced it again took a few minutes to re-connect Tado and we were off again.
In the few days we were back on the 'old system' it was far too hot in the house and uncomfortable sleeping at night.

Pros.

Once set up you just forget about it.
If left alone it just switches from 'Home' to 'Away' mode and works out an 'away' temp to ensure the house doesn't get too cold (based on temp and geolocation).
If you turn Tado off it will start up if the temp drops below 5 degrees to safeguard against frozen pipes.

Thermostat is very accurate so you get exactly what you want.

The app is incredibly convenient. (Phone and PC). Easy to alter/switch on or off whilst on the move or at home/work.

Very handy for Yasmin and I (never home at the same time). House always warm.

Support is very good if you have a question/issue. Easy to get a response by email/Facebook or twitter. They get back quickly.


Cons.

Internet 'breaks' then Tado can't connect. Only happened once in 18 months so maybe not too much of a 'con'.

The app (android) had a huccup when the 5.1.1 update came out. Only Yasmins phone (which is an older Nexus 4), but needed to be uninstalled and re-installed twice to get it working again. A niggle and was reported to support. They have got back to say they are working on an app update to eradicate this. It has worked fine since I reinstalled the app a few weeks ago.


I'm very happy with the system. Whether it saves money or not (and I can't see how it won't have saved money as the boiler is on less) the convenience of the system is worth the outlay.
I was cursing when Yasmins phone stayed logged in when she had left the house (the issue with the app) - but I just switched Tado off with my phone (which has always been fine and is a newer Nexus 5) so no biggie. After re-installing the app fixed it, I do wonder if it was a Google/Android issue rather than Tado as it was suspiciously around the time of their o/s update. I'm perhaps doing Tado a disservice blaming their app.

[Kingy]

Tado is still doing it's thing. 

It's very app based now, with numerous updates giving it a polished finish. We are also having no issues with geo-location. The app. sees when someone gets close to home and fires the heating up. It works well. 

I've left the setting to let Tado decide when to start the heating to have it upto temp (19 degrees) in time for it's settings. This shows how it does it...



The darker grey is when the heating is switched on in order to achieve and maintain the set temp. 

Another example, this time where no one was at home at lunch time, so Tado switched the heating off (it lets it drop to 15 degrees if it knows from geo- location that you aren't too far from home). 

[Kingy]

And this is the 'main' screen. 

When someone is home its yellow. 
During 'night schedule' it's blue.

When no one is home it is green ...

 

It's saying it's 3 degrees outside. 
Currently 17.3 degrees inside and Tado will allow heating to fall to 15.5 degrees (which it will maintain). Both Yaz and I are away - and Tado knows where we are 

You can get to the other setting from this screen, but tbh once it's set you don't touch it unless you want to see the report(s).

[jollyjoiner]

Fook sorry I nodded off then lol