As most mums will testify, our smartphone is never far from our hand, whether it’s checking-in on social media or snapping a cute photo of our offspring having fun and exploring their environment. So when I was asked to trial the new Hive active heating thermostat from Bord Gáis Energy, I was happy to add remote control flexibility to our household’s energy consumption and another app to my smartphone.
I’m a busy mum of two, who works three days in an office and four days in the home. I am semi-professional juggler of all things parenting and work-related but I have been known to drop a ball on occasion. This is especially true when it comes to leaving the heating or worse still, the immersion, practically the worst crime an Irish person can commit – well according to our mothers’ era!
I’d like to think that I am a savvy mum when it comes to shopping and keeping on top of our household finances, which the hubby happily leaves to me. Our energy bills, in particular our heating bill was a struggle when we moved house a couple of years ago, so we’ve made some strategic investments of late, that we hope to start to reap the rewards from this winter. First, there were some heavily lined curtains for the patio doors, then some thermostatic valves for the radiators and now our new Hive active heating thermostat from Bord Gáis Energy.
Our heating is primarily gas, while we have a wood-burning stove in the ‘good room’ which we light on cold weekend evenings. Our gas is not currently supplied by Bord Gáis Energy so I didn’t think we would be able to avail of their new smart technology without switching but thankfully, as long as your main heat source is gas, anyone can get the device installed in their home.
The installation took about 30 minutes and then I had a further 20 minutes run through the app from the technician. The app itself is very intuitive and was easy to navigate. I set up my typical timetable requirement for heat and hot water and added it to my schedule. Of course, this will change as the winter sets in but for now I am using the ‘boost’ function for 30 minutes to an hour if it feels a little chilly at home or the kids want an extra sudsy evening bath.
The Hive thermostat is digital-smart but not reliant on an internet connection to work. It can be controlled from the stylish chrome device on the wall in my hall (which comes with a range of five coloured casings to match in with your paintwork), an online account, app or a simple text message. So for those who are worried about patchy broadband, never fear – you’re always in control of your heating and hot water schedule.
My Hive thermostat reads the temperature in my hall as the median temperature of the house and will use this to determine whether it needs to switch on or off, or even alert me by email to take action if specific set temperatures are reached.
It also has a range of other clever features, including: flexible scheduling, a holiday mode which sleeps while I’m away but heats the house timed for my return, frost protection set at a default 5 degrees, and a geo-location feature which can send me an alert if I’ve gone out and left the heating on and equally remind me to turn it on as I’m approaching home – it does the thinking for me!
I neglected to use the child lock feature on the app much to the dismay of my poor husband who had to endure a cold shower one Monday morning! My 4-year old, Lucy had been playing on my phone over the weekend and inadvertently knocked off our schedule. Note to self.
Overall, Hive has been a big success in our house and I’ve no doubt I’ll see a difference in my energy bills this winter. Most of all, it has been especially effective in managing the heat when I have been out of the home. Both my childminder and grandma would be nervous about interfering with the heat in the house if it got too cool in the day or evening time. And grandma would think she was saving us money by not turning it on at all! But now I no longer need to worry, as I can check the temperature at home at the touch of a button and adjust the heating accordingly using my smartphone, tablet or computer in work. It’s been a godsend from that perspective, now all I need to do is teach it how to have a hot cup of tea ready for me in the morning when I get up, or maybe that’s another app altogether!
Laura Haugh is the mum-in-residence for MummyPages.ie and lives in Dublin with her husband and two children, James (6) and Lucy (4).
