5 February 2014

An App to Control your Heating from your Smartphone.

[Collaborative post]  I'm a bit naughty.  I like to leave the heating down / off when we're out, whether the Foreign Language Students are going to be in or not.  I never know their comings and goings and simply can't stand the thought of a warm but empty house and, frankly, can't afford it either.

They rarely leave their bedrooms when they're home, so they've got their duvets and, thanks to owning a dodgy old boiler, I know it takes about three whole days for our home to become unbearably cold.  They're lucky that doesn't happen very often and if they're from a particularly hot country it might make me feel a bit more guilty (especially if they feel forced to go out), but I've learned from harsh experience never to tell them where the thermostat is!

However nothing beats
the feeling of coming in to a blast of heat through the front door on chilly days (especially when there's something in the slow cooker, but let's not digress) and I can't tell you how many times I've wished for some sort of distance remote control for the heating when a spontaneous invitation has come after school and it's set on automatic and expensive energy will again be wasted.

I'm obviously not the only one where previous casualness can no longer be taken for granted as energy bills soar, so with necessity being the mother of invention - the Hive App has been introduced - which, is indeed, such a marvellous thing and something to think about - a state of the art remote control for our heating AND hot water - one that can be accessed from anywhere via a smartphone or browser.

Check this out very short video - it tells you what you need to know:  





You can buy it with or without installation - £199 vs. £159 and it's reckoned to save up to £150 per year on our bills because you can switch it on or switch it off, turn it up or turn it down.  It works for Android and iphone and there is also an option for alerts to be sent to your mobile if temperatures reach a certain level - very handy if you're on holiday and temperatures drop low enough in the UK to freeze pipes.

Now that really would give the students something to complain about!