Hive installation broke my PCB on boiler

[NiallM]

The tradesman installed the hive controller last night but it blew the circuit board on my Vokera plus 29c boiler. The boiler powers up and makes a noise but the indicitor lights don't work and there is no hot water or heating.
The tradesman connected the live and neutral on the left two connectors on the Hive, looped the live to the third connector. On the fifth connector (3) he connected to CN5 right on the PCB.
What went wrong?

 

[denso13]

The stat connection in the boiler is extra low voltage/volt free. Putting 230v volts through it is wrong, as you have found out.

 

[JohnD]

The tradesman

Interesting word.

What were his qualifications in gas boiler installation?

 

[securespark]

I would be contacting him to get it rectified.

If that fails, contact Gas Safe.

 

[Murdochcat]

I would be contacting him to get it rectified.

If that fails, contact Gas Safe.

And that won’t be cheap

Did he give you an invoice?

 

[opps]

Interesting word.

What were his qualifications in gas boiler installation?

I am not a plumber... why does he need to be "Gas Safe" to wire up a room stat? Granted, it sounds like he effed up, but he wasn't touching the gas supply.

 

[ericmark]

Only need to read the manual to see CN5 is extra low voltage. As to gas safe, I do find it a problem finding out which boilers you can assess the wiring without breaking a room seal, and which do require a room seal to be disturbed, I remember working with pumps, using a tyre inflator to pressurise the junction box to test for leaks, but with my old boiler where the cover did seal from the room, I never found a way to test the seal, years ago and boiler now scraped, and since in the garage it did not matter that much, but only real option would have been to renew the seal, which did seem a bit daft, and mothers Bosch the cover did not form any room seal so not problem removing.

Since the landlord law in England required the electrical wiring to be tested and inspected by the person doing EICR unless there is a clear instruction "gas safe" only, then it must be expected the covers are removed for inspection. As one removes the covers on my boiler, you can see the instructions inside the boiler, so until cover removed, can't even read the instructions.

So clearly the tradesman will need to repair the boiler, but this is why I only play with boilers in the summer, unless not working anyway, this is not the time of year to have no boiler.

 

[JohnD]

I am not a plumber... why does he need to be "Gas Safe" to wire up a room stat....

to make connections to a gas boiler

sounds like he was not competent to do it.

do you think otherwise?

 

[polesapart]

In my distant, carefree, and overconfident yoof I once connected 240V to the low voltage terminals on an early Vaillant.

Cost me half the profit on the job to rectify.

You can't buy experience - or perhaps here I did.

 

[Madrab]

As suggested - For some strange reason he thought that the boiler would need a switched live when it uses a volt free contact. Obviously didn't check with the MI, schoolboy error and an expensive mistake.

It's quite simple - He's to blame, his mistake blew the board so he needs to take responsibility and replace the board for you. If he isn't Gas Safe then he needs to pay someone to do it.

 

[ericmark]

In my distant, carefree, and overconfident yoof I once connected 240V to the low voltage terminals on an early Vaillant.

Yes, such an easy mistake, not helped with poor labels, I consider "low voltage AC" to be 50–1000 volts, and 24 volts is extra low voltage, it seems in the USA they do not follow ISO labels so we get some extra low voltage items marked as low voltage. But a professional should know that, and would check the instructions to be sure.

 

[opps]

to make connections to a gas boiler

sounds like he was not competent to do it.

do you think otherwise?

I don't disagree that they guy was not competent but I, perhaps mistakenly, thought that Gas Safe was only required for the gas side (including both the exhaust and condensate pipe). The Hive room stat will either work or not- I, as a lay person, cannot see how it makes the boiler dangerous. I am happy to be corrected by the plumbers here whom I respect.

 

[oldbuffer]

1. To make a connection on the electrical side of the boiler, you generally need to remove the cover or swing down part of it.
2. On some, but not all, gas boilers, the cover is sealed to the case, and this seal ensures products of combustion can only escape via the flue system.
3. On such boilers, opening the case requires the use of specialist equipment to enure the seal is maintained when the cover is replaced. Only a gas safe registered engineer is allowed to perform and certify such tests.

 

[ericmark]

1. To make a connection on the electrical side of the boiler, you generally need to remove the cover or swing down part of it.
2. On some, but not all, gas boilers, the cover is sealed to the case, and this seal ensures products of combustion can only escape via the flue system.
3. On such boilers, opening the case requires the use of specialist equipment to enure the seal is maintained when the cover is replaced. Only a gas safe registered engineer is allowed to perform and certify such tests.

This is where as an electrician I find a problem. I remember being worried with mothers Worcester Bosch boiler only to find it was completely open at the bottom and made no seal. But there is nothing on the covers to say which can and which can't be removed by non gas safe.

I know today one can download the instructions for most boilers, in this case it states "A qualified electrician should connect the appliance to the electrical supply." so one assumes as an electrician we can gain assess to the electrical connections. And it directions one to section 8 (page 25) it does say

and

So reading the two pages to do with the electrical connections found here pages 26 and 27, there is nothing to say one must be gas safe to connect up the electrics, I have a feeling 30 meters is incorrect, it should read 300 mm, which is around 12 inches. But that is because I am an electrician and am aware of normal separation required.

 

[denso13]

I have a feeling 30 meters is incorrect, it should read 300 mm, which is around 12 inches. But that is because I am an electrician and am aware of normal separation required.

That's distance to the room stat, not separation distance.