UKC

Our plumber installed a Hive controller without asking if we wanted it (we don’t, of course). Inevitably it doesn’t work. It fires the heating and then switches off after 30s, with the boiler saying the set point has been reached. Plumber not very interested. Anyone had a similar experience- I assume one wire is in a wrong hole somewhere , but which?

Don’t know why you wouldn’t want it, it’s absolutely fantastic. Never had an issue. Works exactly how we want it to. Love that I can plan to have hot water when I get home from a day on the hill, like today.

Apologies if that doesn’t help. But I just can’t understand why you wouldn’t want it.

Well I just turn the tap on to get hot water!

But generally because it’s expensive, over complicated and DOESNT WORK!

I’m assuming you have a combi boiler? Fair enough. 

Not sure why it’s expensive. We didn’t pay for ours. But yes, I get your frustration that it doesn’t work.

If I understand correctly it still lacks proper geofencing - Tado has it and is so vastly superior.

And combis are great!   (There is the "what if it breaks down" thing, but properly maintained, reasonably recent boilers don't really break down, just like modern cars tend not to very often either).

It’s late on Saturday night and I’m drinking wine. I’m assuming that’s tech speak I don’t understand.

They are. Unfortunately they have limits, and we have to use a hot water tank.

So, to explain how Tado does geofencing, you basically set the system up a bit like a classic central heating programmer (by setting the temperature you want at what time).  What happens then, though, is that if you go out Tado will set the temperature in the house to be such that it minimises energy waste, while meaning that if you go home you will walk into a house at the correct temperature[1].  So for example it might knock a couple of degrees off if you're a mile or two away, but if you're at the other end of the country it'll go to frost protection.  So you literally install and forget.

You can make Hive do that if you use something like If This Then That, but it doesn't do it out of the box.  I do wonder if this is because Tado has a patent on it, but that is neither here nor there - because it doesn't have that "killer app" in my view Hive is garbage.

[1] There's a slider where you can set your "getting this spot on vs. environmental credentials" preference, which affects how "cautious" it is.

Thanks. Appreciate your point of view but what you describe sounds vey useful but doesn’t render Hive as garbage IMO. I obviously have different expectations from others. That’s life I suppose.

I think my "ire" is influenced by the fact that Hive's sales pitch pushes (or did push) it having that feature when in fact it doesn't.  All it does is pop up a notification saying "you're more than 2 miles from home, you might want to turn the heating off", or similar.

Sounds like the circulator pump isn't starting. Plumber needs to be made 'interested'. Have you paid them?

I've paid most of it.  There is a "discussion" about whether it is electrical or plumbing issue.

THanks. Ill investigate.

Did the plumber do the electrics? Is it a new boiler?

New boiler installed by plumber  but electrics upgraded at same time by an electrician, who wired the thermostat, so I do understand the standoff on responsibility.  Contract to install and commission with plumber, however.

Your electrician or the plumber's?  

Have you tried manual, on the boiler you can usually override any external controls and the boiler will do what it needs to.

If it doesn't work here, then it's not a Hive problem.

Short out the thermostat signal to find out, witch it off first though, just in case.

Is the thermostat on the boiler set high enough ??

The boiler may be turning itself off before the roomstat tells it the temperature is reached. 

Get a Salus, excellent. Just turn the boiler on permanently and control it with the app. 

Does it come with a 7 of 9, at all?

Thanks.  Ill try that if plumber/sparks don't return. To be clear - short the two terminals normally connected to the thermostat?

Don't think there is one on the boiler, at least not readily adjustable, but will take a look.

Google 'boiler short cycling' for other causes.

Yes, but I'm not sure about a Hive system, there maybe more than two wires, you'd need to check first.

try this file Hive Active Heating Installation Guide from here https://community.hivehome.com/s/

you should be able to override the receiver directly, without shorting wires out.

I think you might be missing a setting.  Mine doesn't have the granularity you describe for Tado but it does switch the heating on and off when I cross a distance threshold from home rather than just giving me a notification. 

It sounds like it hasn't been set up correctly. I've had Hive for a couple of years and it works just fine. That's the fault of whoever installed in, not Hive itself.

As for complicated, you can just set it to go on and off at different times like any other thermostat. It doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.   I like the ability to adjust the settings remotely on my phone though.  Great for when I go on holiday and realise I have forgotten to shut it down, or for when I get drenched running and want to boost the heating for a warm house when I get home.

They must have recently added that, then, as it wasn't there before.  A friend has it (despite me advising him not to) and neither of us could find such a setting.

Edit: this:

https://community.hivehome.com/s/article/How-does-Geolocation-work-for-Hive...

suggests it being as I describe, so it must have been a recent addition.

Edit edit: this:

https://ao.com/product/hah2pmz-hive-active-heating-multizone-smart-thermost...

seems to suggest it is now a feature, albeit not quite as clever as Tado.