Hive receiver keeps going offline, no lights

[blackcornish1964]

Yes I realise that. So you think the actual wiring at the boiler end could be faulty, rather than the switch end?

 

[Madrab]

if the boiler is working when the receiver goes off, and they are both connected to the same switch, how can it be the wiring? Sorry I’m clueless.

Because it won't be on the same supply cable as the boiler's power supply cable. The HIVE receiver has it's own power cable being fed from either the FCU (is there 2 cables coming out of the FCU?) or from the power terminals on the boiler. If both went off then the focus would be on the power supply to the FCU or the FCU itself

So if the power cable for the HIVE isn't connected properly/has a bad connection/has a break in the cable/etc in the FCU or on the boilers power terminals then there could be a intermittent break in the power to the receiver, hence my recommendation to make up a cable on a plug and test the receiver via that, that will rule out anything to do with the cable from the supply to the receiver.

It could be something as simple as a loose terminal, a cable that been pushed in too far and it's sitting on a bit of insulation, an overtightened terminal that's now cut it's way through a wire. There are loads of ways that could cause an intermittent break in the power after a period of time and that needs to be ruled out. If it's the third receiver then I would almost guarantee it's something to do with the power supply from the power source to the receiver.

 

[Madrab]

Also you say that it's never had any issue for the last 4 years? Is that correct? Just trying to rule out other possible switched controls that's turning it off as suggested - (Switched live from boiler/programmer, or an old thermostat on a wall somewhere)

Can you see the cables coming from the FCU or the one going to the receiver?

 

[blackcornish1964]

Hi Rob, yes correct, all has worked fine, never had an issue until October.

As you can see from photos, it's all working at the moment, but it has gone off twice today already.

 

[RandomGrinch]

Intermittent short from a single strand of wire or two??? - there's a good few wires going into that little hive receiver.

OP, do you feel confident enough to turn the fcu off and show us the wiring behind the receiver?

 

[flameport]

Is that an asbestos board that it's screwed to? Hole in it being for an old boiler flue?

 

[RandomGrinch]

Is that an asbestos board that it's screwed to? Hole in it being for an old boiler flue?

I was wondering

 

[blackcornish1964]

Not asbestos, it's mdf/chipboard. Yes it's the hole where the flue from the old boiler used to be, when BG fitted the new boiler 4 years ago (along with the hive), they had to move the flue slightly higher.

 

[ianmcd]

Did paul daniels fit it? in your pics wiring for a condensation pump has suddenly appeared by magic ? when was that wired into the hive receiver? I would put money on it that is your problem, it shouldnt be wired in there

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

That would be by disconnecting the power supply it uses just now (from the FCU) and wire it directly into a socket using a piece of cable and plug that is known to be good. That will definitively identify if it is the unit or if it's the power supply cabling. If it keeps working and doesn't go off then we know the issue is with the cable, if it does then we know it's the receiver and you need to try another one.

The other way would be to simply check that the live and neutral are both there, when the unit appears to go off. A meter across the terminals, or a test lamp.

The test lamp could be as simple as a lamp, lamp-holder, plus flex, with a low wattage lamp inserted in it. Even a spare table lamp would serve, with the plug removed for the purposes of testing. Just connect the brown and blue across the supply to the unit.

 

[blackcornish1964]

Did paul daniels fit it? in your pics wiring for a condensation pump has suddenly appeared by magic ? when was that wired into the hive receiver? I would put money on it that is your problem, it shouldnt be wired in there

British Gas, it was all fitted 4 years ago at the same time, worked fine for the last four years. I did mention to engineer last week, that it might be something to do with that. It always makes a strange glug sound when I manage to turn hive on again (the boiler/condenser makes the glug sound, not the hive). But he said no, that didn't have anything to do with it.

 

[ianmcd]

I will guarentee you it is that, I have no idea how they got so many wires in there , the hive receiver terminals are tiny, I guarentee you what is happening is when the condensate, sump fills and the flow switch is activated then the power to the hive is cut, if you can see a way of manually poring water into the condensate pump, some have little caps on the top of the body , or some other way , pour water into the pump till it activates and see if the hive light goes out when it does, my bet is the supply to the hive is interrupted by the pump alarm and the pump outlet hose has a kink or partiall blockage somewhere

 

[blackcornish1964]

Thanks Ian, I will pass this onto the engineer on Tuesday, and let you know what the outcome is. Any idea why this would suddenly start happening, when it's been trouble free for all these years?

 

[ianmcd]

As above, the pump has 2 cables as you can see, one is power to the pump , this is float activated, when the condensate gets to a certain level , the pump activates for about 5-10 seconds to pump the condensate out, the 2nd cable is the failure alarm, if the pump fails and the condensate goes higher than the level of the float the alarm breaks either the power to the boiler, or the switched live to the boiler, so no more condensate can be produced causing the pump to over flow, bet you some idiot has wired the pump alarm into the permanent live on the Hive and the outlet hose has a kink or partial blockage somewhere and hence why the power keeps going off at the hive, should never be wired into there

 

[blackcornish1964]

As above, the pump has 2 cables as you can see, one is power to the pump , this is float activated, when the condensate gets to a certain level , the pump activates for about 5-10 seconds to pump the condensate out, the 2nd cable is the failure alarm, if the pump fails and the condensate goes higher than the level of the float the alarm breaks either the power to the boiler, or the switched live to the boiler, so no more condensate can be produced causing the pump to over flow, bet you some idiot has wired the pump alarm into the permanent live on the Hive and the outlet hose has a kink or partial blockage somewhere and hence why the power keeps going off at the hive, should never be wired into there

That makes sense, I will check the outlet now and see if I can see anything. Thanks Ian, will let you know. Appreciate everyone's input.