Absolutely D_Hailsham, I agree with you. But the ridiculous point is that currently the Horstmann Programmer in place handles CH and HW separately, which it shouldn't do, and is anyway useless as the CH pump will flow cool water from the store to the radiators. And as it's a rather poor user-friendly device, a smart thermostat would do two things: allow to run it on demand without going and fiddling with the programmer every time the timing doesn't suit our needs (irregular schedules), and wire it to fix the initial situation, and have the HW triggered when CH is required. Reprogramming the whole current thermostat schedules for both hw and ch everytime the outside temp plummets or soars has proven quite annoying.
Soin the case of my thermal store it would be the same wiring as a semi pumped system, as I want boiler & pump to be triggered together, while still being able to control HW separately for summer months.
I realise the topic has drifted a bit... right now I'm trying to wrap my head around this :
Hive is definitely easier to install for my setup and fits on the standard backplate, which will make it a matter of minutes to replace my programmer and bypass the old thermostat, while Nest, with its less standardised heat link will take a bit longer and will require additional drilling on the wall + the schematic that Echo the Husky was kind enough to share.
But on an usage perspective, the Nest still seems smarter, with the Home/away mode based on motion detection, and its learning ability for schedules, plus I guess it's the most "common" system ; while I came to understand that Hive will be programmed like a regular programmer through the app and lacks the "smarts", even if it retains the same remote capabilities and I personally like the fact that the Hive thermostat in itself is powered by batteries making it wireless (even if you shouldn't move it around).
They are both within a £20 price range of each other, which makes it a tough choice.