Originally Posted by
RobM
I'm a Tado user rather than Hive or Nest, but it has saved me money over the years and across two houses.
This mainly comes from the granular control you get once you have TRV's in each room (supported by on-wall thermostats where needed). For example, during the day there's no point in heating the bedrooms however cold it is outside, but I do want to heat the rooms I spend my time in. It's also more cost effective to keep a room warm, compared to letting it go cold and heating it again, and the real-time combination of both of these has proven really effective. In the case of Tado, it also adjusts itself based on the outside temperature, as well as the traditional 'smart' stuff like turning off when everyone leaves the house, and early-warming when we start heading home.
Right now I have a gentle heat in the office I'm in (working... ahem) and the living room where the Mrs' is, but the bedrooms have been shut-off entirely. The conservatory (play room!) is being kept at a lower, but still comfortable temperature for occasional use.
Later today all this will switch. I don't want the office warmed past 5PM, but the conservatory should be warmer for when my daughter gets back from nursery. The living room will already be warm.
Then later, I won't want the conservatory warmed so that'll be shut off, and I'll give the bedrooms a boost so they're comfortable before they get reduced overnight.
It takes time to get to the right balance, but the end result is a set-and-forget system that is quite efficient and cost effective to run.