Heatlink no/lost connection H71 error

[Nicholas_rubin]

I've lost count of the times this has happened but once again the thermostat has lost its connection with the heatlink and displays error H71.

This is not the first time and each time I miraculously reconnect not knowing what I've done. Each time I frustratingly cycle through restarting, resetting, repairing the thermostat and heatlink. There doesn't appear to be a 'knack'.

What adds to the frustration is once reconnected things will happily work for months until the next random disconnection.

Based on a scan through the forums heatlink connection problems appear fairly common, yet Google don't appear to have published anything new to help us. Nor does there appear to be a popular solution in forums 'that just works'.

Am I missing something? Anyone got any ideas?! I'm at my wit's end!

[DragosC]

Hi there @Nicholas_rubin

Thanks for reaching out. We're sorry to hear about that. We'd love to help. Could you tell me please when did the situation start occurring first and when was the thermostat installed?

[Nicholas_rubin]

Hi @DragosC , Thanks for the follow up. We had our Nest Thermostat installed in 2018. It feels like we managed to survive for a year or so before H71 errors started becoming a recurring nuisance. Since then we get an H71 error every 3-6 months but the trigger is not at all obvious and once connection is restored things seem to work nicely for several months.

What's really annoying is that we can't identify a particular trigger nor is it clear what works to repair the connection (I work my way through the various troubleshoot options - https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9248732?hl=en-GB#zippy=%2Ch-or-h - including rebooting our router, and checking the wifi network strength is strong both where the thermostat and heatlink are located (although I thought the thermostat and heatlink created their own private network?)). In the end it always feels like a complete fluke, which is incredibly frustrating!

This time round having repaired the connection by resetting the thermostat to factory settings (although worth noting that the factory reset still left me trying many times to make a connection between the thermostat and heatlink) the thermostat was removed from my Google Home profile and now cannot add it back!!

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

[DragosC]

Thank you very much for the explanation. Could you tell me please what is the distance between the thermostat and the Heat Link, the distance between both and the router, and the distance between the Heat Link and the boiler. Also, are there any objects or devices that could create interference in between them?

[george_t]

Hi @Nicholas_rubin. Just checking in, did you manage to read the message from my colleague?

[DragosC]

Since I haven't heard from you in a while, I'll have to close this thread. Should anything else come up, please open another thread and we'll take it from there. Have a good one and stay safe!