Helping aged parents ...................... Hive or similar

smallieboy

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Odd title, I know, but it's the start of the enquiry. So, here goes:

My parents, both in their late 80's and, to a fairly high degree, technophobic, live in a largish 3-bed house that they've said they'll be taken out of in boxes.

Mum feels the cold so the heating is on a lot of the time. Dad - who is basically her carer, and pays the bills - likes it colder but accepts the situation and recognises (unsurprisingly after 60-odd years of marriage) that it's not going to change. However, one of the things that irritates him is that the whole house is pretty much either like a sauna or a fridge. I got talking to him about Hive (and similar) and mentioned that I thought that he could control the temperature in individual rooms at specific times of day. So, for example, from early afternoon, Mum will be in the lounge where the temp needs to be 'high' while dad's in another room where it needs to be cooler. However, rooms like bathrooms need to be fairly constantly warm throughout the day.

Dad isn't so technophobic that he's resistant to change and he would learn how to use something to his benefit - it's things like BBC pushing iPlayer on him that really grips his sh!t. So, the questions are:
  1. what would we have to put in place, with something like Hive, to enable him to control the radiators in certain rooms? That is, does he need a hub, plus a TRV for each room he wants to control, or does he also need the thermostat?
  2. if he has the hub, presumably he can (if he ever wanted to) add lighting, etc.?
  3. does he have to have a smart phone to control it all?
  4. will Hive (and similar) work with any gas central heating?
Finally, I'm fairly sure that Hive isn't the only option so - and I'm sure the technophiles on here will know - what other options are there and does anyone have an idea which one offers the best value for a simple solution (i.e., one that will most likely not be extended beyond what I've described above)?

As always, I look forward to the informed answers from the AVForumites ......................... so, thanks in advance.
 
I have both Hive and Drayton wiser
With Hive you need a hub
Hive radiator valves don't work as advertised so at this time I cant recommend them but I do like the bulbs and motion sensors

Drayton Wiser has the hub built into the control box
wiser radiator valve work perfectly but unlike Hive unfortunately you cannot turn off heat on demand and you cant add bulbs
both systems need a phone app
 
Much as it pains me to say it, do they need a smart solution? Wouldn’t standard TRVs achieve the same thing for a fraction of the cost?
 
Much as it pains me to say it, do they need a smart solution? Wouldn’t standard TRVs achieve the same thing for a fraction of the cost?

I guess that, for what I've described, possibly not, but there is an element of scheduling that I think he'd like. For example, heating in particular rooms coming on at certain times (including before they get up!) - otherwise he's having to go round the house turning TRV's on and off.

I wonder if one or more of these (Eqiva TRV) might be more suitable; anyone have experience?
 
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What about the LightwaveRF radiator valves? I've no experience of them myself but I believe they can be individually controlled to follow set programmes.

 
I guess that, for what I've described, possibly not, but there is an element of scheduling that I think he'd like. For example, heating in particular rooms coming on at certain times (including before they get up!) - otherwise he's having to go round the house turning TRV's on and off.

I wonder if one or more of these (Eqiva TRV) might be more suitable; anyone have experience?


The only issue is that they wont fire the boiler, so if the boiler isnt on then the settings on these wont work , ideally you need TRVs that link back to the boiler so if any is calling for heat then the boiler is fired, if no heat is require dteh boiler is turned off
 
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So what you ideally need is a

Smart hub
Smart TRVs
Boiler switch (depending which hub you chose)

We use Fibaro but plenty of other solutions
 
Thanks for all the replies - the good news is he's decided to stick with the manual TRV's - primarily for the reason highlighted here by sbriggs; it'll require too much messing about with the boiler to work.
 
Thanks for all the replies - the good news is he's decided to stick with the manual TRV's - primarily for the reason highlighted here by sbriggs; it'll require too much messing about with the boiler to work.

Though they will have to realise that unless the boiler is on turning the trv up/on will make no difference
 

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