Question Boiler control

bogart99

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Might be a tad off topic but here goes. The heating/hot water boiler is in an outbuilding some 20m from the main house. Currently the boiler gets the signal to switch on via an underground cable. Now this is the problem it is just a
piece of T&E buried about a foot below the surface, not an ideal arrangement. I had intended digging it up in spring and replacing with SWA. Then I thought could I not control it wirelessly? I have a Drayton Wiser arrangement but as my boiler is old it does not have the Opentherm arrangement so cannot control directly wirelessly. So what I need is some gizmo that can covert a 240v live signal to a rf signal with the reverse gizmo in the boiler house. Any suggestions? The boiler house is well covered by the house wifi.
 
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Pull in a 5-core when replacing the cable and you are sorted - permanent 230v feed and separate 2 cores for signalling (so will not matter if the boiler uses 230v/low voltage switching or Opentherm). This also means if you use a smart heating system where the boiler demand module is separate to the rest of the controls then all of your heating RF is inside the house, so no worries over signals reaching the remote boiler location.
 
I don't understand. The Drayton Wiser Heat Hub connects directly to the boiler and your Wi-Fi. The Wiser thermostats connect to the Heat Hub via RF. So you have two choices, either fit the Heat Hub under the boiler and put the thermostat in the house (if the signal reaches) or put the Heat Hub in the house and use the existing (or SWA) cable to connect it to the boiler.
 
Your possibly overthinking it
you should be able to forget about the boiler and the T&E the T&E is just a power supply to the boiler
its what turns on your existing heating that matters whether that is a control timer or an existing thermostat
you should only need to swap out the timer for a Wiser Heat Hub
 
Hi
Right to answer replies 1 and 2
I really would like to do away with the cable totally. The Wiser hub connects to the boiler via a cable not wirelessly.
Reply 3 The T&E is not just a feed to the boiler. There is a seperate supply in the out building. The T&E just carries the feed to the boiler to tell it to come on.
 
Hi
Right to answer replies 1 and 2
I really would like to do away with the cable totally. The Wiser hub connects to the boiler via a cable not wirelessly.
Reply 3 The T&E is not just a feed to the boiler. There is a seperate supply in the out building. The T&E just carries the feed to the boiler to tell it to come on.

Thw Wiser Heat Hub is directly connected, yes. Every thermostat out there must have some sort of physical connection to the boiler. The Heat Hub just has it's thermostats wireless connected. So if you want to do away with the cable you'll need to connect the Heat Hub directly to the boiler in the out building then have the wireless thermostat in the house. My concern will be the RF range. You may need to get the Wiser plug as well and put this near to the boiler as possible to boost the signal.
 
I need the hub in the house not the outbuilding. This looks to be the solution and not massively expensive, and a damned sight easier in effort.:)
 
I need the hub in the house not the outbuilding. This looks to be the solution and not massively expensive, and a damned sight easier in effort.:)

Why do you need the heat hub in the house?
 
Hi
Right to answer replies 1 and 2
I really would like to do away with the cable totally. The Wiser hub connects to the boiler via a cable not wirelessly.
Reply 3 The T&E is not just a feed to the boiler. There is a seperate supply in the out building. The T&E just carries the feed to the boiler to tell it to come on.
Given that we only have part of the picture and don't know what controls your boiler
having installed Hive and recently changing to Wiser in a S plan system to a boiler without OPEN THERM whichever way you want to look at it the T&E is still a feed to the boiler either via a central heating junction box
or its a control cable from an existing timer/thermostat or controller using a NO NC relay
or it it could be a power supply spur to the outbuilding

but you seem to be hell bent about changing that cable so perhaps there is no point in discussing it further


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If your boiler has a separate power supply, and the cable you talk about is simply the “demand” signal for the boiler then why bother with trying to fit a wireless receiver at the boiler? Just for whatever controller you want on the end the the existing cable in place of the original controls and make sure it’s wired correctly at both ends. If the cable is an unprotected PVC T&E then it either requires a suitable conduit for protection or replacing with suitable armoured cable (depending o nots route). In either case, keeping the cable means you can pretty much run anything the boiler required in terms of demand control, whether that be switched control or opentherm.
 
Why do you need the heat hub in the house?
So I can switch it on and off from indoors manually or using Alexa. It not only switches the boiler on it operates 2 way valves for heating zones and hot water. If was located in the boiler house would then need a multiway cable fed to the house.
 
So I can switch it on and off from indoors manually or using Alexa.
You don’t need it in the house to do that. You need it connected to WiFi. So you can put it in the out building providing you can get Wi-fi out there. 20-30m isn’t far depending on what router you are using.
I’ve just installed a Drayton Wiser system on my boiler. It’s pretty straightforward.
 
If your boiler has a separate power supply, and the cable you talk about is simply the “demand” signal for the boiler then why bother with trying to fit a wireless receiver at the boiler? Just for whatever controller you want on the end the the existing cable in place of the original controls and make sure it’s wired correctly at both ends. If the cable is an unprotected PVC T&E then it either requires a suitable conduit for protection or replacing with suitable armoured cable (depending o nots route). In either case, keeping the cable means you can pretty much run anything the boiler required in terms of demand control, whether that be switched control or opentherm.
Easy solution if it would not involve digging up 20m of lawn, stone patio etc .
 

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