New Hive installed, no hot water.

[LCostello14]

Hi everyone.

We’ve been having difficulties with hot water for months. Initial plumber replaced the diverter valve, but it didn’t fix the issue entirely - we had to use manual override on our then Nest heatlink as the signal wasn’t sending to our boiler properly. Fine, we had hot water.

First plumber recommended to replace the Nest with a Hive. Hive was installed on Friday by the Hive engineer, and we haven’t had water since.

Had a look at the wiring of the receiver and noticed it didn’t look anything like the installation guide for a dual channel system (see photo 1). Earth was in the Hot Water On (3) for a start. Changed that around (photo 2). Still nothing unfortunately. Not experts in this by any stretch but we need hot water back. Any ideas?

 

[Mister Banks]

Did you take a photo of the original wiring before the Nest was installed? Sounds like you have a Y plan system so pic 1 is more likely correct as pic 2 is for an S plan. you need to identify the wires at the wiring centre to be sure.

 

[LCostello14]

Hi, we didn’t unfortunately. The Nest was installed years ago and it was taken out and replaced by the guy who came to do Hive. It seems strange to have the earth wire going into 3 though?

Even if the way he did the wiring is correct, we still don’t have hot water so I’m stumped!

 

[ianmcd]

Get another so called engineer that is an absolute disgrace , completely wrong

 

[LCostello14]

@ianmcd Yeah we’re not happy. What photo is wrong? 1 or 2 or both?

Either way, neither 1 or 2 are working! We’ve also reset everything and tried variations of gravity assisted vs non gravity assisted. No joy.

 

[RandomGrinch]

1). Earth was in the Hot Water On (3) for a start. Changed that around (photo 2).

I'm afraid the wires have no idea what colour they are supposed to be. The Yellow/green wire could be 'Hot water on' - at the very least it should have brown sleeving to denote a switched live.

As above, your installer has left you with an inoperative system - call them back.

 

[LCostello14]

Thanks @RandomGrinch Didn’t know that if it’s live, it should be wrapped in brown.

Hive aren’t open on the weekends so we’re trying to troubleshoot it until they open tomorrow. I agree, it’s pretty shoddy of them!

 

[RandomGrinch]

Hive aren’t open on the weekends so we’re trying to troubleshoot it until they open tomorrow. I agree, it’s pretty shoddy of them!

As @Mister Banks suggested, if you can show us a pic of your wiring centre, we may be able to confirm what the wires are?

 

[LCostello14]

Of course. What exactly is a wiring centre? Just so I send the correct photo!

 

[LCostello14]

Nevermind, figured out where the wiring hub is. Also attached a photo of our valve system which seems to indicate we have a Y plan system. Is is possible we’re missing a wire…?

@Mister Banks @RandomGrinch any help is very much appreciated!

 

[RandomGrinch]

If the cable running to the Hive is the 2nd from the right entering the wiring centre, I think we can confirm it is a switched live and not an earth.
Do you know where the 2nd cable from the left goes?

 

[CBW]

Did you or your “engineer” touch anything in the wiring center?

 

[LCostello14]

@RandomGrinch the second cable from the left goes to the water tank - see the attached photo

@CBW I didn’t touch the wiring centre. Not sure about the engineer - he didn’t mention it

 

[CBW]

Well something is amiss, obviously.

 

[RandomGrinch]

@RandomGrinch the second cable from the left goes to the water tank - see the attached photo

Yes, that's (at least what I!) expected. The green/yellow wire at the Hive is a switched live for the 'Hot water on', it connects to another green/yellow (terminal 9) that should be the 'Common' on the tank thermostat.

The Grey from the Hive is 'Hot water off', it appears to have a connection to terminal 6 of the wiring centre, and then to the brown wire of the cylinder stat.
The blue wire from the cylinder stat connects to terminal 1 of the wiring centre.

If I read this correctly, does the first cable on the left go to the boiler, and the far cable on the right go to a 3 way valve?

Here's a useful diagram to follow...

Y Plan central heating system

Y-plan central heating system operation and wiring diagram

flameport.com