I spoke to an incredibly helpful Hive staff member by the name of Kieron on 23 October 2019. He told me that he has been working for hive for a long time. He went onto say that the radiator valve was initially introduced without fully testing it. He says that most of the software glitches that caused so many customers to return them have been resolved and it is now much more reliable . And finally he also confirmed what you said in that it takes about 4 hours to calibrate a valve as opposed to the approx two weeks when they were first introduced.
Thanks, super helpful. I dont use a Hive thermostat, do I need anything else to install the valve ? anything that needs to plug into the router for example ? Thanks.
How long do the batteries last? Have you tried updating the firmware on these? If so, how easy is it. I've read so many negative reviews on these, that I'm hoping Hive has finally put the effort in and got them usable. Do you find the lag between requesting heat and receiving it overly long? I read it can be up-to 15 minutes, which seems excessive. How about using rechargeable batteries? Do they work? As rechargeables don't deliver quite the same volts, often I find devices with rechargeable batteries don't last anywhere near as long. If I'm fitting a whole house out with these, this would be one of major considerations for me.
Hi, many thanks for the video. Would the schedule of the Hive valve overwrite the schedule of the Hive thermostat? I mean if Hive thermostat is set to heat but the valve isn’t, what would be the result for the room with the valve?
Yes according to the hive website; Heat On Demand links your Hive Radiator Valve to your Hive Thermostat. Then, whenever that radiator requires heat, even outside your normal heating schedule, it tells your system to turn on and warm up. Specifically, what it does is trigger the boost function on your thermostat, which turns on your heating system for 30 minutes. If the radiator still needs more heat at the end of 30 minutes, it will trigger another boost.
Thanks for the video - wanting to get one of these on the bathroom radiator/towel drier to come on at a certain time during the day, rather than a specific temperature. Is this something you can do with this valve or is it purely temperature controlled?
The Hive valve will only operate the radiator you fit it on. The boiler needs to be heating . You would have to turn your other radiators off to operate the bathroom only. Otherwise fit Hive valves in every room. You need the Hive operating wi fi system in your house too. You can then set times.
This was a great informative video clip which has provided me with all the details needed to carry out my installations. Thanks you very much for this. Kind Regards, Steve Snelling
Great video - I presume almost 2 years on you'd still recommend the Hive TRVs? Sound wise, how noisy are they? Also how long does it take for one to go from completely off, to fully on?
Yes they work well and the software has greatly improved since launch. The valves take a couple of seconds to travel. I would recommend oiling the valves on the radiator to help the hive trv’s turn on and the noise down.
Hi. Really useful video, thanks. Just one question - to get Wi-fi across our house we use a couple of boosters. Will the hive thermostats link to the network via them ok? Thanks
Have you got the hive heating plus for £3.99 a month if so would you recommend having it alongside the valves? Have you used them in the winter months if so have they saved you money on your heating bills
Just bought eight of them I hope they work efficiently also bought a signal booster. My question though is do they override the main temperature setting of the Hive Thermostat? I guess will find out this winter.
@@digitalconnoisseur7730 hi, please could you provide some feedback on the product since your last review video. I'm planning on purchasing some of these but can't find any recent reviews on the web. Thanks.
The valves work well when you increase the temperature and cut off at that temperature. What I’ve not seen fully in action in cold weather is when the temperature drops in one room , it demands heat and cuts off back at the defined temperature. The app is way better than it was at the start and runs a calibration for each valve. You need to remember to turn heat on demand on in the app. So far it’s keeps the temps in most rooms nearly the same. This wasn’t something that I could do before. Overall I’m glad I got them.
Been meaning to make that video for a while. Will get started on it soon. Valves work well though now. At the beginning the app and software let them down.
I probably should have read the reviews before purchasing; as I was tempted to return these as a few of my radiators were not working after installation. Anyway after going on livechat with Hive they explained it can take up to 2 weeks to start communicating with your thermostat. So fingers crossed 🤞 it will start working..luckily it’s summer time I got these because anyhow it was winter I would be so vex
@@seanjohnson1707 Hi these were returned, I had major problems after syncing was complete & verified by hive themselves. My radiators in the lounge & bedroom were not working & I was absolutely freezing. Other radiators I specified to be off were coming on randomly blowing out extreme heat. I tried to reset & sync them again, but it was just pointless. & it also took a while to remove each valve, to put back my old ones. I mean they may have improved it...but I do recall reading hive forums when I was having these issues; and a lot of people were reporting the same problems at the time. So no I wouldn’t recommend these based on my experience but I would suggest checking the forums for the latest discussions regarding these.
I was misled by the instructions in the app. When considering which adaptor to use, it has a photo of the TRV pin and hexagon, and asks if yours has a thread. It's referring to the thread below the hexagon - out of shot in the photo. The parts included in the photo have no thread, so I said no. That meant I had to get them to send me a "Caleffi" adaptor (with Xmas shopping and mail strikes it took >2 weeks). And then it wasn't required, but hot stuck in the adaptor and damaged the thread. AARGH.
If every radiator in the house has one of these,, does that mean I could put my main heating on 24/7 (nest) & these valves will decide which rooms need heat & when? My issue would be,, the boiler will only run when the room with the thermostat in it demands heat? I know installing a hive smart thermostat would solve this but my next is new & it’s compatible with Control 4 for future upgrades.
I don't think that's possible, as these work with the hive heating to demand heat when needed. I'm sure nest will have something similar in the pipeline.
I struggle understanding how these work in practice. I have a thermostat in one room (annoyingly the warmest room) set at 20C. It then turns on boiler at specific times of the day for the house. If I have one of these radiator valves installed in another room surely it will only work when the main thermostat demands heat? In some respect rendering the hive radiator thermostat useless in some respect? If my understanding is correct is there a way to remedy this?
In order for it to heat other rooms it turns on the boiler. Once it’s reached the correct temperature it would turn it off. With these in multiple rooms including the hot one. It would allow the heating to be cut off in that room while still heating the others. It’s very good at sorting the issue you have and the rooms after a time, learn how your system works. 0.2 degree difference between my rooms now. You will also need a hub for these to work.
Great informative video 👍 Do you know how this stacks up against the Honeywell EvoHome system? There don’t seem to be many multi-zone heating systems on the market that can control each zone independently of the others and only heat those rooms which are required by the user. Is there a limit to the number of zones (or smart TRVs) that can be added to this system? Many thanks
I’m not sure of a limit for these but there will be one I’m sure. Tado was a system I was looking at but when with hive. It’s worked very well so far. Not heard much about the evohome or know anyone that uses it.
I’m considering getting one specifically for my little boys room as i struggle to regulate the temp in his room. If we have the heating on in the house, his room will get roasting hot. Will this solve the issue?
Yes I seems to work well turning off the heat. We had the same problem with some rooms getting too hot. Now they are all the same temperature. It takes the valves a few weeks to learn your system before they work at 100%
Yes it'a perfect as you can choose the degrees you want to set it at. 1 to 5 for some people is no good. With these you can set the lounge at 20c your Sons room at 12c ect.
I had something similar happen. It’s like the valve didn’t have enough power to open and close the valve sometimes. Selecting a higher or lower temperature a degree different, made it move the valves to the correct position. You may need to grease the radiator valves
You can't buy a used one, they come linked to account once setup once. If you already have a hive thermostat its likely you have a hub (little white thingy that connects to router I bought the 360 Hub (newer) as it doubles as a CO/CO2 detector and can listen out if glass is broken.
Yes I got a brand new hub for £40 on ebay. I have just ordered on hive and it says they are doing half price for new members on the hub. Brand new no offer from hive £80.
good video and some helpful comments in here - may be worth doing an updated video even?! Not sure how it got negative thumbs down, professional miserable people perhaps.
I noticed two things which may have caused negative reactions and a third which shouldn't have but probably did! Lol. 1. When using the pen knife to open the box: it's quite frightening to watch someone use a pen knife cutting towards yourself. You should always cut away from yourself. 2. The process of putting in the batteries was a bit odd and made particularly awkward by using only one hand. 3. I think some people may complain about the lovely clear and carefully paced speech. Of course, this is NOT a negative and for every person who put a thumbs down because of the speech there was probably more than 10 people who gave it a thumbs up for the exact same thing. Instructions are much easier to follow if they are given quite slowly and calmly. The speech is well paced for this type of instructional video. I appreciate that some people may find his voice particularly slow especially if they come from parts of the UK where people talk so much faster. If you do find the speech too slow or too fast on videos you can alter the playback speed.
I had an issue with one myself. The device wasn’t working correctly. I rang the hive help team and they talked me through a solution. What’s your issue?
@@digitalconnoisseur7730 so when using the (on demand) which device should be set higher... 1. The trv set to the temp I want (say19.5) with the main stat set at 21c Or 2. The trv set at (19.5) but the main stat set lower at 18c...
Is anyone else struggling with screwing it onto the adaptor? It’s like the pin is too long on the rad valve and can’t get enough pressure on to make the threads bite together. In the video that pin looks half the size
It might be due to the valve on the radiator being a bit stiff to open. Take the hive valve off and using pliers check the movement. Hive telephone help would be your next option.
If you have zones (upstairs and downstairs) In the settings for each there is an option for heating on demand. Make sure this is on! I didn’t and it wasn’t warming up at first...
@@digitalconnoisseur7730 The don't work full stop. I know three people directly same fault, customer services failing to resolve the issue, hundreds of unhappy customers of facebook and hive forums
Interesting reading those forums. I’ve managed to get them to heat on demand for certain rooms. It tends to boost the zones to do it. But I haven’t figured out how to stop it, as there seems to be a delay between detecting temp changes. Just had to turn off the heat on demand to stop it! Hopefully it’s just a software glitch...
I bought 5 and returned them today after 2 frustrating weeks of radiators randomly turning on even though they had reached the target temperature. Other times radiators would just not turn on because the main thermostat had reached 22°c.
Oh and it effectively creates zones where one room or part of the house can be unheated OR heated which is very bad for the house often causing damp or mildew in rooms I was led to believe?
I spoke to an incredibly helpful Hive staff member by the name of Kieron on 23 October 2019.
He told me that he has been working for hive for a long time. He went onto say that the radiator valve was initially introduced without fully testing it. He says that most of the software glitches that caused so many customers to return them have been resolved and it is now much more reliable . And finally he also confirmed what you said in that it takes about 4 hours to calibrate a valve as opposed to the approx two weeks when they were first introduced.
Not very helpful these days, I cannot manage to speak to them through messaging or phone.
Thanks, super helpful. I dont use a Hive thermostat, do I need anything else to install the valve ? anything that needs to plug into the router for example ? Thanks.
Cheers for a decent review and guide, this should be the first result when you search - not the countless 20min videos full of padding and fluff.
How long do the batteries last? Have you tried updating the firmware on these? If so, how easy is it. I've read so many negative reviews on these, that I'm hoping Hive has finally put the effort in and got them usable. Do you find the lag between requesting heat and receiving it overly long? I read it can be up-to 15 minutes, which seems excessive. How about using rechargeable batteries? Do they work? As rechargeables don't deliver quite the same volts, often I find devices with rechargeable batteries don't last anywhere near as long. If I'm fitting a whole house out with these, this would be one of major considerations for me.
Hi, many thanks for the video. Would the schedule of the Hive valve overwrite the schedule of the Hive thermostat? I mean if Hive thermostat is set to heat but the valve isn’t, what would be the result for the room with the valve?
Yes according to the hive website;
Heat On Demand links your Hive Radiator Valve to your Hive Thermostat. Then, whenever that radiator requires heat, even outside your normal heating schedule, it tells your system to turn on and warm up.
Specifically, what it does is trigger the boost function on your thermostat, which turns on your heating system for 30 minutes. If the radiator still needs more heat at the end of 30 minutes, it will trigger another boost.
And if Hive thermostat is set to heat but the valve isn’t, what would be the result for the room with the valve?
The room won’t heat where the valve is.
Thanks for the video - wanting to get one of these on the bathroom radiator/towel drier to come on at a certain time during the day, rather than a specific temperature. Is this something you can do with this valve or is it purely temperature controlled?
The Hive valve will only operate the radiator you fit it on. The boiler needs to be heating . You would have to turn your other radiators off to operate the bathroom only. Otherwise fit Hive valves in every room. You need the Hive operating wi fi system in your house too. You can then set times.
This was a great informative video clip which has provided me with all the details needed to carry out my installations. Thanks you very much for this. Kind Regards, Steve Snelling
Great video - I presume almost 2 years on you'd still recommend the Hive TRVs? Sound wise, how noisy are they? Also how long does it take for one to go from completely off, to fully on?
Yes they work well and the software has greatly improved since launch. The valves take a couple of seconds to travel. I would recommend oiling the valves on the radiator to help the hive trv’s turn on and the noise down.
What if you do not have a Tver on my radiators my radiators are from 1988 years . Will Hive fit them? Should I change them.
Hi. Really useful video, thanks. Just one question - to get Wi-fi across our house we use a couple of boosters. Will the hive thermostats link to the network via them ok?
Thanks
I think they work with their hub and not wifi.
Nice video. Thanks!
Have you got the hive heating plus for £3.99 a month if so would you recommend having it alongside the valves? Have you used them in the winter months if so have they saved you money on your heating bills
So, I don't have to bleed the radiators when changing the radiator valve to a smart one?
I’m crap at DIY but I can open the bloody box mate cheers
How do u find them are they any good? 3 years on
Just bought eight of them I hope they work efficiently also bought a signal booster. My question though is do they override the main temperature setting of the Hive Thermostat? I guess will find out this winter.
They override it when it can’t increase the room temperature. Make sure heat on demand is active.
@@digitalconnoisseur7730 ok thanks for your reply, will make sure on demand is active.
@@digitalconnoisseur7730 hi, please could you provide some feedback on the product since your last review video. I'm planning on purchasing some of these but can't find any recent reviews on the web. Thanks.
The valves work well when you increase the temperature and cut off at that temperature. What I’ve not seen fully in action in cold weather is when the temperature drops in one room , it demands heat and cuts off back at the defined temperature. The app is way better than it was at the start and runs a calibration for each valve. You need to remember to turn heat on demand on in the app. So far it’s keeps the temps in most rooms nearly the same. This wasn’t something that I could do before. Overall I’m glad I got them.
@@digitalconnoisseur7730 Great, thanks. I've picked up six of these. Hope they work well.
U was told that the Hive mini does no work with this ?
Will it work without the ring
I just found your channel. It’s brilliant, thank you.
How about an update giving your views of the Hive TRV and it's performance over the last two years, cheers
I’ve started making that video so hopefully will get it out soon.
I have the hive thermostat aswell and about to buy the trv’s. If you turn down the main thermostat does this mean that the TRVs don’t click on?
No the trv’s can demand heat and boost the main thermostat to get their temps up.
Hey! Great vid
Do you have any updated review on these valves?
Cheers!
Been meaning to make that video for a while. Will get started on it soon. Valves work well though now. At the beginning the app and software let them down.
I probably should have read the reviews before purchasing; as I was tempted to return these as a few of my radiators were not working after installation. Anyway after going on livechat with Hive they explained it can take up to 2 weeks to start communicating with your thermostat. So fingers crossed 🤞 it will start working..luckily it’s summer time I got these because anyhow it was winter I would be so vex
Hi Their,
Can you give us an update as to whether they did ''communicate'' with your thermostat.
Thank you.
Did you end up keeping the valves?
@@seanjohnson1707 Hi these were returned, I had major problems after syncing was complete & verified by hive themselves.
My radiators in the lounge & bedroom were not working & I was absolutely freezing. Other radiators I specified to be off were coming on randomly blowing out extreme heat. I tried to reset & sync them again, but it was just pointless. & it also took a while to remove each valve, to put back my old ones.
I mean they may have improved it...but I do recall reading hive forums when I was having these issues; and a lot of people were reporting the same problems at the time. So no I wouldn’t recommend these based on my experience but I would suggest checking the forums for the latest discussions regarding these.
Well presented. Brief and totally objective.
Very helpful and clear, thank you
I was misled by the instructions in the app. When considering which adaptor to use, it has a photo of the TRV pin and hexagon, and asks if yours has a thread. It's referring to the thread below the hexagon - out of shot in the photo. The parts included in the photo have no thread, so I said no. That meant I had to get them to send me a "Caleffi" adaptor (with Xmas shopping and mail strikes it took >2 weeks). And then it wasn't required, but hot stuck in the adaptor and damaged the thread. AARGH.
It’s so hard to take the cover off to insert batteries. Any tips ?
If every radiator in the house has one of these,, does that mean I could put my main heating on 24/7 (nest) & these valves will decide which rooms need heat & when?
My issue would be,, the boiler will only run when the room with the thermostat in it demands heat? I know installing a hive smart thermostat would solve this but my next is new & it’s compatible with Control 4 for future upgrades.
I don't think that's possible, as these work with the hive heating to demand heat when needed. I'm sure nest will have something similar in the pipeline.
Very informative, thank you!
Excellent video. Thank you.
It won’t work on old school valves? Need to be tvr right??
The box has fittings for many valves. Contact Hive directly if you want to be certain.
How you supposed to open it to put batteries in?
Thanks for advice in getting into the box :)
Yeah, I got stuck at that bit.
@@CurvedSlightly Never cut towards your hand :)
How do you undo the valve from the adapter if you want to change it to an M 30 adapter I’m struggling to get it to undo many thanks David
I struggle understanding how these work in practice. I have a thermostat in one room (annoyingly the warmest room) set at 20C. It then turns on boiler at specific times of the day for the house. If I have one of these radiator valves installed in another room surely it will only work when the main thermostat demands heat? In some respect rendering the hive radiator thermostat useless in some respect? If my understanding is correct is there a way to remedy this?
In order for it to heat other rooms it turns on the boiler. Once it’s reached the correct temperature it would turn it off. With these in multiple rooms including the hot one. It would allow the heating to be cut off in that room while still heating the others. It’s very good at sorting the issue you have and the rooms after a time, learn how your system works. 0.2 degree difference between my rooms now. You will also need a hub for these to work.
I found this video because I'm can't get the case open in order to insert the batteries. You don't show that - you've already opened the case.
I'm with you mate. Fucking hive put some fucking instructions in the box ffs
Surely these only work if the existing fitting is a TRV in the first place?
As long as there is a valve to control the flow, these should be able to control them.
Digital Connoisseur that is incorrect . It is for replacing an existing TRV head.
Great informative video 👍
Do you know how this stacks up against the Honeywell EvoHome system? There don’t seem to be many multi-zone heating systems on the market that can control each zone independently of the others and only heat those rooms which are required by the user.
Is there a limit to the number of zones (or smart TRVs) that can be added to this system?
Many thanks
I’m not sure of a limit for these but there will be one I’m sure. Tado was a system I was looking at but when with hive. It’s worked very well so far. Not heard much about the evohome or know anyone that uses it.
Once you’ve loaded up the mumble mumble… what is it they we have to load please to get the instructions. Thanks for the vid
Very helpful, thank you.
I’m considering getting one specifically for my little boys room as i struggle to regulate the temp in his room. If we have the heating on in the house, his room will get roasting hot. Will this solve the issue?
Yes I seems to work well turning off the heat. We had the same problem with some rooms getting too hot. Now they are all the same temperature. It takes the valves a few weeks to learn your system before they work at 100%
Yes it'a perfect as you can choose the degrees you want to set it at. 1 to 5 for some people is no good. With these you can set the lounge at 20c your Sons room at 12c ect.
Sets up easy! Then as soon as boilers on the heater gets red hot. Won't turn down or off. Only way to do this, is by turning hive heating off
I had something similar happen. It’s like the valve didn’t have enough power to open and close the valve sometimes. Selecting a higher or lower temperature a degree different, made it move the valves to the correct position. You may need to grease the radiator valves
My valves sit horizontally instead of vertically. Will these still work?
Yes they work vertically and horizontally. When setting them up on the app it asks you to choose.
One question.
Why do the designers make it so difficult to get the batteries out to change them?
How do you remove the RA adapter if screwed in by mistake?
Hives site tells me that I need a 'hub' as well - is this correct - have you got one?
Yes you need a hub to make these work
You can't buy a used one, they come linked to account once setup once. If you already have a hive thermostat its likely you have a hub (little white thingy that connects to router I bought the 360 Hub (newer) as it doubles as a CO/CO2 detector and can listen out if glass is broken.
Yes I got a brand new hub for £40 on ebay. I have just ordered on hive and it says they are doing half price for new members on the hub. Brand new no offer from hive £80.
Akash Rathour you do not need a new hub. I purchased a used one long ago and it works fine
Price info at time of purchase would have been useful.
£199 for five
Do you need the hub?
Yes you do for these but I imagine some other systems you don’t.
good video and some helpful comments in here - may be worth doing an updated video even?! Not sure how it got negative thumbs down, professional miserable people perhaps.
I noticed two things which may have caused negative reactions and a third which shouldn't have but probably did! Lol.
1. When using the pen knife to open the box: it's quite frightening to watch someone use a pen knife cutting towards yourself. You should always cut away from yourself.
2. The process of putting in the batteries was a bit odd and made particularly awkward by using only one hand.
3. I think some people may complain about the lovely clear and carefully paced speech. Of course, this is NOT a negative and for every person who put a thumbs down because of the speech there was probably more than 10 people who gave it a thumbs up for the exact same thing. Instructions are much easier to follow if they are given quite slowly and calmly. The speech is well paced for this type of instructional video. I appreciate that some people may find his voice particularly slow especially if they come from parts of the UK where people talk so much faster.
If you do find the speech too slow or too fast on videos you can alter the playback speed.
How do I 'completely' remove the valve. Mine is faulty but when I unscrew to replace with a spare one I purchased, it just 'spins' around?
I had to take the radiator off the wall and turn it upside down. With a pair of plyers I managed to rotate the screw thread off...
How do you remove the device from the radiator
Ok so I am having issued with my TRVs and the (heating on demand) function. Think you can help me out please.
I had an issue with one myself. The device wasn’t working correctly. I rang the hive help team and they talked me through a solution. What’s your issue?
@@digitalconnoisseur7730 so when using the (on demand) which device should be set higher...
1. The trv set to the temp I want (say19.5) with the main stat set at 21c
Or 2. The trv set at (19.5) but the main stat set lower at 18c...
Because he missed it, press U shaped button opposite side to screen to lift off cover.
Does this work with Siri and home kit?
Yes it does I believe. Few videos out there covering this topic
Is anyone else struggling with screwing it onto the adaptor? It’s like the pin is too long on the rad valve and can’t get enough pressure on to make the threads bite together. In the video that pin looks half the size
You didn't show how to remove the casing to add the batteries
You push the button at the back and slide the top upwards.
Imagine, Hive sent me this video to show me how to remove my TRV
Classic. You think by now they would have made their own..
My valve wont calibrate, it keeps failing after trying to calibrate
It might be due to the valve on the radiator being a bit stiff to open. Take the hive valve off and using pliers check the movement. Hive telephone help would be your next option.
Shame you did show how to get the top off? Still struggling to get that off 😂 I guess you did as well not showing that part 😢
There is a button on the back you push and lift the top upwards. Thought I showed that. Doh.
Hi could someone let me know, when the valve opens and shuts are they quiet when doing so ?
They do make a noise that lasts about 3 seconds. Wasn't sure what it was at first...
Great.
It would be great if these actually worked
If you have zones (upstairs and downstairs) In the settings for each there is an option for heating on demand. Make sure this is on! I didn’t and it wasn’t warming up at first...
@@digitalconnoisseur7730 The don't work full stop. I know three people directly same fault, customer services failing to resolve the issue, hundreds of unhappy customers of facebook and hive forums
Interesting reading those forums. I’ve managed to get them to heat on demand for certain rooms. It tends to boost the zones to do it. But I haven’t figured out how to stop it, as there seems to be a delay between detecting temp changes. Just had to turn off the heat on demand to stop it! Hopefully it’s just a software glitch...
I bought 5 and returned them today after 2 frustrating weeks of radiators randomly turning on even though they had reached the target temperature. Other times radiators would just not turn on because the main thermostat had reached 22°c.
Oh and it effectively creates zones where one room or part of the house can be unheated OR heated which is very bad for the house often causing damp or mildew in rooms I was led to believe?
Eh? You what mate? EH!
I don’t 😇😚😍😚😚