Advice on Hive Installation,

[Stuart Munn]

Hello

I'm looking for some advice on Hive, our current central heating/hotwater controller is faulty and needs replacing so I thought this would be a good opportunity to update to a more flexible system.

We have 3 zones in our house

1) Downstairs heating with thermostat.
2) Hot water system.
3) Upstairs heating with thermostat.

There are 3 motorised control valves

Boiler is a Boulter Camray 5 Oil fueled. Just been serviced and working well We have a Horstmann ChanelPlus XL timer/controller and a Danfoss BEM5000 (which I'm not really sure what it does.

I dont want the replace the boiler as its working fine. Will I be able to replace the Danfoss and the Horstmann with a hive system.

Thank you in advance.

Stuart on Skye.

 

[stem]

In theory yes.

If your Horstmann programmer has three channels, (Heating Zone 1, Heating Zone 2 & Hot water) then it shouldn't be too difficult. If you have the two channel version (Heating & Hot water) it might be a bit more involved as the two heating zones would have to be separated.

In both cases the original wired room thermostats would need to be decommissioned properly by disconnecting them and then bridging the wires that were connected to their switching contacts to complete the circuits.

Also, you will need two Hive thermostats and receivers:

1) A Dual Channel Hive for controlling the hot water and one of the heating zones (usually downstairs)

2) A Single Channel Hive for the second heating zone (usually upstairs)

Then there's the BEM5000 which is a separate controller that I believe was designed to make the boiler cycle more efficiently based on the heating demand and outside temperature. AFAIK they didn't work particularly well and are obsolete now. I've never seen one, and whilst I suspect that it would work with Hive, I can't give you a definitive answer so you might find that you have to remove it anyway. Hive have a helpline if you want to check with them 0808 169 2307 or an online email form.

BTW for your future reference, this forum 'Your Projects' is for posting details of projects that are in progress or have been completed so that others can follow a story and learn from a real 'live' or completed project. Questions, or requests for assistance with heating projects would be better posted in the 'Plumbing & Central Heating' forum where those in the know about heating systems generally reside.

 

[Stuart Munn]

Thanks Stem. Lots of useful information Quite happy to take out the BEM5000, and the Horstmann does have three Zones two for heating and one for hot water. Thanks also for the info on the correct use of the forums.