Nest - Boiler coming on by itself

Kagawa

Hey,

I had a nest system installed last year by Electric Ireland but there is an issue with it since day one. My house has three zones, downstairs, upstairs and hot water. The system is set up so that three switches control what is on, heating upstairs, downstairs and hot water. When the hot water switch is left on the boiler can come on without the nest system being turned on at all, it just seems to come by itself at random.

I am planning to get a second nest installed, i hope that by removing the switches and having the system fully controlled by the nest system that this will fix my problem.

Anyone come across this before? TIA

wexfordman2

Kagawa wrote: »

Hey,

I had a nest system installed last year by Electric Ireland but there is an issue with it since day one. My house has three zones, downstairs, upstairs and hot water. The system is set up so that three switches control what is on, heating upstairs, downstairs and hot water. When the hot water switch is left on the boiler can come on without the nest system being turned on at all, it just seems to come by itself at random.

I am planning to get a second nest installed, i hope that by removing the switches and having the system fully controlled by the nest system that this will fix my problem.

Anyone come across this before? TIA

Is that not normal behaviour anyway ?

So, you have 3 zones, 2 of which are controlled by standard switches, and the 3rd by nest ?

Turning on any of them should activate the boiler should it not ?

Ha Long Bay

Kagawa wrote: »

Hey,

I had a nest system installed last year by Electric Ireland but there is an issue with it since day one. My house has three zones, downstairs, upstairs and hot water. The system is set up so that three switches control what is on, heating upstairs, downstairs and hot water. When the hot water switch is left on the boiler can come on without the nest system being turned on at all, it just seems to come by itself at random.

I am planning to get a second nest installed, i hope that by removing the switches and having the system fully controlled by the nest system that this will fix my problem.

Anyone come across this before? TIA

Do you have bacteria prevention enabled for the hot water?

https://nest.com/uk/support/article/How-does-the-Nest-Thermostat-help-prevent-Legionella-bacteria

Kagawa

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Is that not normal behaviour anyway ?

So, you have 3 zones, 2 of which are controlled by standard switches, and the 3rd by nest ?

Turning on any of them should activate the boiler should it not ?

Not exactly, the nest has two zones set up, one for the heating, upstairs and downstairs, and the second is the hot water. The old switches then allow me to turn on the heating upstairs/downstairs and the water. The heating aspect works fine, in that you can leave the switch on with no issues. The issue is with the hot water, if I leave that switch on the boiler will come on by itself with nothing showing on the nest itself.

The nest technically controls all the zones, all the switches do is allow me to have three zones instead of two.

wexfordman2

Kagawa wrote: »

Not exactly, the nest has two zones set up, one for the heating, upstairs and downstairs, and the second is the hot water. The old switches then allow me to turn on the heating upstairs/downstairs and the water. The heating aspect works fine, in that you can leave the switch on with no issues. The issue is with the hot water, if I leave that switch on the boiler will come on by itself with nothing showing on the nest itself.

The nest technically controls all the zones, all the switches do is allow me to have three zones instead of two.

But that behaviour makes sense to me,.although I don't understand why you have it done that way ?

You essentially have 2 ways of controlling your heating, one via nest, and the other via the "switches". From what you are explaining, they work in parrallel, meaning turning either nest or the switch "on" will turn on that zone. Turning off then can only be done by turning of the same way you turned it on ?

Why do you have it set up that way, and why do you wish to keep using the other switches ? What type of switches are they also, are they timers etc ?

Kagawa

wexfordman2 wrote: »

But that behaviour makes sense to me,.although I don't understand why you have it done that way ?

You essentially have 2 ways of controlling your heating, one via nest, and the other via the "switches". From what you are explaining, they work in parrallel, meaning turning either nest or the switch "on" will turn on that zone. Turning off then can only be done by turning of the same way you turned it on ?

Why do you have it set up that way, and why do you wish to keep using the other switches ? What type of switches are they also, are they timers etc ?

They are normal switches and I have turned off the bacterial thing, anyway that would still show the hot water as being on from what I can see online and nothing shows on the nest when the boiler comes on by itself.

The only reason I did this was because I had no choice as I was told if I wanted to be able to turn on the heating upstairs/downstairs independently. The switches cannot by themselves turn on the heating/hot water I that they just prevent or allow the nest to control them. If all switches are off and I turn on the nest, nothing happens until I turn of one or more of the switches.

wexfordman2

Kagawa wrote: »

They are normal switches and I have turned off the bacterial thing, anyway that would still show the hot water as being on from what I can see online and nothing shows on the nest when the boiler comes on by itself.

The only reason I did this was because I had no choice as I was told if I wanted to be able to turn on the heating upstairs/downstairs independently. The switches cannot by themselves turn on the heating/hot water I that they just prevent or allow the nest to control them. If all switches are off and I turn on the nest, nothing happens until I turn of one or more of the switches.

Ok, I think I get it, although it is a bit confusing.

So the manual switches all have to be turned on, and then nest has to turn either a zone on or the hot water on ?

Do you have any other timers etc for your system, what was the pre nest configuration ?

How often does the heating come on randomly ? Is there any kind of a pattern ?

Kagawa

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Ok, I think I get it, although it is a bit confusing.

So the manual switches all have to be turned on, and then nest has to turn either a zone on or the hot water on ?

Do you have any other timers etc for your system, what was the pre nest configuration ?

How often does the heating come on randomly ? Is there any kind of a pattern ?

Yeah, sorry but it’s difficult to explain clearly, the original system was this:

Normal timer
Switch 1: downstairs heating
Switch 2: upstairs heating
Switch 3: hot water

New setup:
Nest single setup
Switch 1: downstairs heating
Switch 2: upstairs heating
Switch 3: hot water

If I want the heating on upstairs for example, I put on switch 2 and then use the nest to turn it on. Same procedure for heating downstairs or hot water. All switches do not need to be on, just whichever one I want.

I haven’t noticed a pattern really, I initially thought it was a preset timer in the nest but I turned all them off. It does seem to be early morning but to be honest we don’t usually leave the hot water switch on for obvious reasons.

wexfordman2

Kagawa wrote: »

Yeah, sorry but it’s difficult to explain clearly, the original system was this:

Normal timer
Switch 1: downstairs heating
Switch 2: upstairs heating
Switch 3: hot water

New setup:
Nest single setup
Switch 1: downstairs heating
Switch 2: upstairs heating
Switch 3: hot water

If I want the heating on upstairs for example, I put on switch 2 and then use the nest to turn it on. Same procedure for heating downstairs or hot water. All switches do not need to be on, just whichever one I want.

I haven’t noticed a pattern really, I initially thought it was a preset timer in the nest but I turned all them off. It does seem to be early morning but to be honest we don’t usually leave the hot water switch on for obvious reasons.

Okay, so if you leave all three switches on, and then turn on nest, it heats all three zones ?

I'm no expert, but I think your nest installer did a poor job, that setup pretty much kills the entire logic for having a nest IMHO.

To my mind, each of the three switches activates each zones valve, which then activates the boiler, so the nest heatlinks should have been installed next to those valves ?

I think that's where you need to be in the medium term, that setup you have sounds crazy.

However,.it does not solve or answer your question as to why the boiler is comming in itself at random times.

Can you isolate nest completely and see if it happens ?

Kagawa

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Okay, so if you leave all three switches on, and then turn on nest, it heats all three zones ?

I'm no expert, but I think your nest installer did a poor job, that setup pretty much kills the entire logic for having a nest IMHO.

To my mind, each of the three switches activates each zones valve, which then activates the boiler, so the nest heatlinks should have been installed next to those valves ?

I think that's where you need to be in the medium term, that setup you have sounds crazy.

However,.it does not solve or answer your question as to why the boiler is comming in itself at random times.

Can you isolate nest completely and see if it happens ?

I agree, I wasn’t happy that he just put in the nest and as I wasn’t there I couldn’t argue with him. It was an electric Ireland install. I only have one heat link and one nest so can only control two zones. That’s why I’m hoping if I pay electric Ireland €270 to install a second nest with a second heatlink then I’ll be able to control everything properly. I think the route of my problem is related to the switches.

I am waiting for electric Ireland to come back to me so I can make an appointment to get the second nest installed.

I’ll be there this time though!!