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By CloudHound
#1840509
Anybody on here know about Hive home heating - I have a problem.

Basically all the lights are on, no warnings, App is updated, batteries recharged in the thermostat which is wall mounted just outside the cupboard were the controller is. The Hub is in the office next to the router just across the hall.

Problem free for years until about 5 weeks ago when one morning the radiators were cold and the boiler not turning and burning.

Turned everything off - waited - turned it all back on and Hey Presto!

But it's been doing that randomly for weeks. Hive Customer Services (not their real name) have given up on taking me through various resets.

Plumber and electrician have checked everything out tonight and found no mechanical or electrical faults bar one slow motorised valve.

I know I portray a level of intelligence here but it's a thin veneer, help!
By Fellsteruk
#1840514
I had a similar issue and for me it was the boiler which was failing to fire despite the controller trying. That said they can be fussy little things.

When it fails to work as expected what lights are on the receiver unit do they show on or off and what happens if you try to start it by pressing the silver buttons does the boiler fire.

My question for asking is that if the buttons work then the receiver itself and boiler sound ok and maybe points to a wifi comms issue.

Lastly when it fails what the app showing in the device section are all give devices showing connected ( hub, receiver, thermostat)
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840515
When it drops out, what happens when you look in the Hive app?

(trying to work out if the hub is losing its RF connection to the controller, or it's connection to the internet).

Anything new in the house recently that might be interfering with the RF?
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By T67M
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840531
I've recently started having a lot of occasions where the hub itself drops offline despite having a wired Ethernet connection. Hive CS don't seem to be able to offer any assistance beyond "turn it off and on again". It's starting to get rather frustrating.
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By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840574
Is it just me that has started to think that all this 'connected' stuff has added yet another layer of stuff that can go wrong randomly on top of the Electrickery stuff that also has this propensity? Additionally there is even more scope for "operator error"...

"Control Technique" on my GFs car the other day, couple of things highlighted was "abmormal tyre pressures" and "mal-adjusted headlamps"... thinks "thats bolleaux, checked them"...turns out that as we had the car system "in English", he couldnt find how to turn off the auto-level headlamp thing and get into the tyre pressure monitoring system... (another one I hadnt come across was "couldnt perform emmisions test"...turns out that as I had literally just changed the Oil & Filter, it was at max-level on the dipstick and so they would not do the test?!?!?) This is a 8yr old car... :?

They wont be getting my 80 odd Euros again... :roll:

Regards, SD..
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By Flying_john
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840591
That's a typical motorised valve fault. When their is a call for heat then (in some systems) the "switch boiler on" signal is routed via a microswitch in the motorised valve head.

So thermostat says "I'm cold" and that signal asks the motorised valve to move to send the hot water to the heating circuit. When the valve completes its travel the "turn on the boiler" signal circuit is completed, by a microswitch that only switches when the valve is at the end of its travel, says to the boiler switch on.

The valve gets "lazy" and although the motor runs, it doesn't quite complete its travel and the switch works intermittently, often accompanied by a "Hum" from the motor and the casing getting warm.

Something to try !
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By lobstaboy
#1840597
skydriller wrote:Is it just me that has started to think that all this 'connected' stuff has added yet another layer of stuff that can go wrong randomly on top of the Electrickery stuff that also has this propensity? Additionally there is even more scope for "operator error"...

Regards, SD..


Spot on SD, spot on...
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By CloudHound
#1840624
Thanks for the prompt replies - very helpful
When it fails to work as expected what lights are on the receiver unit do they show on or off and what happens if you try to start it by pressing the silver buttons does the boiler fire.

Good question! Don't know never tried that. The boiler is in the loft and I'm on my own generally when it happens so can't be in two places at once.
Lastly when it fails what the app showing in the device section are all give devices showing connected ( hub, receiver, thermostat)

Yes, never had an error message. To the system all is good.
Anything new in the house recently that might be interfering with the RF?

Nothing has changed in years.
So thermostat says "I'm cold" and that signal asks the motorised valve to move to send the hot water to the heating circuit. When the valve completes its travel the "turn on the boiler" signal circuit is completed, by a microswitch that only switches when the valve is at the end of its travel, says to the boiler switch on.

I'm warming to this idea. v/vs are 12 years old so might try this anyway.

Thanks all.
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840635
I'm warming to this idea. v/vs are 12 years old so might try this anyway.


You can normally replace the electrical part without having to drain and swap the watery bit and if you do that make sure that the valve turns easily throughout its travel before you fit the new electrical part. If you are in a hard water area they can gunge up a bit.
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840689
Sticking valves were usually manifest themselves in autumn / early winter, after a summer of not much wiggling. The op says that powercycling resolves the issue, which is unlikely for a sticking valve.

CloudHound wrote:When it fails to work as expected what lights are on the receiver unit do they show on or off and what happens if you try to start it by pressing the silver buttons does the boiler fire.

Good question! Don't know never tried that. The boiler is in the loft and I'm on my own generally when it happens so can't be in two places at once.

You shouldn't need to be. If it's the three piece Hive kit, the bit that's hardwired to the boiler has a button on it. If that button turns the heating on/off, then the heating system itself is fine, and something wrong with the Hive controller.
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840690
skydriller wrote:Is it just me that has started to think that all this 'connected' stuff has added yet another layer of stuff that can go wrong randomly on top of the Electrickery stuff that also has this propensity? Additionally there is even more scope for "operator error"...

Absolutely! Last time we moved house, I had to write a 20 page manual for the couple buying it.... (and that was having removed as much of it as I could feasibly remove)
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By flyingearly
#1840694
I've had a nightmare with Hive ever since we moved in; regularly experiencing the same drop-outs as you.

I can't add much more than that suggested by others, EXCEPT:

We recently replace our Hub 360 as the power socket on the old one snapper broke and fell into the device, rendering it unpowerable. When we got the replacement, we had constant dropouts.

The cause was something totally obscure that you might want to rule out.

Just because you haven't got any new equipment in the house, you need to check whether any configuration changes in those devices haven't influenced anything.

Specifically, in our case, if you have broadband with Sky then if the Sky Broadband Home Shield (content filter) is accidentally activated and set to anything other than '18+', for some obscure reason it causes issues with the Hive Hub. I have no idea why:

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Archive/Hi ... -p/3552980

You need to either remove the Broadband Home Shield or basically set it to allow any content. It's the sort of thing that might have been activated on your broadband without you even knowing.

Of course, highly unlikely to apply in your situation, but just to say we never had these problems with Google Nest. Hive has been a total nightmare from Day 1; smart radiators regularly running out of battery and when they run out of juice, they stay stuck in whatever position they were in (so, cooking you, or freezing you), TRVs failing to talk to the hub.
By riverrock
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1846754
I don't have much to add, other than to say that Hive Home has worked pretty much perfectly for me since it was installed 5 years ago.
There was a summer time change that went wrong a few years ago which stopped it working for a few hours for everyone, I've had a schedule get corrupted once, we get occasional data points missing on the online temperature graph. Also they changed one of the actions, so you couldn't pause heating for a set time (you used to be able to "boost" to a lower temperature for, say, 3 hours if you left the house).
But no significant issues. We have heating, hot water, various lightbulbs and switches.