Hive with Remeha Avanta Plus Boiler

[EE3509]

Hello,

I have an old remeha avanta plus combi boiler and I want to install a hive thermostat and receiver.

I am an electronic engineer (not electrician), but the wiring here seems quite straightforward and I can do it myself.

I've compiled this drawing which shows the terminal on the boiler and how it should be connected to the hive receiver. Does anyone see anything wrong with that ?

Moreover, I was thinking of placing the Hive receiver close to the boilder, what type of wire should I buy for this connection ?

Thanks in advance !

 

[Iggifer]

Well you definitely want to remove the link between 1-4 as it says in the instructions or your heating will always be on.

You can just use some 3 core and earth flex. Connect the earth to the boilers earth terminal and park it in the earth tether in the hive.

 

[EE3509]

Thanks for your reply @Iggifer

Yes, I will be removing 1-4 link. Are there any regulations as to where I can place the hive receiver ? (e.g. minimum distance from boiler)


Regards,
Panos

 

[Iggifer]

I mean so long as it’s not touching the boiler and doesnt get in the way of taking the cover off I wouldn’t worry too much. Just use your common sense

 

[ericmark]

Not regulations as to minimum distance however some fans in some boilers it seems produce RF so normally a little gap between boiler are receiver is a good idea.

Also reading this document it would seem the boiler is OpenTherm enabled so why would anyone with any engineering knowledge use Hive which will not work with OpenTherm rather than Nest which will work with OpenTherm?

Maybe I have got the wrong boiler?

 

[EE3509]

Thanks @ericmark, Nest would be a more efficient solution but I decided to go for the Hive as it was only £75 for the Hive Receiver and Thermostat - I received the Hive Hub for free from a Black Friday promotion.

 

[EE3509]

For anyone else that may want to do this, I've succesfully installed the Hive Receiver using the connections shown on the first post.

The only issue was that the pins in the X2 connector inside the boiler were 1..5 instead of 5..1 as shown in the manual.

 

[Dominic Beattie]

Hello,

I have an old remeha avanta plus combi boiler and I want to install a hive thermostat and receiver.

I am an electronic engineer (not electrician), but the wiring here seems quite straightforward and I can do it myself.

I've compiled this drawing which shows the terminal on the boiler and how it should be connected to the hive receiver. Does anyone see anything wrong with that ?

Moreover, I was thinking of placing the Hive receiver close to the boilder, what type of wire should I buy for this connection ?

Thanks in advance !

Hi,
I have just tried installing the Hive Unit following your diagram. This did not work and the link between Permanent Live and Common caused the 3Amp fuse to break. I have now included a diagram of how I wired the Hive receiver to my Remeha Avanta Plus (24C) Boiler.
MY DIAGRAM ONLY APPLIES TO THE SINGLE CHANNEL RECEIVER..
DO NOT USE THIS SETUP ON THE DUAL CHANNEL RECEIVER!

 

[ericmark]

Hive is NOT OPENTHERM so the connections you show are wrong and likely to do damage. Nothing should connect to the X9 terminal block with Hive, only the X2 terminal block is used.

To use Opentherm you need Nest not Hive.

At £75 I can understand why the original poster used Hive, however he did point out the numbers were reverse to shown on X2, and that Nest is far better, but he had a good deal.

The whole idea of fitting a non OpenTherm thermostat is to reduce the cycling of the boiler, so the thermostat must not have anti-hysteresis software built in, Hive does have anti-hysteresis software built in so is no good with a modulating boiler.

 

[Dominic Beattie]

Hive is NOT OPENTHERM so the connections you show are wrong and likely to do damage. Nothing should connect to the X9 terminal block with Hive, only the X2 terminal block is used.

To use Opentherm you need Nest not Hive.

At £75 I can understand why the original poster used Hive, however he did point out the numbers were reverse to shown on X2, and that Nest is far better, but he had a good deal.

The whole idea of fitting a non OpenTherm thermostat is to reduce the cycling of the boiler, so the thermostat must not have anti-hysteresis software built in, Hive does have anti-hysteresis software built in so is no good with a modulating boiler.

What voltage does a Hive receiver operate on?
Our receivers are supplied from mains (the permanent live and permanent neutral connections). The single channel receiver has “dry contacts” or “zero volt contacts”, that means it acts like a switch connecting the signal input terminal (shown as “Common” in our install guide) to the normally open (Heating on) or normally closed (heating off) output terminals. This single channel receiver can switch low voltage or mains voltage boiler control signals. The voltage to be switched connects to the Common terminal.

The two channel receiver is mains voltages only. It produces mains output voltages on its heating and hot water on/off terminals.


This is from the hivehome.com support page at: https://www.hivehome.com/support/He.../What-voltage-does-a-Hive-receiver-operate-on

 

[ericmark]

The Opentherm connection is not on/off I am not sure if a variable resistance or a voltage feed is used to tell boiler what output is required, however is is analogue not digital I.e. not simply on/off.

With a thermostat like Nest or EvoHome it tells the boiler what output is required, it modulates the boiler I.e. turns flame height up/down to suit requirement so there is not hysteresis as it controls the heating, it also ensures the boiler is cool before it finally turns it off so heat is not lost out of the flue.

However hive is a rather basic thermostat and only turns off/on it is not suitable for modulating boilers, it will work if wired correctly, however it can't modulate the boiler and the mark/space control although good with non modulating boilers with a modulating boiler means it is turned off/on more frequent which means heat is lost each time it does this so it is far less efficient than a simple thermostat with out any anti hysteresis software.

Also if a on/off thermostat is used it is NOT connected to the Opentherm terminals.

 

[D_Hailsham]

The Opentherm connection is not on/off I am not sure if a variable resistance or a voltage feed is used to tell boiler what output is required, however is is analogue not digital I.e. not simply on/off.

I get the impression that you do not understand how Opentherm works. For example: Opentherm does not tell the boiler what output is required; it only tells it what temperature is required. It might help if you read the Opentherm Protocol. It's not the latest version - that's no 4 - but the basic principle has never changed and later versions only add additional ID's or cover new features such as wireless communication and SmartPower.

 

[ericmark]

I get the impression that you do not understand how Opentherm works. For example: Opentherm does not tell the boiler what output is required; it only tells it what temperature is required. It might help if you read the Opentherm Protocol. It's not the latest version - that's no 4 - but the basic principle has never changed and later versions only add additional ID's or cover new features such as wireless communication and SmartPower.

Be it output or temperature I am sure you don't connect on/off thermostats to the boiler BUS? And connecting 230 volt mains causing the fuse to rupture will not have done the boiler any good.

 

[ianmcd]

Be it output or temperature I am sure you don't connect on/off thermostats to the boiler BUS? And connecting 230 volt mains causing the fuse to rupture will not have done the boiler any good.

The fuse blowing has absolutely nothing to do with opentherm.

 

[D_Hailsham]

Be it output or temperature I am sure you don't connect on/off thermostats to the boiler BUS? And connecting 230 volt mains causing the fuse to rupture will not have done the boiler any good.

Have a look at the diagram again. What does it say next to X9, terminals 7 & 8? Modulating or On/Off using volt-free thermostat. The Hive thermostat, terminals 1 & 3 are volt free, provided 1 is not linked to L. The Opentherm Protocol explains why this works.