Idiot proof central heating timer and thermostat.

Think we'll need more info to give you advice.

But, I'm with your son. Hive is so simple!

Presumably the water just heats up as you need it, so it's the radiators you want to come on when needed.

My late MiL could never figure hers out either, so we told her just to use the thermostat only. She did this successfully for years, just turning it up when cold and down if too hot.

Our water doesn't heat up as needed Anya because our house didn't lend itself to having one of those boilers (can't remember what they are called) so we still have a hot water tank.

We only use the thermostat too.Works well!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't set the timer.
We have a combi boiler with instant hot water and a timer for the rads. There is a dial on our boiler with a picture of a tap and a tap and rad. I use this to turn on the heating. It means I don't get up to a warm house in winter but it doesn't take long to warm once I've changed the dial.

Was referring to new system kitty presumably with combi-type boilers. Sorry to read you still need a hot water tank.

Ours is a fairly new boiler but we opted to keep the hot tank because of the awkwardness of our house which was built in two parts, with the boiler in one half and the hot water tank in the other. We would have had to redecorate just about every room if we had removed the boiler.

I'm in charge of heating controls in our house and find the Hive simplicity itself. We can turn the heating up or down - like a thermostat. Each day can be programmed separately (both water and heating) and I can operate it from my phone, tablet or laptop.

The downside is that dh can too where, pre the new system I was the only one who knew how to do it.

Not being rude but how about RTFM ? Mind you, I suppse you would have if there were one so no help!
We have a combi boiler and the hot water seems to go round the loch and back before it gets to the kitchen tap in spite of the fact that the boiler is only two or three metres away. Minibags's pal out it rather well recently: "Navy-approved hot water".

put!

Grr

There'll be a manual online, Luckylegs9, and probably comments and advice from other people with that particular system, or even installers of it, if you google the make and model.

Some manuals seem to be designed to make life difficult. For years I wasted time whenever we went away switching our system to "holiday mode", following the laborious and fiddly instructions. This year I found out there's a one step process to get the same result. You live and learn!

We have a pressurised hot water system and in the six years we've been here we still can't understand how the timer works. Even the plumber scratched his head and gave up. We use the thermostat to put the heating on and off, and leave the hot water to do its own thing. Like Baggs, we had a combi boiler in our last house and it took an age to get hot water to the bathroom, which was directly above the boiler.

My central heating boiler is on the kitchen wall underneath the top cupboards in a position which is:-

1) Far enough back that I have to bend down and put my head under the cupboards to see it.
2) Only readable from one 90 degree angle straight in front of it. If I tilt my head out of vertical, the numbers blur. (That could be my eye-sight, but combining the bent-over stance with the vertical head is almost impossible)
3) Out of direct light, so I need to hold a torch in one hand.
4) Not logically planned or memorable.

I don't adjust it often enough to remember the complicated instructions, so I need the manual in my other hand (held so that I can see it without leaving the verticle head position and losing sight of the controls)

So with my third hand . . .

Have you tried Y tubing the answer? Often find the videos of how to do on there far more enlightening than R(ing)TFM. Would be lost without our hot water tank/airing cupboard. We control our heating on the thermostat even though we can programme the timer, just! Last had a combi boiler about 30 odd years ago. Good, but took several days to run a bath. Have they moved on in the intervening years?

Not the central heating boiler, the central heating controls. The boiler is in the cellar (a long way from the kitchen taps, the shower, etc, so the water runs cold until the hot gets through the pipes)

Ours is a conventional condensing boiler. I say again, if your system is compatible, Hive is brilliant

Hive is brilliant although the digital clock with my old system was ok. I still have a conventional boiler because I love to have an airing cupboard

See if there is a YouTube tutorial about your heating system. I love YouTube for tutorials, there will be one, I can guarantee. If not, then I'm at a loss.

We also run our heating on the thermostats which are in every room. We have underfloor heating so with only two of us most of the time we can heat whichever rooms we use. Another saving we have found is heating the hot water when we need to rather than on a regular setting. I agree with other posters about the hot water going around the block before it gets to the taps/showers and this house is only five years old so is still as built.

When we had our heating upgraded the new thermostat, stuck on the wall, was fiddly and difficult to operate and the instructions were in 2pt type on a leaflet where each page was the size of a (small) matchbox.

We replaced it with a freestanding one that we find very easy to programme, although we rarely touch it. We have 2 boilers one each end of the house, both combi boilers, so get hot water on demand. The heating comes on twice a day, morning and evening and that is sufficent to keep the house warm all day. Occasionally in really cold weather we turn it on during the day, doing that merely requires us to increase the temperature on the thermostat and we set it to stay on a froststat when we go away.

Can't be bothered with Hive, anymore than our smart meter, which told us nothing we weren't capable of working out for ourselves. Having our heating coming on to a regular pattern meets 99.99% of our needs.

Monica, what make is it please. I am cheesed off with all this technology. I want simple.
Thanks everyone for your responses.

Luckylegs9, it is a Honeywell CM927. Having had a good look at it, it does have a lot of buttons and functions.

What we have done is ignored all the complications and concentrated on what we needed, which was; the heating coming on twice a day at the times and to the temperatures we determined. Having set that and found out how to turn off the heating when we are away so that it comes on before we return, we have ignored everything else. If we want the heating on at any time that is officially an 'off' period all we need to do is reset the thermostat to a higher temperature.

The problem with these programmable controls and other electronic devices is that they make the mistake of adding functions because they can and not because they have done research and found out whether anybody actually wants it. This means we end up with complicated and confusing devices.

We recently got a new combi boiler with Hive. For the first time in years I can take control of the heating. Last system was horrendous and DH was always in charge. Now I can be sitting upstairs and boost heating without DH's knowledge. He never feels the cold. It is wonderful and our gas bill has gone down into the bargain.

Thanks everyone.