Hive vs Evohome

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  • John R
    Automated Home Lurker
    • Feb 2021
    • 1

    Hive vs Evohome

    I installed a Hive heating system about 3 years ago before I became aware of Honeywell Exotherm. I've recently looked in more detail at Exotherm as I wanted more control over the radiators in the unused, or only intermittently used, e.g. bedrooms and dining room.
    I was all set to rip out the Hive system and replace with Evotherm when I became aware of the Hive Radiator Valves (TRV) which would appear to do the same job as the HR92UK Radiator Zone Kit.
    Costs:
    Hive £540 (10x TRV's @ £54.00 each)
    Evotherm = £800+ (1x ATP9221R3100 Wi-Fi base pack, 1x ATF500DHW Hot Water Kit, 10x HR92UK Radiator Zone Kits)

    Staying with Hive saves me £260.00 and no need to rewire whereas Exotherm will require a small bit of drilling plus a complete rewire.

    I would be interested in any thoughts, especially from anyone who has experience of both systems.
  • bruce_miranda
    Automated Home Legend
    • Jul 2014
    • 2307

    #2
    I recently went through this decision process for a friend and landed back at Evohome. Ofcourse in her case, she wasn't invested in either ecosystem. Evohome still won on several counts. Hive didn't have a HW control. Hive relies too much on the internet for my liking. The batteries in a Hive TRV seem to run down faster (or at least did in our 30 day test). Hive was ofcourse is a more modern looking product, the app is better and is more than just heating. But in the end, the bells and whistles didn't win over a tried tested and robust Evohome. Heating systems are meant to stay in place for decades. Evohome it was.

    P.S. I'm intrigued by the rewiring needed between Hive and Evohome. The reason I ask is because I was able to swap the Hive and Evohome while doing the tests, pretty seamlessly.

    Comment

    • SteveP
      Automated Home Guru
      • Dec 2012
      • 190

      #3
      I have recently fitted a hive dual system (heating and hot water) to my fathers-in-law’s house. I have an evohome system in my house and have been with evohome since 2012. So here are my observations and reason for selection:
      1) My Father-in-law setup
      a. Had a siemens controller and wireless thermostat where both were no longer functioning correctly
      b. Due to his age, we needed to be able to support heating remotely during the cold spell
      c. He had TRVs on all rads but didn’t want additional control room by room
      d. We would be predominantly scheduling etc remotely ie via the app
      e. Wireless thermostat was battery operated and no near power point

      2) My set up
      a. Wireless TRVs in all rooms
      b. Multiple family members who want independent room control
      c. Required the ability to control the system from
      i. Rooms
      ii. Central controller
      iii. Mobile app
      d. Ability to fully function (excluding the recent smart control additions) when no internet service or cloud service
      e. Controller wired in to docking station close to the boiler with easy access to power.

      Based on the above, I went for the Hive system for my Father-in-law due to lower cost and that it met his/our requirements. I couldn’t justify the higher cost of evohome based the requirements.
      If he had wanted the room by room control then I would have unhesitatingly gone for evohome as multiple room control (up to 12 zones) is ”baked in” to it’s architecture and user interface on both the controller and mobile app. This allows it to fully function regardless of the internet status and cloud service status.

      A brief look at the Hive support for room control concerns me as it appears an “add on” that is only available via the mobile phone app/web app and therefore, fully reliant upon the cloud service availability. Based on these two factors alone, I would be recommending Evohome.

      With the recent Evohome “Smart home “ software over-the-air upgrades, the support for room control and variations of room requirements based on external weather further reflects Evohome’s “baked in” support for multi room

      See previous link on this forum Hive active heating with hive radiator valves vs Honeywell Evohome. https://www.wordpress-1219309-438749...eywell-Evohome

      Comment

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