Hive heating

[Aph36]

Hi guys does anyone else have problems with hive heating coming on and affecting the broadband? It only seems to interfere intermittently. Any help would be great, thanks

[Keith_Beddoe]

Its more likely to be your boiler thermostat causing the problem, especially if you have a old boiler.

If you listen on a medium wave radio, there will be a load buzzing noise just before the boiler switches off. It can last anything from a couple of seconds, to a minute.

If you do hear that, its caused by the thermostat contacts not switching quickly, which creates an small electric arc across the air gap. This generates a lot of radio interference which will upset your broadband connection.

[Aph36]

Keith, thanks for the reply that makes sense because a DAB radio I used to play always had intermittent interference on it . I’ll get onto British Gas tomorrow and see what they can do. Cheers for the help.

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@Aph36 wrote:
Keith, thanks for the reply that makes sense because a DAB radio I used to play always had intermittent interference on it . I’ll get onto British Gas tomorrow and see what they can do. Cheers for the help.

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It will only normally occurs just before the boiler flame goes out. A cycle of about 20 minutes is about average for older boilers. Changing the boiler thermostat usually fixes it for a while, but the ideal solution is a suppressor across the gas valve.

I spent many years investigating radio and TV interference, and this was the most common source of interference. Thorn boilers seemed the worst, but most older boilers have no suppressor components across the gas valve.

More of a problem in the winter months of course.

Room thermostats can also give problems, but as you have the Hive doing that function, hopefully that is not the cause, but it may be making the boiler cycle on and off more often, making the interference from the boiler thermostat worse.

Please update this thread with the outcome, as it may help others.