Powermax 155x & Hive

[Pj2412]

Hi all,

I'm after a bit of advice and/or reassurance.

I've recently had Hive installed (single channel receiver) via BG (British Gas) and it works very well, however, the concern I have is that the hot water has to be set to 'Continuous' via the switch on the left hand side of the boiler and the inbuilt programmer set to all day for both CH & HW, for hive to work as it should.

My understanding is that the hot water store is maintaining temp and topping up when it needs to (this can be at the middle of the night missus not happy), therefore it must be using more gas?

I'm currently trialling setting the inbuilt timer to match the Hive schedule, which means the the CH & HW will only come if both timers are actively on(Hw set to timed), which obviously defeats the purpose of have Hive. This trial should give an indication of gas usage between the two configurations.

Is there any other configure can I try that will prevent the HW being set to continuous? Should I be using the duel channel receiver?

Cheers

PJ

 

[stem]

That seems to be the usual way of connecting a Hive to a Powermax. Because the Powermax controls are internal they aren't easily made totally compatible. You can read another post asking the same question here.

 

[ianmcd]

That is the only way it will work with your set up

 

[Pj2412]

Ok, thanks for the replies lads.

 

[ollski]

I usually fit them like the boilermates and fit a single channel to the room stat and then just leave the times as they were before.

 

[ianmcd]

I usually fit them like the boilermates and fit a single channel to the room stat and then just leave the times as they were before.

the hw has to be st to constant or the new stat wont work ,

 

[ollski]

It’s just wired into the room stat though, the original horstmann programmer still controls the main times

 

[Pj2412]

It’s just wired into the room stat though, the original horstmann programmer still controls the main times

This is how I think mine is currently set as. I’m still using the internal timer to control the boiler time (so HW is not on constant but timed). The Hive only kicks in once the heating comes on through the internal boiler timer.

If I try to boost the Hive when the internal timer is off nothing happens.

It’s not ideal, but it beats having the HW set to constant.

 

[ollski]

You can set your heating to constant and then use your hive as a heating timer and stat. Obviously it won’t operate unless the store is up to temperature which is controlled by whatever the hw side of the timer is set to so you want the water to come on about 30 minutes before the hive calls for heat

 

[ianmcd]

the HW has to be set to constantly on

 

[Gorners]

You can set your heating to constant and then use your hive as a heating timer and stat. Obviously it won’t operate unless the store is up to temperature which is controlled by whatever the hw side of the timer is set to so you want the water to come on about 30 minutes before the hive calls for heat

Not quite, on this boiler the heating won’t start circulating if the store isn’t up to temperature, when the heating comes on the first action is to bring the store up to temp and then it will start circulating to the rads. Heating isn’t reliant on having hot water set to ‘on’ beforehand - heating and hot water can be set completely independent from each other apart from obviously when the heating is on, hot water is also on.

The OP needs to set heating to 24 hours (which is essentially constant), and hot water to ‘all day’. All day works off the first set schedule, so you’d usually set it to something like 6am to 9pm. The store is kept up to temp during that period and then doesn’t try to kick in at night.

All this is assuming the installer didn’t do anything at all with the hot water wires

 

[ollski]

Not quite, on this boiler the heating won’t start circulating if the store isn’t up to temperature, when the heating comes on the first action is to bring the store up to temp and then it will start circulating to the rads. Heating isn’t reliant on having hot water set to ‘on’ beforehand - heating and hot water can be set completely independent from each other apart from obviously when the heating is on, hot water is also on.

The OP needs to set heating to 24 hours (which is essentially constant), and hot water to ‘all day’. All day works off the first set schedule, so you’d usually set it to something like 6am to 9pm. The store is kept up to temp during that period and then doesn’t try to kick in at night.

All this is assuming the installer didn’t do anything at all with the hot water wires

Not quite what?, you said the same thing

 

[Gorners]

Did I?! Hah. I think you put ‘hw’ instead of heating, but as long as someone agrees I’m not talking out of my foot

 

[ollski]

Well it doesn’t massively matter as it’s the hw demand which heats the store but the ch demand automatically turns hw demand on the same. That’s why it’s a ball ache to try and replace the built in unit with a dual channel.

 

[ianmcd]

already said this but you need to set the HW to constantly on, the new stat will control the CH pump as long as the store is satisfied