Any Hive Heating experts

[TitanTim]

Are there any heating experts in tonight?

I've had Hive for around two and half years now and generally its been OK and rairly reliable, however at times it seems to throw a bit of a wobbly like this evening, its done the same around 5 or 6 times since I had it installed back in 2015.

Scenario is I went to put the heating on this evening at 8pm using the Mobile App and the boiler would't fire up. On the hot water side the schedule is set for 5pm so I felt the feeder pipe into the hot water tank and it was warm and the boiler casing itself was still warm so it must have fired up at 5pm as normal. Anyways I've spend the past hour resetting everything, boiler, taking batteries out of the thermostat and reinstalling and resetting internet and still no joy with the boiler. I then run the hot water off enough so I could do a hot water boost. As soon as do this the boiler fires up and I then I can fire the heating side up at the same time. The radiators are all now getting hot. As said its probably done this around half a dozen times and each time I've left it over night and done a hot water boost and everything then is fine and the heating works fine from then on. Anyone know much about Hive and why it does this every so often. Its a bit annoying as I never know if the boiler has conked out or whether its a problem with Hive.

On a seperate note, the Hive thermostat is not mains powered but runs off 4 AA batteries. Suddenly over the past 2 months the batteries needed replacing every 3 weeks and the annoying thing is if the batteries fail the boiler won't kick in and the first you know is no hot water. I contacted Hive on their Facebook page and to be fair they were pretty good and asked me to install some new batteries and they would monitor battery life. At the same time I e-mailed Hive customer support and they sent me a new thermostat unit straight away, I haven't swapped the thermostats over as yet.

Does anyone have any thoughts on why at times the boiler just won't start up unless I run hot water off and do a hot water boost? Generally it will right itself and then will be fine on the heating side for months and then same thing happens.

Thanks,

Tim.

 

[Twin Turbo]

Is there another power source you can use, as I have nest and power is via USB?

 

[Ducklakeview]

We have Hive. I found that if it's too close to the router, and my LightwaveRF hub, then the connection between the thermostat, hub and boiler control is lost..

Mike

 

[Wrs]

I experienced similar with Hive and it was a valve or switch (on our Megaflo setup) which was 'sticking' and prevented the boiler from firing up.

 

[TitanTim]

Thanks for the replies, no the Hive thermostat is battery only, theres no other power sources.

Just been having a play with it and the heating only seems to work now when the hot water is on all the time, as soon as I switch the hot water off the boiler shuts off even though the boiler should carry on running if I set the room temperature higher than actual. I wonder if something has gone awol on the boilers circuit board :? As soon as I switch the hot water back on the boiler fires up and will continue heating the radiators.

Tim.

 

[markplant]

If you boost the heating does it make the green led on the box that connects to the boiler come on, if it is it would suggest the signal is at least getting that far and as you say could be a boiler issue

 

[TitanTim]

If you boost the heating does it make the green led on the box that connects to the boiler come on, if it is it would suggest the signal is at least getting that far and as you say could be a boiler issue

Thanks Mark, yes it does either heating boost or just switching heating side on the green light comes on and you can hear the electrics click. If I switch hot water on boiler fires up and heating comes on but won't stay on if I cancel hot water

Tim.

 

[TitanTim]

I experienced similar with Hive and it was a valve or switch (on our Megaflo setup) which was 'sticking' and prevented the boiler from firing up.

Many thanks, hopefully it might be that, I've booked an engineer to come out have a nose.

Tim.

 

[Wrs]

No worries. I have attached a photo of the part in question for you (at the bottom of the hot water tank). If it's not set to auto give it a wiggle?

 

[Havard]

That is just a standard two port valve. Actuators can be prone to sticking. You may find that your boiler fires but then trips out on overheat as it has no where to go if the valve remains shut.

Give the lever a wiggle as you can force it open.

H.

 

[craig3.2]

As havardsays,just a standard 2port zone valve.....move the lever over,and it can be locked in the on position.
If the valve sticks it can be freed up by gentle tapping sometimes,or just lock it on permanently,see if that fixes it.
If so,get a new 2port valve fitted

 

[craig3.2]

Personally,Hive has known to start eating batteries if signal is an issue.
I favour Nest,as ,in my experience,have been less problematic.
Only fitted few of each,mind,but Both are generally ok.

The Next Smoke/C.o detectors are also rather nice,on a side note

Hope you get it sorted ok,op

 

[TitanTim]

Thanks guys, are you talking about the 3 way diverter valve? mine sits by the pump by the hot water tank, I've just had a look at it and if I switch the hot water on then the lever shifts to W and if I then switch heating on it moves to H but then if I switch the water off the boiler stops. With both hot water and heating on it sits at M. The diverter valve looks to be working and whirs away but then even though the lever moves doesn't mean the valve is actually working. I can't see that its the boiler as its working fine.

Theres another lever on the side but I daren't force them as they are very stiff.



Tim.

 

[TitanTim]

Personally,Hive has known to start eating batteries if signal is an issue.
I favour Nest,as ,in my experience,have been less problematic.
Only fitted few of each,mind,but Both are generally ok.

The Next Smoke/C.o detectors are also rather nice,on a side note

Hope you get it sorted ok,op

Thanks Craig, I've got a replacement Hive Thermostat so I might swap them over tomorrow. I was wandering if it was the themostat that had gone faulty but as said I'm hoping its the diverter valve. I'm with British Gas Homecare so it will be a free fix anyways

I do have the Nest smoke detector and thats been great especially when it talks to you

Tim.

 

[ranski]

check out the Hive Heating Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1713606452286060/

 

[markplant]

I did have a issue with a motion sensor and a active plug but it was sorted quickly by DM on Twitter

 

[85genius]

The battery thing is a common fault with the thermostat and they usually swap em for free, but as you said you got cover from British gas get em out to have a look

 

[TitanTim]

Thanks again everyone I've rebooked British Gas to come out tomorrow now as couldn't get the boiler to fire up at all this morning, I did run the hot water off to see if that would work and it did and boiler fired up and heated the water. When I have some time later today I'll swap the Hive thermostat unit over for a new one.

I've found Hive to be quite frustrating when there are problems like there was with an App update the other weekend as both the App and online dashboard were down . They're supposed to have a status update page on their website but they never post any problems so you normally have to go on Twitter or Facebook to see all the complaints then you know there's an ussue. If you don't get updates from Hive if they're system is down then you start suspecting it's the hardware , boiler, pump etc.

Tim.

 

[MJJamieson]

It will be the actuator head, there's a micro switch which switches on the boiler and if its not making wont bring it on. The hive ( or any thermostat ) only operates the valve and the signal to the fire the boiler comes from the switch in the valve.

 

[Wrs]

Apologies Tim - I misinformed you last night. I checked the paperwork after reading the post above and it was after replacing the part in the photo attached which fixed my Hive/boiler problem (similar to what you are experiencing). Hopefully this helps.