Hive & Main Eco Compact

[number49]

Hi All,

I have a newish main eco compact 30 and dual channel Hive (I know, I know... but it's worked fine for the past 8 years with my previous combi).

The boiler has been off for a few weeks for some plastering and other jobs. I've filled and vented everything, powered up the boiler, Hive is online etc. along with hub and room stat.

Whenever the heating is set on (boost, schedule etc) the Hive responds as expected but the boiler powers off. I can't honestly remember if we had the heat on before as it was installed over the summer.

I've checked the wiring and photos as below and looks ok to me, I thought the black and grey may be reversed as the boiler wiring diagram showed 230 out on a specific terminal but don't think that's the problem. I've tested the Hive with a meter and get 240v on the corresponding terminals when the hive switches ie when heat on or heat off commands are sent from the app.

Any ideas/suggestions? I have the boiler fitter coming back but he cant get to us until next week and I could really do with getting the heat on to dry out the plaster in the meantime

 

[Deleted member 267285]

You only need heating on (4 on Hive) and switch live back to the boiler, should be number 1 (at the boiler) iirc.

 

[RandomGrinch]

Yes, grey is the return wire to the boiler, so should be connected to terminal 4 in the dual channel Hive.
You don't require the black wire at all.

Have you got heating set to continuous on the boiler?

If none of that works and you want heat, just bridge together the terminals with the black and grey wires at the boiler.

@CBW it's like déjà vu!

 

[Deleted member 267285]

@CBW it's like déjà vu!

I know! Well, it’s it Halloween

 

[number49]

Thanks @CBW & @RandomGrinch

It’s appreciated!

 

[Philomath]

Hello @number49, did this work for you?
I have a similar situation but everytime I connect the cable to 4, it works for a few days and then suddenly stops.

 

[CountryFan]

Hello @number49, did this work for you?
I have a similar situation but everytime I connect the cable to 4, it works for a few days and then suddenly stops.

Can you elaborate? Do you have a combi? If so which one? More information is needed.

 

[Philomath]

Sure @CountryFan, I have a 'Mains Eco Compact 30kW' combi boiler. This is the wiring done by a previous plumber. Top section (left of the picture) are the wires going to the Hive (dual receiver).

 

[CountryFan]

Sure @CountryFan, I have a 'Mains Eco Compact 30kW' combi boiler. This is the wiring done by a previous plumber. Top section (left of the picture) are the wires going to the Hive (dual receiver).

View attachment 406994

Wiring appears ok. Can you explain more about what happens when it suddenly stops. It just doesn’t work, it works but then doesn’t come back on?

 

[Philomath]

Wiring appears ok. Can you explain more about what happens when it suddenly stops. It just doesn’t work, it works but then doesn’t come back on?

It works for two days and then suddenly stops.

When I turn the thermostat on, the receiver light comes on and I can hear the click, but the boiler does not fire up. It seems as though the signal is being sent, but the boiler is not responding.

For reference, I am using the Hive dual receiver with a combi boiler.

 

[CountryFan]

For reference, I am using the Hive dual receiver with a combi boiler.

Yeah I gathered that from post #8. Do the batteries need changing? If it does all work fine, then could be a receiver issue not sending a switched live out.

 

[ericmark]

I don't know about Hive, I just looked at my Wiser app, and it took me a long time to find where the battery condition is shown Seems I need to change a pair, thanks, do you get same with Hive?

 

[Philomath]

Yeah I gathered that from post #8. Do the batteries need changing? If it does all work fine, then could be a receiver issue not sending a switched live out.

Thanks @CountryFan.

I don’t think it’s the battery, as the receiver lights up and I can hear it click when the thermostat is set to turn the heating on. It seems to be sending the signal, so it could potentially be an issue with the receiver itself. I just wanted to make sure there isn’t anything wrong with the wiring. The black wire you can see in the picture is connected to terminal 4 on the Hive system.

I do have a question though: on the single receiver, the wires are connected to terminals 1 (COM) and 3 (heating on). Why is it that on the dual receiver you only connect to terminal 4 (heating on)?

 

[ericmark]

Oh, I had that with a little thermostat, this style the low battery was not on, and the thermostat clicked, but it did not turn central heating on until I changed batteries.

It seems Hive is the name of company, not the name of a single thermostat, and there is a whole range of Hive thermostats. Since you have high jacked someone else's thread answers assume you are using same model as @number49 which may not be the case.

As you point out, there are one, two, and three channel and two methods of connecting OpenTherm all using the frame, plus both programmers, thermostats, and programmable thermostats. The single channel is volt free, so could switch 24 volts, the other two at 230 volts only, which means if you fit the wrong thermostat not only will it fail to work, but could also damage the boiler.

I have a single channel Drayton Wiser which uses the same frame. I don't know with Hive, but with Wiser there is no need to have any wall thermostat, the whole house could be controlled from the TRV heads.

Boilers and heat pumps often need a minium off time. This is often built into thermostats, and when setting up you need to tell it what type of boiler is fitted, so my Nest set up to run an oil boiler, likely has a longer off time built in to my sons, on a gas boiler.

So if I turn up the heat, I can wait nearly 5 minutes before the boiler fires up. The thermostat may go orange, or show a flame, but the switching can still be delayed.

With my Wiser I just try turning another thermostat connected to the same hub up, i.e. the TRV head. In fact, I also have Nest in parallel as Wiser does not do the water, so Nest was left connected, also Wiser is in living room which has alternative heating, wood burning fire. In both cases, there are buttons on the hub, so could turn one by pressing a button on the hub except that means going outside and down a set of steps. I have three devices which will fire the boiler, one for flat under the main house, and two for main house, all coming from a battery backed supply. As it stands, we don't have a clue how yours is wired.

 

[CountryFan]

I do have a question though: on the single receiver, the wires are connected to terminals 1 (COM) and 3 (heating on). Why is it that on the dual receiver you only connect to terminal 4 (heating on)?

With a dual channel the voltage is supplied internally and mains voltage at 230/240 vac. With the single channel they can be extra low voltage (24v) or mains voltage or whatever is supplied by the boiler.