Hive Active Heating etc

savemejebus

Am I reading right that the HIVE receiver is supposed to take the place of the boiler's heating timeclock for each zone and that if you have two zones with two timeclocks then you will need two receivers?

If so, do you need to use the two receivers to replace a 3 channel timeclock like a horstmann h37xl? How would that work?

oinkely

pegasus425 wrote: »

Did you have any issue registering the Hive System Online (considering you purchased it from Amazon UK)?

no issues at all. Used my home address in the set up and rang the UK helpline when the receiver wouldn't pair for me. They sorted it in a few minutes.

oinkely

savemejebus wrote: »

Am I reading right that the HIVE receiver is supposed to take the place of the boiler's heating timeclock for each zone and that if you have two zones with two timeclocks then you will need two receivers?

If so, do you need to use the two receivers to replace a 3 channel timeclock like a horstmann h37xl? How would that work?

Yes, the receiver replaces the time clock from your current system. If you have 2 heating zones and one hot water zone then you need two receivers. one will do one heating zone plus the hot water and the second will do just the second heating zone.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hive-Active-Heating-Professional-Installation/dp/B011B3J6B8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506963532&sr=8-1&keywords=hive&th=1

The "heating & hot water" option is the first one you need, Then the "additional thermostat" is the second one.

SPG1985

Hi All,
Looking at the HIVE 2. I currently have single zone gas heating system - ie. boiler heats both hot water and radiators at the same time. Simple 'On or Off' system.

How does the HIVE give me the ability to heat water on its own or Rads on their own or Both at same time? Does the system have to be zoned by a plumber? Or is there a power switch applied to immersion accessible by app. and thermostat?

I get the thermostat replaces exiting timer switch that enables you to power heating ON and Off but how does it facilitate heating water only in a one zone system?????

Anatom

SPG1985 wrote: »

Hi All,
Looking at the HIVE 2. I currently have single zone gas heating system - ie. boiler heats both hot water and radiators at the same time. Simple 'On or Off' system.

How does the HIVE give me the ability to heat water on its own or Rads on their own or Both at same time? Does the system have to be zoned by a plumber? Or is there a power switch applied to immersion accessible by app. and thermostat?

I get the thermostat replaces exiting timer switch that enables you to power heating ON and Off but how does it facilitate heating water only in a one zone system?????

This was my exact set-up. Hive controls exactly what your timing switch does now for your set-up. To change from it just doing the heating and hot water to just hot water you need to physically turn off the pipe (in my case in the hot press) which sends the hot water to the radiators. Then the Hive is just on/off as you wish for whichever one you want.

In order to do anything else, you need to get a separate zone installed in your home to separate the hot water and heating.

Apologies if I didn't explain that clearly. I'm not a plumber, but I'm a Hive fan. I'll be really interested to see what savings (if any) we see this winter. The way we can set the heating to come on / off for short periods, instead of setting the physical timer on the wall should mean that we're using a lot less gas than before.

SPG1985

Thanks for the Reply. Sorry to tease this out. I've read the reply a few times - Just want to clarify!!!

So essentially I am replacing my existing old fashioned OnOff Timer switch with a Hive. - This means I can turn the system on and off remotely.

If I want to control Hot water separately I will need a plumber to zone the system to separate heating and water???

Anatom

Pretty much, yes.

I'm not sure about what's involved in installing a separate zone for either the heating or the hot water, but the Hive can control whichever one you're using remotely and you can run it for more accurate periods and temperatures. Its pretty handy to be fair.

Keedowah

oinkely wrote: »

no issues at all. Used my home address in the set up and rang the UK helpline when the receiver wouldn't pair for me. They sorted it in a few minutes.

What did you have to do to get it paired?

oinkely

Keedowah wrote: »

What did you have to do to get it paired?

Pretty much nothing, the guy on the phone was able to see the hub and the two receivers and the two thermostats. He did something and i told him which one was flashing, five minutes later they were both working after taking out the batteries in the thermostats and putting them in again.

Keedowah

My zones were not in receiving mode. Basically I had to:

Turn the power off to them (hit the trip switch), wait a second or two and then turn it back on.
Press in the heating button on both of my units until they started flashing orange, wait until they go to a single flash.
Then I did a reset on the thermostats (one at a time by pressing the bottom left and middle buttons for about 10 seconds).
They were then picked up by the hub.

timmythesheep

I have a 4 zoned system : ground, first, attic and water. Water tank is heated by the gas boiler.

With hive multi zone, would I get 3 thermostats and continue to use my existing timer for zone 4 which is the water?

timmythesheep

Can the individual zones in Hive multi zone turn the boiler on, or does it also require 'zone 1' to be on to actually start the boiler? I read somewhere that this was the case with Nest.

timmythesheep

With Hive can you set different schedules for different zones?

timmythesheep

Can you leave the old timer in situ? Mine is in the kitchen and I don't want a gaping hole on the tiles. Would rather a neat timing box that's just not used!

bk

I don't have Hive myself, but as a general concpt I'll try and answer your questions, however Hive support probably would be the best to ask.

timmythesheep wrote: »

I have a 4 zoned system : ground, first, attic and water. Water tank is heated by the gas boiler.

With hive multi zone, would I get 3 thermostats and continue to use my existing timer for zone 4 which is the water?

You would buy the following:
- 1 x Hive with Hot Water control
- 2 x Hive Multizone controllers

That should give you full control over all your zones + the hot water.

However note Hive say their system is designed to work with only a maximum of 3 zones, I don't know if they count the hot water as a separate zone in this count, so you will want to check that with their support.

timmythesheep wrote: »

Can the individual zones in Hive multi zone turn the boiler on, or does it also require 'zone 1' to be on to actually start the boiler? I read somewhere that this was the case with Nest.

No, how multizone works, any zone can turn on the boiler, zone 1 doesn't have to be already on.

timmythesheep wrote: »

With Hive can you set different schedules for different zones?

I'd assume so.

timmythesheep wrote: »

Can you leave the old timer in situ? Mine is in the kitchen and I don't want a gaping hole on the tiles. Would rather a neat timing box that's just not used!

Usually with Hive you would replace your existing timer, with a Hive receiver. In fact in your case there will be 3 receivers next to the boiler (one for each zone).

Depending on how your home is wired, if you currently have a thermostat on each floor (controlling each zone), it might be possible to leave the timer in place, set it to run 24/7 and replace the thermostats on each floor with the Hive receiver unit.

Again no guarantee on this. You'd need to double check and also the receivers aren't the nicest looking devices. And then I don't think you could control the hotwater.

BTW Tado is another system that might be worth looking into, it might fit you slightly better.

Calibos

We've a zoned heating system with a Baxi Gas Boiler, Hot Water, Upstairs, Downstairs Zones with TRV's on each Rad. ie. Boiler has 3 outputs with MYson Electric Valves. The Hotwater line feeds the Hot Water Cylinder and then the other 2 lines go off to the upstairs and downstairs rads .Don't have existing upstairs or downstairs thermostats, just a Sunvic 307 Multichannel Timer/Controller on the upstairs landing. The Sunvic Controller is now faulty. It can't keep time anymore so timer settings are now useless. Its a common problem apparently. I googled the cost of replacement and realised that to replace like with like would cover over half the cost or more of something like a Hive 2 setup so it makes more sense to use this as an opportunity to upgrade to Hive.

Would I be correct in thinking that for an existing Hot Water and 2 Zone Heating system, and if I were capable of a DIY install then I would need to order:
- 1 x Hive with Hot Water control
- 1 x Hive Multizone controllers

So the question would be is it a simple enough swap to go from a Sunvic 307 controller to a Hive. Is it just a case of figuring out which of the 5 or 6 wires to connect to which connection post on the Hive or indeed, is it even simpler, do Controllers use the same common Connection layouts?

Or is this more complicated than that and I should actually opt for the Bord Gais Boiler Service Deal which I think is just the Hive with Hot Water Control. In that case could I order the Hive Multizone controller myself for possibly less than Bord Gais would charge for it and get the Bord Gais Service Engineer/Hive fitter to fit it along with the Bord Gais supplied gear?

metricspaces

Calibos wrote: »

Would I be correct in thinking that for an existing Hot Water and 2 Zone Heating system, and if I were capable of a DIY install then I would need to order:
- 1 x Hive with Hot Water control
- 1 x Hive Multizone controllers

I have a Hive system, and yes this is correct.

Calibos wrote: »

So the question would be is it a simple enough swap to go from a Sunvic 307 controller to a Hive.

Yes, it is simply a case of switching wires. Once you know the correct place to put the wires in the two new controllers then that's all you need to know.

Bord Gais installer is not an electrician - he is just the guy who services boilers. It will take him less than 5min to do the job. Most of the time will be spent unscrewing the old controller and screwing the two new controllers on to the wall!

Calibos wrote: »

In that case could I order the Hive Multizone controller myself for possibly less than Bord Gais would charge for it and get the Bord Gais Service Engineer/Hive fitter to fit it along with the Bord Gais supplied gear?

Bord Gais will not install a controller that they have not provided.

Some people have received vouchers for a free Hive system through various sources. Sometimes you see these pop up on adverts sites, so keep an eye out and you'll save a lot! Also I've heard of Bord Gais customers who are at the point of leaving Bord Gais for another supplier are then being offered Hive for free to entice them to stay - so if you are a Bord Gais customer, tell them you are leaving and see what happens

bod71

Also bord gais have 25% off hive heating till dec 1.

Cerco

Looking at the hive thermostat kit. I see there are two options:
Heating only and heating and hot water.
I only have one zone with trv’s on the rads. I may get it upgraded to separate hot water from heating. If I go for heating and hot water option will I have any issues with programming while using a single zone?
Both options coming in at same price.

Bussywussy

bod71 wrote: »

Also bord gais have 25% off hive heating till dec 1.

I bought the hive active heating which does say downstairs and hot water and added a multizone controller, 313 including installation....my only gripe is bord gais can't give me a date to send someone out to my area..told me call back in 2 weeks...they're either very busy or just don't have enough people working for them

bod71

Bussywussy wrote: »

I bought the hive active heating which does say downstairs and hot water and added a multizone controller, 313 including installation....my only gripe is bord gais can't give me a date to send someone out to my area..told me call back in 2 weeks...they're either very busy or just don't have enough people working for them

Yeah I was the same, ordered online and 2 weeks later it was installed

Bussywussy

i'll be waiting longer by the looks of things, i might try call them again and push it

dSleeper

I was a bit confused. Does the hive only allow you to control the hot water if it’s heated by the heating system?
I’ve a one zone, rads and hot water system. Additionally my water tank has an immersion.

Can I have it so that the heating (and water is heated by Gas) and the hot water controlled by the immersion? Or can the hive only control the central heating system.

Can it control the central heating and the immersion on the same installation?

Bussywussy

no i don't think it allows immersion control...

metricspaces

dSleeper wrote: »

I was a bit confused. Does the hive only allow you to control the hot water if it’s heated by the heating system?

I’ve a one zone, rads and hot water system. Additionally my water tank has an immersion.

Can I have it so that the heating (and water is heated by Gas) and the hot water controlled by the immersion? Or can the hive only control the central heating system.

Can it control the central heating and the immersion on the same installation?

You can't control the immersion with Hive.

If you only have one zone for your gas, then you cannot control heating the water separately with Hive.

Hive doesn't do anything new to your heating system. Hive just let's you turn your existing system on\off with an App.

If your existing system lets you turn on\off (a) water (b) rads upstairs (c) rads downstairs separately then you can turn them all on\off separately with the Hive App.

If your existing system only lets you turn the gas on\off (i.e. it heats all rads and water), then this is all you can do with Hive also i.e. turn gas on\off.

dSleeper

metricspaces wrote: »

You can't control the immersion with Hive.

If you only have one zone for your gas, then you cannot control heating the water separately with Hive.

Hive doesn't do anything new to your heating system. Hive just let's you turn your existing system on\off with an App.


If your existing system lets you turn on\off (a) water (b) rads upstairs (c) rads downstairs separately then you can turn them all on\off separately with the Hive App.

If your existing system only lets you turn the gas on\off (i.e. it heats all rads and water), then this is all you can do with Hive also i.e. turn gas on\off.

The part that wasn’t clear was that it can’t control the hot water via immersion. Thanks.

mel123

I want to get a couple of bulbs today before the 25% off finishes for when i'm away, do they have a good life span?

THE ALM

mel123 wrote: »

I want to get a couple of bulbs today before the 25% off finishes for when i'm away, do they have a good life span?

as an LED Bulb it should have a good life span, according to specs it has an average life span of 25000 hours

mel123

Right im really going to town now on the card. The website says lights can be turned on with motion, so this would be really good for say the hall light coming in the front door. But I dont get it, what do i need, a sensor and a bulb? Unless im missing something, the website is selling senors but saying they are to alert for windows or doors?!?! What am i not getting?

THE ALM

mel123 wrote: »

Right im really going to town now on the card. The website says lights can be turned on with motion, so this would be really good for say the hall light coming in the front door. But I dont get it, what do i need, a sensor and a bulb? Unless im missing something, the website is selling senors but saying they are to alert for windows or doors?!?! What am i not getting?

In that case you will need a sensor whether the motion or window/door sensor. Once you have these set up you can then add, through the app, what Hive call 'Actions' which e.g. you can set to turn on a light when sensing motion or a door opens. You can also set an action to send you an alert if a door is opened or motion is triggered so well worth getting a sensor or two. I already have a few and have added some more as part of the sale.