Hive & My Old Thermostat

piphead · Mar 31, 2015

I have recently purchased Hive to control my central heating and hot water and it's all wireless.

The only problem I have is that my old system has a thermostat in the hall that I obviously need to remove as I'm replacing the thermostat and controllers etc.

When removing the old thermostat, can I simply blank off the wires and hide them safely, or instead do I need to connect the red and yellow wires together to create a permanently live circuit?

I feel that if I don't create the circuit the new controller won't work, but I wanted to check this is safe, before burning my house down.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

PH

Blue Duck · Mar 31, 2015

Have you checked that the wires are live?

Sharpend · Mar 31, 2015

I would imagine that your existing stat will need to be disconnected from your system, merely removing stat from wall will not really help.

piphead · Mar 31, 2015

I haven't, but I'm guessing they must be as they are currently controlling my existing heating set up through the thermostat.

Blue Duck · Mar 31, 2015

Why did BG (Brutish Gash) not remove it? or put it somewhere else?

Hows you wifi BTW I hear that Hive can cause problems with internet speeds :|

Rob_the_rich · Mar 31, 2015

reading the first post, I think the OP has bought the hive system and is installing it DIY. There are instructions on the website for this, but I can't download them (errors- installation section of https://www.hivehome.com/faqs )

Might explain why BG didn't disconnect it.

piphead · Mar 31, 2015

This is a self install as I don't live in the UK and as for the wifi I don't know yet as haven't set it all up yet. Hopefully it doesn't affect it too much as they say it only uses 512mb per month.

Rob_the_rich · Mar 31, 2015

Found the installation instructions.

You will not need the wiring to your existing thermostat for the new system. But it makes sense to keep the wires in situ in case you want to revert.

So as sharpend says, the other end of the wire needs to be disconnected from the boiler (or from the wiring centre) and the new receiver unit installed.

The new thermostat can be situated over where the old one was, to save on decorations, assuming it was sited correctly in the first place.

piphead · Mar 31, 2015

Thank you for your help so far, but I was hoping to not have to remove the wires from the boiler controller as having had a look the very small control box by the boiler is full of red and yellow wires. Trying to discover which one is from the thermostat would be kinda difficult.

I was looking for a simple workaround if possible and either leaving them as is or shorting them together as an easy option

Sharpend · Mar 31, 2015

Pip this box, how are cables connected together via terminal blocks or is it a dedicated box?

Rob_the_rich · Mar 31, 2015

Also, is it a combi boiler? or did you buy the dual controller to control your hot water too?

Murdoch · Mar 31, 2015

I didn't think that BG would sell it DIY!!

piphead · Mar 31, 2015

The thermostat has three wires going to it. one Negative (Blue) one live (Red) and a yellow wire on the other side of the thermostat that becomes the live when to thermostat kicks in.

it's an oil fired boiler that does both hot water and central heating. The unit I've bought is fine for both HW & CH.

I'm just concerned that when I fit the new thermostat the boiler will continue to call for a connection from the old thermostat unless I complete the circuit manually but I'm not too sure having a permanent circuit is safe?

BG are happy to sell a self fit package but they won't let me speak with an engineer to discuss this unfortunately.

Murdoch · Mar 31, 2015

piphead said:
The thermostat has three wires going to it. one Negative (Blue) one live (Red) and a yellow wire on the other side of the thermostat that becomes the live when to thermostat kicks in.

it's an oil fired boiler that does both hot water and central heating. The unit I've bought is fine for both HW & CH.

I'm just concerned that when I fit the new thermostat the boiler will continue to call for a connection from the old thermostat unless I complete the circuit manually but I'm not too sure having a permanent circuit is safe?

BG are happy to sell a self fit package but they won't let me speak with an engineer to discuss this unfortunately.

Hum... they've changed their minds, when I enquire about 20 months ago it was installation by their guys or no purchase.

Have fun.....

Barx · Mar 31, 2015

The have unit will basically replace your existing controls and do the switching of the wires instead of the the existing start and/or Time Clock. Surely you will have to identify the correct conductors to connect in the hive?

Sharpend · Mar 31, 2015

Pip have you had a read of this ?

https://www.hivehome.com/attachment/15/download/installation_guide.pdf

brman · Apr 1, 2015

Barx said:
The have unit will basically replace your existing controls and do the switching of the wires instead of the the existing start and/or Time Clock. Surely you will have to identify the correct conductors to connect in the hive?

^ what he said surely?

If are not confident in identifying the existing connections I don't think you have much hope connecting the hive properly. To be honest I'd advise you get an electrician to do it.......

piphead · Apr 1, 2015

Sort of.

The contoller on the bolier no problem. Wires are the same so can simply swap them over.

The tricky bit is the thermostat. The old one has the three wires going to it, but the new Hive one works over wifi and is therefore wireless. My problem is i don't know what to do with those three lttle wires poking out my wall that are now no longer needed.

it would be tricky removing them from the boiler so I was hoping to either blank them off or create a permanent circuit by connecting the red and yellow together in as much the same way the old thermostat would have when calling for heating. The new Hive wireless thermostat will then take over the job of talking to the new boiler controller. I'm just not 100% sure if this is safe or not??

Sharpend - Thanks for the instructions, but they don't really explain what to do with the old wires in case I can't get to them to remove them from the boiler.

Perhaps I should have bought this before winter rather than towards the end!!

brman · Apr 1, 2015

piphead said:
Sort of.

The contoller on the bolier no problem. Wires are the same so can simply swap them over.

The tricky bit is the thermostat. The old one has the three wires going to it, but the new Hive one works over wifi and is therefore wireless. My problem is i don't know what to do with those three lttle wires poking out my wall that are now no longer needed.

it would be tricky removing them from the boiler so I was hoping to either blank them off or create a permanent circuit by connecting the red and yellow together in as much the same way the old thermostat would have when calling for heating. The new Hive wireless thermostat will then take over the job of talking to the new boiler controller. I'm just not 100% sure if this is safe or not??

Sharpend - Thanks for the instructions, but they don't really explain what to do with the old wires in case I can't get to them to remove them from the boiler.

Perhaps I should have bought this before winter rather than towards the end!!

you have lost me I am afraid. you say " The contoller on the bolier no problem. Wires are the same so can simply swap them over."

is the hive controlling both water and heating?

combi boiler or not?

do you have zone valves and/or and external pump?

brman · Apr 1, 2015

btw. I've just re-read your posts and realised you already said it was an oil system and the hive will be doing water and heating so ignore those questions, sorry....

The hive instructions show what looks suspciously like a standard programmer backplate. Is this what you plan to do, swap you existing programmer with the hive receiver?

In that case I would just leave the existing thermostat on the wall and just turn it up to max

Hive & My Old Thermostat

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