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** As soon as I posted this blog, Heat Genius email about their new App. Apparently, the new app (v4.0.0) should appear on your devices in the next couple of days. Some more info can is here **

My first post about Heat Genius was supposed to be an initial impression, but it went on for quite a bit, and generally turned out to be more of a full review, minus a few bits. So this blog posts is to cover the areas that I missed last time and to discuss how I have been getting on with Heat Genius since its install.

Footprint mode

This was probably my main omission from the previous review, and admittedly I haven’t tested it as much as I would have liked due to renovations on my house. It is actually one of the main selling points of Heat Genius and I believe they have several patents pending on the tech behind it.

During my time using it, I found it to be reasonably good, there is obviously a delay between he PIR sensor and the thermostatic radiator valves switching on, and then obviously another delay when switching it off. When I used the app to monitor if I was being detected in some rooms, I found that some we very slow to react to me being there, while other times it would be instant. This could well be poor placement of the PIRs by myself but I am unsure.

My main concern for the footprint mode was that there is a reasonable amount of foot traffic between rooms during the day, but it is largely just my roaming about the house doing chores, and in this scenario I do not want the heating on. So being paranoid I generally stuck to the heating schedule.

I should point out I am not criticising the footprint mode at all, it does work well, but due to my personal use within the house I felt it was better to stick to the schedule.

Heat Genius plan on releasing a hybrid mode which I think would work excellently for someone like myself as I can know for certain that specific radiators stay off during the working week etc.

 

Underfloor Heating

Heat Genius are not just resting on their laurels; they have expanded the range to include underfloor heating with modules for 230v underfloor, 24v underfloor and single zone underfloor. These new modules work exactly like the radiators and the whole system can be controlled via the app.

At the moment, Heat Genius can only be used for simple scheduling of electric heating. Heat Genius will soon release a unit that will offer full temperature control for all common types of electric heating, including underfloor. It’ll be fully compatible with the current Genius Hub, so you can install it today and add electric underfloor later.

 

Performance

It is still too early to tell if Heat Genius is genuinely saving me money, I won’t be able to work that out for months when I can get a decent comparison to last year’s heating. However, logically I can’t see how it is not saving me money, multiple radiates are being used probably half as much as they used to be, while there is only the one in my office that it on longer than it used to be. So surely that has to save a lot of money?

The system itself appears to have been considerably less glitchy than the Tado system when I first received it. The boiler hasn’t fired up at random times, and I don’t appear to have had any random disconnects. So it certainly seems like a reliable and robust system.

The mobile app, and web based system are just as ugly as ever, but I have been assured the new release is due imminently and it should address all the issues I previously had with the App. In fairness, it isn’t actually a bad app, it does the job adequately, and never crashes, it’s just that it is not that pretty.

Once a hybrid mode for the schedule and footprint mode is released I think the efficiency of the system could be improved considerably. I am still very sceptical about running the system long term in just foot print mode. For now, though the schedule is more than adequate for me.

 

Overall

My opinion still stands from my previous review. This is a fantastic system, it has its quirks, and is expensive to implement, but logically it seems to be far superior to controlling you heating than the current main options from Nest, Hive and even Tado.

You can read my first post here and if you would like to buy a Heat Genius system or read more about it visit heatgenius.co.uk. Pricing starts from £249.99 for their hub kit and a radiator valve is £59.99, a room sensor is £34.99, and underfloor heating is the same cost as a radiator.

 

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