OpenTherm Master for ESPHome

An external ESPHome component to control a boiler (or other supported HVAC appliances) over the OpenTherm protocol. Note that special hardware is required, like the DIYLESS Master OpenTherm Shield or Ihor Melnyk's OpenTherm Adapter. This component acts only as an OpenTherm master (i.e. a thermostat or controller) and not as a slave or gateway. You can no longer use your existing thermostat if you control your boiler through ESPHome with this component.

We aim for maximum flexibility in this component by exposing most of the information available through the OpenTherm protocol, while allowing all configuration in YAML. (No custom component code required!) Since every boiler and every situation is different, you have to play around a bit with the sensors you'd want to read. There is no requirement for a boiler to support everything in the protocol, so not every sensor in this component will work with your boiler. (For example, my Remeha Avanta does not report ch_pressure, dhw_flow_rate or t_dhw.)

This component uses @FreeBear-nc's OpenTherm Library (MIT licensed) (a fork of @ihormelnyk's OpenTherm Library) as its communication layer. The message loop is inspired by code for the DIYLESS ESP32 Wi-Fi Thermostat (MIT licensed).

Alternatives:

• ESPHome-OpenTherm by @rsciriano, a custom component based on the same library as this project
• esphome-opentherm by @wichers, which works as a gateway, rather than a master, allowing you to combine the system with your own thermostat
• And more options if you search on GitHub

Quick glossary

• CH: Central Heating
• DHW: Domestic Hot Water

Usage

The OpenTherm Master component is available as an external component in ESPHome and can be included in your configuration as follows:

external_components:
  source: github://freebear-nc/esphome-opentherm@main

A forked version of @ihormelnyk's OpenTherm Library is also required:

esphome:
  platformio_options:
    lib_deps:
    - https://github.com/freebear-nc/opentherm_library.git

This references the main branch, which is cool if you want to stay up to date, but may also break your configuration if breaking changes happen here. A better idea would be to reference a specific version, see the tags for available versions. Instead of a specific version, you could also choose to follow a major version by specifying @v1 etc.

Then you can define the OpenTherm hub in your configuration:

opentherm:
  master_id: 5
  in_pin: 4
  out_pin: 5
  ch_enable: true
  dhw_enable: true
  cooling_enable: false
  otc_active: false
  ch2_active: false
  sync_mode: false

• master_id: Some boilers require a master member ID before functioning properly. Defaults to 5
• ch_enable: Central Heating enabled Defaults to True
• dhw_enable: Domestic Hot Water enabled Defaults to True
• cooling_enable: Cooling enabled Defaults to False
• otc_active: Outside temperature compensation active Defaults to False
• ch2_active: Central Heating 2 active Defaults to False
• sync_mode: Synchronous communication mode prevents other components from disabling interrupts whilst communicating with the boiler. Enable if you experience random intermittent invalid response errors. Very likely to happen while using Dallas temperature sensors. Defaults to False

Usage as a thermostat

The most important function for a thermostat is to set the boiler temperature setpoint. This component has three ways to provide this input: using a sensor from which the setpoint can be read, using a number, or defining an output to which other components can write. For most users, the last option is the most useful one, as it can be combined with the PID Climate component to create a thermostat that works as you would expect a thermostat to work. See thermostat-pid-basic.yaml for an example.

Numerical input

There are three ways to set an input value:

• As an input sensor, defined in the hub configuration:

  opentherm:
    t_set: setpoint_sensor
  
  sensor:
    - platform: homeassistant
      id: setpoint_sensor
      entity_id: sensor.boiler_setpoint

  This can be useful if you have an external thermostat-like device that provides the setpoint as a sensor.

• As a number:

  number:
    - platform: opentherm
      t_set:
        name: Boiler Setpoint

  This is useful if you want full control over your boiler and want to manually set all values.

• As an output:

  output:
    - platform: opentherm
      t_set:
        id: setpoint

  This is especially useful in combination with the PID Climate component:

  climate:
    - platform: pid
      heat_output: setpoint
      # ...

For the output and number variants, there are four more properties you can configure beyond those included in the output and number components by default:

• min_value (float): The minimum value. For a number this is the minimum value you are allowed to input. For an output this is the number that will be sent to the boiler when the output is at 0%.
• max_value (float): The maximum value. For a number this is the maximum value you are allowed to input. For an output this is the number that will be sent to the boiler when the output is at 100%.
• auto_max_value (boolean): Automatically configure the maximum value to a value reported by the boiler. Not available for all inputs.
• auto_min_value (boolean): Automatically configure the minimum value to a value reported by the boiler. Not available for all inputs.

The following inputs are available:

• t_set: Control setpoint: temperature setpoint for the boiler's supply water (°C) Default min_value: 0 Default max_value: 100 Supports auto_max_value
• t_set_ch2: Control setpoint 2: temperature setpoint for the boiler's supply water on the second heating circuit (°C) Default min_value: 0 Default max_value: 100 Supports auto_max_value
• cooling_control: Cooling control signal (%) Default min_value: 0 Default max_value: 100
• t_dhw_set: Domestic hot water temperature setpoint (°C) Default min_value: 0 Default max_value: 127 Supports auto_min_value Supports auto_max_value
• max_t_set: Maximum allowable CH water setpoint (°C) Default min_value: 0 Default max_value: 127 Supports auto_min_value Supports auto_max_value
• t_room_set: Current room temperature setpoint (informational) (°C) Default min_value: -40 Default max_value: 127
• t_room_set_ch2: Current room temperature setpoint on CH2 (informational) (°C) Default min_value: -40 Default max_value: 127
• t_room: Current sensed room temperature (informational) (°C) Default min_value: -40 Default max_value: 127
• max_rel_mod_level: Maximum relative modulation level (%) Default min_value: 0 Default max_value: 127 Supports auto_min_value

Switch

For five status codes, switches are available to toggle them manually. The same values can be set in the hub configuration, like so:

opentherm:
  ch_enable: true
  dhw_enable: true

This can be used to set the value without the need for a switch if you'd never want to toggle it after the initial configuration. The default values for these configuration options are listed below.

For enabling of central heating and cooling, the enable-flag is only sent to the boiler if the following conditions are met:

• the flag is set to true in the hub configuration,
• the switch is on, if it is configured,
• the setpoint or cooling control value is not 0, if it is configured.

For domestic hot water and outside temperature compensation, only the first two conditions are necessary.

The last point ensures that central heating is not enabled if no heating is requested as indicated by a setpoint of 0. If you use a number as the setpoint input and use a minimum value higher than 0, you NEED to use the ch_enable switch to turn off your central heating. In that case the flag will be set to true in the hub configuration, and setpoint is always larger than 0, so including a switch is the only way you can turn off central heating. (This also holds for cooling and CH2.)

The following switches are available:

• ch_enable: Central Heating enabled Defaults to True
• dhw_enable: Domestic Hot Water enabled Defaults to True
• cooling_enable: Cooling enabled Defaults to False
• otc_active: Outside temperature compensation active Defaults to False
• ch2_active: Central Heating 2 active Defaults to False

Binary sensor

The component can report boiler status on several binary sensors. The Status sensors are updated in each message cycle, while the others are only set during initialization, as they are unlikely to change without restarting the boiler.

• fault_indication: Status: Fault indication
• ch_active: Status: Central Heating active
• dhw_active: Status: Domestic Hot Water active
• flame_on: Status: Flame on
• cooling_active: Status: Cooling active
• ch2_active: Status: Central Heating 2 active
• diagnostic_indication: Status: Diagnostic event
• dhw_present: Configuration: DHW present
• control_type_on_off: Configuration: Control type is on/off
• cooling_supported: Configuration: Cooling supported
• dhw_storage_tank: Configuration: DHW storage tank
• master_pump_control_allowed: Configuration: Master pump control allowed
• ch2_present: Configuration: CH2 present
• dhw_setpoint_transfer_enabled: Remote boiler parameters: DHW setpoint transfer enabled
• max_ch_setpoint_transfer_enabled: Remote boiler parameters: CH maximum setpoint transfer enabled
• dhw_setpoint_rw: Remote boiler parameters: DHW setpoint read/write
• max_ch_setpoint_rw: Remote boiler parameters: CH maximum setpoint read/write
• service_request: Service Request
• lockout_reset: Lockout Reset
• low_water_pressure: Low Water Pressure
• flame_fault: Gas/Flame Fault
• air_pressure_fault: Air Pressure Fault
• water_over_temperature: Water Over Temperature

Sensor

The boiler can also report several numerical values, which are available through sensors. Your boiler may not support all of these values, in which case there won't be any value published to that sensor. The following sensors are available:

• rel_mod_level: Relative modulation level (%)
• ch_pressure: Water pressure in CH circuit (bar)
• dhw_flow_rate: Water flow rate in DHW circuit (l/min)
• t_boiler: Boiler water temperature (°C)
• t_dhw: DHW temperature (°C)
• t_outside: Outside temperature (°C)
• t_ret: Return water temperature (°C)
• t_storage: Solar storage temperature (°C)
• t_collector: Solar collector temperature (°C)
• t_flow_ch2: Flow water temperature CH2 circuit (°C)
• t_dhw2: Domestic hot water temperature 2 (°C)
• t_exhaust: Boiler exhaust temperature (°C)
• burner_starts: Number of starts burner
• ch_pump_starts: Number of starts CH pump
• dhw_pump_valve_starts: Number of starts DHW pump/valve
• dhw_burner_starts: Number of starts burner during DHW mode
• burner_operation_hours: Number of hours that burner is in operation
• ch_pump_operation_hours: Number of hours that CH pump has been running
• dhw_pump_valve_operation_hours: Number of hours that DHW pump has been running or DHW valve has been opened
• dhw_burner_operation_hours: Number of hours that burner is in operation during DHW mode
• t_dhw_set_ub: Upper bound for adjustment of DHW setpoint (°C)
• t_dhw_set_lb: Lower bound for adjustment of DHW setpoint (°C)
• max_t_set_ub: Upper bound for adjustment of max CH setpoint (°C)
• max_t_set_lb: Lower bound for adjustment of max CH setpoint (°C)
• otc_ratio_ub: Upper bound of OTC curve ()
• otc_ratio_lb: Lower bound of OTC curve ()
• t_dhw_set: Domestic hot water temperature setpoint (°C)
• max_t_set: Maximum allowable CH water setpoint (°C)
• otc_hc_ratio: OTC heat curve ratio (°C)
• oem_fault_code: OEM fault code ()
• t_heat_exchanger: Boiler heat exchanger temperature (°C)
• boiler_fan_speed: Boiler fan speed ()
• boiler_flame_current: Boiler flame current (uA) ()
• oem_diagnostic_code: OEM diagnostic code ()
• max_capacity: Maximum boiler capacity (KW) (kW)
• min_mod_level: Minimum modulation level (%)
• opentherm_version_slave: Version of OpenTherm implemented by slave ()
• slave_type: Slave product type ()
• slave_version: Slave product version ()
• slave_id: Slave ID code ()

Troubleshooting

Component not found: opentherm.

If ESPHome reports that it is unable to find the component, this might be due to the use of an older version of Python. It should work on version 3.9 (which is what runs in CI) and higher, but older versions may not support all typing features used in this project. You can update to a newer Python version, or install the backported typing library with pip install typing-extensions. (Thanks to @Arise for figuring this out!)