Hub Controller options

V3 single zone will replace the HC, the Hive stat is wirelessly connected to the Hive receiver, which is wired in place of the HC. There needs to be mains Live and Neutral at the site of the HC, in order to power the Hive receiver, as the HC is capable of operating in a passive mode where no Neutrak wire is present, using parasitic power feed from the HC switched live terminals.

The HC does not have control of HW timing, you may need to consider how this is currently implemented. The HIve V3 has a two channel model for CH and HW, if your current system has these as separate zones.

It may be more convenient to site the receiver of the Hive beside the zone valves, if you system has these, or next to the boiler if its wired straight to it. Check the wiring behind the HC, see if it has L and N in.

Also see if your system has zone valves and establish how HW is controlled. Do you have a HW cylinder, or HW direct from the boiler. Does it heat with CH? Can you have HW only in the summer?

A Tado wired directly in place of the HC, or a Hive mini wireless receiver, with it's Hive wireless stat located where you like. Either are DIY tasks with care.

Later you could get the lever valve replaced with a motorised one for CH or two for independent HE and CH. If you opt for Tado wired, you can later add the wireless receiver next to the new motorised valve(s), to turn off the CH and still have HW only from the App. There will be some wiring involved in this. If you opt for a wireless Hive or other, you can get the one with a CH and HW receiver, which gives you the option to automate HW only at a later date, which would likely involve relocating the receiver beside the motorised valve(s).

... Increase by 36%... What a load of b****x. How does it work when the Internet is down? I'm guessing it has the same schedules. Actually, try this. Disconnect your router from the WAN, if its over an ordinary phone line or TV cable. See if the app still connects locally peer to peer over the WiFi. Even if it doesn't, see if the schedule is maintained. Try this also. Go into the hub settings and disconnect from the WiFi . See how it works, does it run to schedule, can you make changes via the screen etc. You can leave it disconnected if you suspect they may use the Internet connection to meddle with it post subscription expiry I'd be curious also as to how it would work if you reconnected its WiFi to a hotspot on your phone, it might maintain a peer to peer connection if the app still had some functionality after the deadline.

Here's the sketch which implements gravity control.

Neutral blue to N

Live brown goes to L, CH COM, and HW NO.

CH NO goes to the valve or pump, and loops to HW NC.

HW COM goes to the boiler SL.

For HW only timer, the boiler fires

For CH only timer, the pump/valve is powered, and the Boiler fires via CH NO to HW NC to HW COM.

For both timers, HW COM fires the boiler. CH NO powers the pump

NO means Normally open. When the relay is off, Com or common is connected to NC, Normally closed. When the zone switches on, the relay flips, Com is now connected to NO, and NC is disconnected from Com. I devised the diagram above originally for the Nest Receiver which also has two zones with Single pole double throw (SPDT) relays, in order to mimic gravity mode. Gravity mode is available in many dual zone controllers by means of a dip switch or jumpers, or in software configuration, such as the Hive two zone, or the original tado Extension kit receiver. The new Tado extension kit is a volt free double throw receiver, I'm not aware that it can be soft configured to gravity mode, but this simple wiring plan does the same.

This is the better drawn version for Nest

Hub crowd obviously spent all the massive eu grant money that was given to the utilities to promote the installation of their trivial device. A sub was their next cash cow. The market for real properly engineered smart thermostats is alive and well, competitive, feature rich and not distorted by a grant feeding frenzy (which is destroying competition in the solar and energy upgrade markets). Spend a bit of time exploring the App. Lots of nice features. No bother to a tech savvy not-yet-senior diy fan.

Is it tripping Current breaker, i.e, a resetable fuse, say 15a or 20a, or is it tripping an RCB (Residual Current Breaker aka Earth Leakage Circuit Brraker) breaker? Are you operating motorised valves with power from the extension kit receiver? Any traces of moisture inside these could cause an imbalance between live current out and return current on the neutral, 30ma is all it takes to tripping an RCB. Tripping a circuit breaker on the other hand is a current overload, often a short, where a hot wire is touching the metal of an earthed casing, like a wall box. These can have sharp edges, and pulling at wires during installation may have cut through the insulation on a metal edge.

Firstly, you wired the Tado receiver (ext kit) in place of the hub controller. You only used the CH terminals. You would have required a link from the Live in on the ext kit to the Com or common of the CH relay in the receiver, and the SL (Switched Live) from the CH normally open contact goes directly to fire the boiler, and turn on the circulation pump. The breaker you show is an RCB, which trips when a small difference of >30 milliamps current is detected in the current going out the live and returning through the neutral. This indicates a leak to ground in the insulation of live components being supplied.

You've identified the ext. kit receiver as the source, and I'm assuming it trips when the stat attempts to fire the boiler. The simplest test is to lift the live out wire from the CH normally open (NO) contact in the receiver, power it on and turn up the stat. If the receiver clicks and closes the CH relay without tripping, but does trip when the NO contact is reconnected, its safe to assume there's an earth leak from the CH relay live in to the boiler. This Live most likely also directly powers the circulation pump. These can occasionally leak water into the stator coils, causing a live leak to ground. Its either the pump, or the boiler.

Is your boiler is a modern one which is separately powered, from a hardwired wall point, or is it powered directly from the live coming from the Tado receiver. There are ample opportunities in a boiler for drips and drops of condensation or a leak to get onto the many live components in the boiler. First test is to isolate the circulation pump and see does the tripping stop when the stat is turned up. A sparks with a good meter is probably required, but this is his workflow to isolate the earth leak. There are numerous places in the boiler where this could occur, but either of the internal jacket thermostats, temperature and limit stat, could be the souce, as they may be in contact with the hot flow, and could allow some water to enter their sensor.

Black Friday on Screwfix...

TADO V3+ WIRELESS HEATING & HOT WATER SMART THERMOSTAT STARTER KIT WHITE €109.95

TADO V3+ BLACK EDITION WIRELESS HEATING & HOT WATER SMART THERMOSTAT STARTER KIT BLACK €104.95

Can I ask, will these...

https://www.screwfix.ie/p/tado-basic-white-smart-radiator-thermostat-4-pack/837kg

or these...

https://www.screwfix.ie/p/tado-white-smart-trv-head-4-pack/793pg

...screw onto and work in place of my existing manual heads without the need to replace the actual valves?

I have a combi boiler and want to replace a HC as I miss the remote switch on… is the tado v3+ wireless the best and easiest DIY option?

or is it the wired version I should be buying?

If you already have a wired wall thermostat for the CH which calls the boiler, the tado wired is the best option, but the existing stat must be a boiler call, not just a call to a pump or valve. Your HW is on demand from the combi. How do you currently turn on and control CH? By HC do you mean Heating Controller? What do you currently have? What did you have that you 'miss'?

Thanks for reading my questions

the boiler has an inbuilt analogue timer by the looks of it, it is a vokera mynute 14se

no wall stat

not a combi boiler, so hot water tank in hot press

Thanks Deezel.

I used HC for Hub controller.

I have a hub controller that I’m not paying a sub for, so it’s essentially a dumb electric on switch.

I want something that allows me to set a schedule to turn the heating on in the morning and turn on the heating remotely from my phone (it’s the remote on switch that I miss from the hub, I never used their “smart” features.

Ideally I’d love to move it to the hallway (where hub told me it couldn’t go due to a window but I think was more lazyness on their behalf).

But for ease if it’s a simple change I’m happy to do that too. Will look back posts. Appreciate your help deezell.

Thank you @deezell for the info.

Can you tell me what the difference is between Tado's basic TRV head and the smart TRV head?

The Tado wireless is ideal so. Place the wireless stat in your ideal location, and wire up the receiver next to the boiler, with the CH relay connected into the boiler switched live terminals. Job for a sparks, there's usually two terminals with a link across them which let's the boiler run from its own timer or controls. The two wires from the Tado receiver are connected across this links terminals, with the link removed, the boiler's own timer is set to always on, and the Tado now controls boiler firing in response to the wireless stat time and temperature schedules. I'll have a look at that vokera install instructions tomorrow, for the wiring point.