Smart? These gadgets nearly drove me out of my mind
Will ‘artificial intelligence’ technology save us time and money? Our reporter tries to find out
HERALDED as one of the best ways to save money, a ‘smart’ thermostat is supposed to reduce your energy bills by up to a third. For the average home spending £1,400 a year on gas and electricity it could mean knocking £450 off the annual energy bill.
Unlike traditional thermostats, these new gizmos often come with electronic brains that study a homeowner’s movements and come on automatically when someone is home – and go off when no one is around. They can also be controlled by smartphones to ensure you are not being wasteful.
GADGET ONE: NETATMO SMART
THE first device I road-test is the Netatmo Smart Thermostat, costing £135, pictured right. It has a simple, stylish look created by French designer Philippe Starck.
Inside the package is a plastic wall panel, wire, rawl plugs and screws. To assemble it, I must supply my own screwdriver, electric drill and DIY know-how.
First I turn off the mains power and remove my existing £20 Honeywell thermostat. There are four wires coming out of the wall, but I only need two to get the Netatmo thermostat working. I feel like a bomb disposal expert and must explore the Netatmo website to find the right wires to use.
The original thermostat housing is too large for a straight swap so I drill holes into the new plastic plate before fitting it. All rather fiddly work.
Separately I plug a relay into a nearby power point that allows me to talk to the new thermostat with a mobile phone.
After an hour I have done all the DIY required and turn on the electricity again. Nothing. So I go online again, discovering I need to download a ‘wizard setup’ to bring back heat into my home.
The website explains my equipment will only work ‘if it respects the following criteria: two wired dry contact (on/off); switching current: max 120VA (4A load@30v…’ I have no idea what any of this means.
Still unable to ‘qualify my heating equipment’ I email details and photos of my old boiler and thermostat to Netatmo. A reply begins: ‘Cher client, ce courriel est généré automatiquement…’
The full message, roughly translated, says how much I am valued as a customer but the firm is experiencing an unexpected high number of emails.
In desperation and in fear of an earbashing from my wife I put back the old thermostat. After calling Netatmo’s UK office I realise it would be wiser to pay £100 for a professional to fit it.
Despite the marketing claims, I did not find this device easy to instal.
GADGET TWO: WISER
NEXT TO test out is a £220 three-channel Wiser thermostat system from British heating engineer Drayton. It looks the business but there is no way I dare try to fit it alone. Having given up with Netatmo, I throw in the towel before I have even begun.
GADGET THREE: NEST LEARNING
FINALLY, there is the £220 Nest ‘learning thermostat’. Fortunately, this time, I am offered an engineer called Andy who is willing to come and fit the equipment. Of course, he does not come free but at least the thermostat is guaranteed to work.
Straightaway he proves his worth, discovering the control box that is hidden in the attic and connected to a timer in the airing cupboard.
He rips out my plastic beige timer and fits a fancy new metaland-glass dial. Nest is owned by internet giant Google and founded by former Apple employees – and the tactile device is attractive.
Andy pours out lots of information about settings and ‘thermostat learning’ that goes right over my head. But I manage to download the app, which allows me to have all the required controls on my phone.
It takes a few days to get used to. Initially the heating goes off, even when saying it was on. The solution was to fire up the boiler by pressing the ignition switch.
Controlling the thermostat through a mobile phone makes it easy to fine-tune what time of day heating or hot water should be on or off. I reckon that if I use the device properly it will pay for itself within 18 months.
Jonathan Ratcliffe, of heating maintenance firm Warm, based in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, says: ‘The Achilles’ heel of smart systems is the internet. It if goes down you can lose control – but it can be overridden at home. The technology is still slightly behind our expectations but it should catch up within five years.’
GADGET FOUR: THE SMART METER (OVO ENERGY)
THE so-called ‘smart’ meter is being forced on homes in a nationwide scheme costing a jaw-dropping £11billion.
Whether you want a meter or not each home must pay for the device – adding £420 to everyone’s energy bills. So if you are
paying for this grand folly, how good is it?
It is designed to do away with estimated bills and manual meter readings. Instead usage is read remotely by an energy supplier using radio waves.
It also comes with a hand-held display that sits in the kitchen and shows how much energy you are consuming. The idea is that by monitoring your energy usage you will be less wasteful – knocking as much as £50 off your annual bill.
The Mail on Sunday has highlighted problems with smart meters. They usually stop working if you switch energy provider, are vulnerable to hacking and do not always save money.
But I still wanted to test one out. So I made an online booking with my electricity provider Ovo Energy.
Four days before the appointment I received a text explaining that company Lowri Beck will do the fitting. It allocated a time when someone would turn up – if not in I would be hit with a £30 fine.
At six minutes past noon on the day – six minutes after Lowri Beck said it would arrive – I received a text asking how satisfied I was with the ‘smart meter install experience’. At 44 minutes past noon, Steve the fitter finally arrived. I wanted to issue him with a fine for turning up late but I lost my nerve.
He was friendly but as soon as he opened the meter box he took a sharp intake of breath through his teeth and shook his head, stating: ‘You have a three phase meter and the one I have bought will not fit.’
Since then I have heard nothing. Not very smart.
GADGET FIVE: THE INTELLIGENT LIGHT BULB (HIVE)
THERE was a time when to save energy you had to shout upstairs at the children to turn off lights in rooms not being used. But now technology lets you save your breath. The £20 Hive Active Light is one such device. The bulb is sold by British Gas but you must spend £80 on a Hive Hub to plug into your router so the bulb – and other Hive devices – can be controlled by your smart phone.
Plugging in the Hive Hub and bulb is easy. You then download an app that enables you to control the light. You can turn it on and off, vary its brightness and put it on a timer – anywhere with wi-fi or a 3G signal.
Other gadgets that work with the Hive Hub include a £39 plug control switch and a £30 motion sensor. These can turn off electric devices such as TVs left on standby when no one is at home – or automatically turn them on if someone walks into a room.
The set-up is likely to cost at least £100 but in the world of smart technology it is fairly cheap – and may pay for itself in a couple of years.
But there are simpler ways to save money on your lighting bill which, according to the Centre for Sustainable Energy, accounts for up to a fifth of electricity costs. By replacing traditional bulbs with energy-saving ones, some £50 a year can be trimmed from your utility bills.
Do not assume all new bulbs are energy efficient. Halogen bulbs are often fitted in ceilings, but lightemitting diodes are 80 per cent more efficient, though they do cost more to buy upfront.