1. Hive
Seemingly everyone is getting invested in smart home technology. This technology continues to enhance homeowners’ quality of life with more convenient living. Now, you can control everything from your washing machine to your doorbell within an app. You can even begin saving money on your energy bills with this tech.
Hive is one of the mainstays when it comes to smart thermostats. Hive claims that it saves customers nearly £130 in a single year. This, along with its being so feature-rich makes it one of the best and most popular systems you can invest in.
The product itself has several different money-saving features that you will love. This includes built-in frost protection to prevent your pipes from getting frozen in freezing temperatures. Likewise, it comes with a built-in Holiday mode which ensures you aren’t wasting more money than you should be when no one is occupying your home. It even allows you to connect the system with your Amazon Alexa to gain voice control features.
Total Cost: £179 (which includes the hardware)
Pros: This system is incredibly intuitive. It also has full Amazon Alexa integration which is a plus.
Cons: This thermostat requires installation by an engineer who is qualified.
2. Nest
This is the popular smart thermostat that was released by Google and Nest Labs. This is one of the most feature-rich and sophisticated smart thermostats you will find being sold within the marketplace today.
This thermostat comes with numerous game-changing features like being able to both monitor and control an individual room’s temperature. Along with this, the Nest has built-in light, humidity, and even motion detection. All of this allows it to know whether or not someone is occupying the room. It will then sync up and use the sensors to learn your schedule to optimize the thermostat for your home.
Along with this, you can even control it in advance manually. It comes with a holiday mode that you can use which will allow you to schedule your heating and cooling to turn on when you are expected to arrive. This way, you will be able to prep the home to your liking before your arrival.
Cost: £169 (which includes the hardware)
Pros: This thermostat is capable of optimizing your home based on your living style and preferences. It is extremely easy to set up and it has full Google Home and Amazon Alexa integration
Cons: You will need to purchase multiple sensors if you are looking to leverage the features of being able to heat your entire property remotely. This can get rather expensive.
3. Tado
This is a smart thermostat that is not as popular within the marketplace because it doesn’t have the backing of Hive or Nest. However, that doesn’t mean it falls short. It is quickly gaining steam in the marketplace because of its claims to save a whopping 31% off your energy bills.
This system does come with a higher upfront cost that must be accounted for, but it does offer you the ability to set up the system on your own. This can save you from having to pay for additional professional installation.
Along with this, you will be able to right-fit a thermostat to individual radiators in your home which can give you more accurate readings and control over individual room temperatures in your home. You can do all of this directly from the app.
Along with this, you can leverage Tado’s geolocation automation feature. This will give you the ability to use your smartphone’s location setting to turn your system on or off as you leave your home or get close in proximity to it.
Cost: The unit starts at £119 (this includes the hardware)
Pros: It works very much like all of the other heating systems you are used to. It has window detection to ensure you aren’t leaving your windows open and wasting energy.
Cons: It’s not going to adapt to your living style or preferences. Therefore, you won’t have that automated for you.
4. Sense
This is a home energy monitoring system that you could choose. This system can help you calculate the total amount of electricity each appliance in your home is using. This can be very beneficial for seeing exactly what you are paying for.
This system uses algorithms to monitor the energy being used from each appliance. This can be a great way to ensure you are unplugging the right appliances when they aren’t actively being used as it can save you a lot. The app itself features a very easy-to-use user-interface and you will be able to see the historical data right from the home screen.
Cost: £230 (this includes the smart energy home monitoring hardware)
Pros: Very easy to use. The newer versions you can get come with solar energy monitoring which can be very useful for those who need it.
Cons: The entire setup can be somewhat cumbersome and complicated. It’s also not fully compatible with every device.
No matter what app you decide to use for your home, your boiler will still require maintenance or replacement should things go wrong, search boiler repairs Glasgow.
5. WhatGas
This is an app that is going to help you while you are out on the road.
If you have either a gas or diesel vehicle, you will be able to sort through the prices based on the type of petrol you need. By using this, you will be able to ensure you don’t end up spending a lot more at a petrol station simply because you didn’t know the one right around the corner had lower prices.
Cost: Free
Pros: It’s easy to use and it can save you a lot of money.
Cons: It’s user-curated. Therefore, you will need to rely on others to update the information in the app.
6. Zap-Map
One of the main things that people who own electric vehicles will be concerned about is the ability to find the right EV charging point for their vehicle. This app will give you the ability to easily find charge points in your area.
This app will give you the ability to locate a whopping 33,000 publically available charging points found in the UK which can make it a lot less stressful to rely on electric vehicles in your daily commute.
Cost: Completely Free
Pros: The interface leverages Google Maps which makes it incredibly simple to use.
Cons: You will find new charging points constantly being installed which don’t appear right away.
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