Manual · for version 1.4.6 · View on GitHub
This manual comes from the public repository of the Home Assistant integration. It still uses the old name OpenThermostat, and calls the box the E32: the BBQKees Gateway E32 V2 that Emthera runs on today.
Installation checklist #
The firmware and the project's main repository are not public at the moment. What these guides say about downloading the firmware or a release ZIP from GitHub, updating the E32's firmware from Home Assistant or with Check for updates, and the tester program's GitHub form does not work for now. The Home Assistant integration is installed and updated through the Marketplace as described. A few references to pages that are not public have no link here. Questions or problems: open an issue.
For a second person who follows the installation guide from start to finish, with a BBQKees E32 V2, an EMS Classic boiler and, if used, Home Assistant 2026.10.0 or newer. Follow only the guide and the user guide. Every question you have to ask someone is a gap in the guide: write it down.
For each step, tick it and note done, done with trouble or stuck, with the time it took and anything that did not match (a word, a button, a missing explanation).
Before you start #
- The newest E32 V2 release is downloaded, and you know which Home Assistant release its release notes pair with it (installed through the Marketplace or from its ZIP).
- A USB-C data cable and a computer with Chrome or Edge (or Python for esptool).
- The Marketplace in Home Assistant 2026.11 or newer (HACS on 2026.10 and older), or access to the Home Assistant configuration folder (for example the Samba share or File editor add-on).
- The existing thermostat stays connected to the boiler: this checklist switches nothing over (the boiler test and takeover are a separate step with someone at the boiler).
Checklist #
| Done | Step (INSTALL.md section) | Expected result | Where to look |
|---|---|---|---|
| [ ] | Firmware over USB (2) | The tool reports success; the MD5 equals "MD5 before first boot" | ESPConnect Flash Integrity, or verify_flash; FACTORY-CHECK.txt |
| [ ] | First start and Wi-Fi (3) | Network OpenThermostat-xxxxxx appears; the page shows WiFi connected and an address |
Phone or laptop Wi-Fi list; http://10.10.10.1/ |
| [ ] | E32 on the home network (3) | The E32 page opens at the saved address (or openthermostat-xxxxxx.local) |
Browser; the router's device list |
| [ ] | Sign in and password (4) | Signed in with admin / admin, then your own password set; the Overview reminder is gone |
E32 System → Password |
| [ ] | Menu (4) | Top menu Overview, Rooms, Home, Boiler, System; System lists Settings, Password, Backup and restore, Devices, Firmware update, Diagnostics and system log, About, Restart device and, once you are signed in, Sign out | E32 menu bar |
| [ ] | Time zone and boiler reception (5) | Time zone chosen, Boiler bus (EMS) on ticked, saved, E32 restarted | E32 System → Settings, section Time and fold Advanced |
| [ ] | Connect to the boiler (6) | Flow and return temperature and status appear within a few minutes; no "Listening to the boiler bus (EMS) is off." | E32 Boiler |
| [ ] | Boiler model (6) | Your model is saved; the display code reads in words | E32 Boiler → My boiler → Boiler model and picture; Display code under Now |
| [ ] | Bluetooth thermometer (7, optional) | The sensor shows a temperature, not "Waiting" | E32 System → Devices, Your sensors |
| [ ] | MQTT broker (8.1, 8.2) | Broker running, MQTT integration added, a broker user for the E32 | HA Settings → Add-ons and Settings → Devices & services |
| [ ] | MQTT on the E32 (8.3) | Saved and restarted; the log shows a broker connection | E32 System → Diagnostics and system log (log, or console mqtt) |
| [ ] | Install the integration (9) | <config>/custom_components/open_thermostat/manifest.json exists; HA restarted |
the Marketplace lists OpenThermostat as installed; without it: HA file editor or Samba share |
| [ ] | Add the integration (10.1) | Form Set up your heating installation saved with Add installation | HA Settings → Devices & services → Add integration → OpenThermostat |
| [ ] | Connect the E32 (10.2) | E32 connected appears; the E32 Overview shows Home Assistant: connected | HA Configure → E32 connection; E32 Overview |
| [ ] | Configure menu (10.2) | With the OpenThermostat dashboard: two items (1.4.1), Open the settings page (the way to the dashboard's Settings tab, with its link) and E32 connection; without the dashboard nine: Rooms, House, Heating and boiler, Energy and outdoor temperature, Notifications, E32 connection, E32 devices, Dashboard and name, Advanced and diagnostics; every submenu has ← Back; Done closes it | HA Settings → Devices & services → OpenThermostat → Configure |
| [ ] | First room (11.1) | The room is on the E32 and in HA, with a temperature | HA dashboard Settings → Rooms (or Configure's room form); E32 Rooms (read-only, "Managed in Home Assistant") |
| [ ] | Room blocks on the E32 (11.1) | The room card opens; Temperature, Week program, Windows and doors, Persons and Learning (E32 1.4.4) fold open, each with a summary line when closed | E32 Rooms |
| [ ] | Week program (11.2) | Comfort, Eco and Night set, one day copied with Copy…, saved | HA dashboard OpenThermostat, Settings → Rooms → the room → Week program, or E32 Rooms |
| [ ] | Setting device (11.3, optional) | The device shows the room's temperature, and turning it changes the room (until the next switch time with a week program, for good without one); the room's state does not change | The device or its app; the room's thermostat in HA |
| [ ] | Water temperature limits (11.4) | Limits checked or saved (Save limits) | HA dashboard Settings → Heating and boiler → Water temperature limits; E32 Home → Water temperature limits |
| [ ] | House mode and presence (11.5) | People chosen; changing House mode shows on the E32 Home page | HA dashboard Settings → House → Presence and away temperature and Settings → House → House mode and holiday; E32 Home |
| [ ] | Holiday planner (11.5) | A holiday that starts in the future is planned with Temperature on holiday; it is listed in the E32's Holidays block and shown as the next holiday on the dashboard Overview; removing it in one place removes it in the other | HA dashboard Settings → House → House mode and holiday (Planned holidays, Plan a holiday, Temperature on holiday); E32 Home → Holidays |
| [ ] | Smart warm-up and Weather compensation (11.5) | Both are on; the Learning tab says what the E32 uses; a room that is not learned yet says "starts at … (estimate; it learns from every morning)" | HA dashboard Settings → Heating and boiler; dashboard tab Learning; E32 Overview room card |
| [ ] | Persons per room (11.5, optional) | The room's persons are chosen; the E32 room card shows them | HA room form, section Persons; E32 Rooms → Persons |
| [ ] | Window contact (11.5, optional) | Open longer than Pause after: the room pauses; closed: it resumes | HA room form, section Windows and doors; E32 room card |
| [ ] | Check (11.6) | The Overview tab opens with the house card and shows every room's temperature, target and why it heats or not (a status card per room, the rooms that are on first; the house card also shows the room that is on as a figure); the E32 Overview shows the same line; Heating problem is off (the band of the house card is not red); no Heating needs attention under Repairs | HA sidebar OpenThermostat; E32 Overview; Settings → System → Repairs |
| [ ] | Route to the takeover (12) | With the old thermostat on the bus: Trial run and the line "Your boiler still gets requests from another thermostat, so the E32 first runs alongside it (trial run)"; without one: Boiler test and takeover, "Not run yet", and the E32 sends nothing to the boiler | E32 Boiler, section Boiler test and takeover |
| [ ] | Boiler test (12, optional, someone at the boiler) | Every step Passed, then "Last test: passed on …" (kept after a restart); or stopped with the steps to give control back; or I have already done this test: "Marked as done by you on …"; an E32 that controlled this boiler before: "Not needed" | E32 Boiler, section Boiler test and takeover; HA sensor Ready for E32 control, attributes boiler_test, boiler_test_summary |
| [ ] | Update through Home Assistant (13.3) | When a new release exists, Install runs and the E32 reports the new version | HA Settings → Updates, the Firmware entity |
| [ ] | Update from 1.4.5 to 1.4.6 (13.1, only if you come from 1.4.5) | Integration 1.4.6 first (Marketplace; then restart Home Assistant); then Install on the Firmware entity for 1.4.6; the takeover is kept: about two minutes after the restart the E32 controls the boiler again without a confirmation, and Repairs shows no "confirm the takeover again" (only when the boiler or the way to it changed does a repair ask, and it says why) | HA Settings → Updates; HA Settings → System → Repairs; E32 Rooms → Active control |
| [ ] | Update from 1.4.4 to 1.4.5 (13.1, only if you come from 1.4.4) | Integration 1.4.5 first (Marketplace; then restart Home Assistant); then Install on the Firmware entity for 1.4.5; then the takeover is confirmed again, no reload needed; settings, rooms, programs, devices and learning are kept; nothing of OpenThermostat stands Unavailable or Unknown; after a restart of the E32 the scoreboard still shows yesterday | HA Settings → Updates; E32 Home; HA Settings → System → Repairs |
| [ ] | Update from 1.4.3 to 1.4.4 (13.1, only if you come from 1.4.3) | Integration 1.4.4 first (Marketplace; then restart Home Assistant); then Install on the Firmware entity for 1.4.4; then the takeover is confirmed again, no reload needed; settings, rooms, programs, devices and learning are kept; nothing of OpenThermostat stands Unavailable or Unknown; no Repair says the E32 could not store what it learned | HA Settings → Updates; HA Settings → System → Repairs |
| [ ] | Learn again (1.4.4, optional, only after a real change to your heating) | On the E32, Rooms, a room, block Learning: Learn again asks first and says the week program stays; afterwards the block reads "Learning · 0 of 6 warm-ups"; the room's week program and settings are unchanged. On Home, under What the E32 has learned, the same for the house | E32 Rooms and Home; HA dashboard Settings → Rooms (block Learning), Settings → Heating and boiler, Learning tab |
| [ ] | Radiator valve messages (1.4.4, Zigbee2MQTT valves) | A Sonoff TRV-ZBT shows its battery and its set temperature; a valve whose message is too large to read says Message too large to read with its size, not "Waiting for a report" | E32 Rooms page, section Radiator valves; HA room card |
| [ ] | Hot water flow (1.4.5, only if your boiler measures it) | On the Boiler tab under Hot water, right after the temperature and its target, a tile reads Tapping now with the flow in L/min while you run a hot tap and No tapping when no tap runs; the sensor Hot water flow is on the boiler device, not under Diagnostic; a boiler whose flow never moves (an adapter that reports zero) shows neither | HA dashboard Boiler; HA boiler device |
| [ ] | Update from 1.4.2 to 1.4.3 (13.1, only if you come from 1.4.2) | Update in the usual order (13.1); settings, rooms, programs, sensors, valves and learning are kept; nothing of OpenThermostat stands Unavailable or Unknown | HA Settings → Updates; HA Settings → System → Repairs |
| [ ] | Rooms and Learning tabs (1.4.3) | Every tab uses the whole width of the screen; Rooms has a card per room (arc, presets, bar of today, last 24 hours, devices); Learning holds what the E32 learns per room, and a fact it does not know yet says what it still needs | HA dashboard Rooms and Learning |
| [ ] | Update from 1.4.1 to 1.4.2 (13.1, only if you come from 1.4.1) | Integration 1.4.2 first (Marketplace; then restart Home Assistant); then Install on the Firmware entity for 1.4.2; then the takeover is confirmed again, no reload needed; settings, rooms, programs, devices and learning are kept; nothing of OpenThermostat stands Unavailable or Unknown; every room keeps the people who got its messages; a valve that was also a setting device has lost Valve control, with a Repairs item | HA Settings → Updates; HA Settings → System → Repairs; HA dashboard Settings → Notifications |
| [ ] | A temperature never changes the state (1.4.2) | Turn the thermostat of a room with a week program: it holds until the next switch time. Turn it on a room without one: the room's temperature without a week program changes. An Off room stays Off, a room on Heat along only stays on it | HA room thermostat; HA dashboard Settings → Rooms → the room; E32 Overview |
| [ ] | E32 Overview temperature (1.4.2) | The room card has Temperature, Set, Boost 1 hour, Stop boost (while a boost runs, also without a week program) and, for a manual change on a room with a week program, Back to the week program; a line says "Until 22:00" or "Becomes the temperature without a week program"; the sign-in page shows the firmware version | E32 Overview; the sign-in page |
| [ ] | Recipients per room (1.4.2, optional) | The room's screen, Notifications for this room, says who gets its messages and lets you choose; a person without a phone is named "(no phone: in Home Assistant)" | HA dashboard Settings → Rooms → the room, or Settings → Notifications |
| [ ] | Batteries (1.4.2) | Settings → Devices → Batteries lists every battery, the lowest first, with the limit Warn below; the sensor Batteries low counts those below it | HA dashboard Settings → Devices; the OpenThermostat E32 device |
| [ ] | Bluetooth search (1.4.2) | Search nearby works whenever a search is possible and says Searching nearby… while it runs; a sensor's screen says which room it measures for | HA dashboard Settings → Devices; E32 System → Devices |
| [ ] | Update from 1.4.0 to 1.4.1 (13.1, only if you come from 1.4.0) | Integration 1.4.1 first (Marketplace; then restart Home Assistant); then Install on the Firmware entity for 1.4.1; then the takeover is confirmed again; settings, rooms, programs and learning are kept | HA Settings → Updates; HA Settings → System → Repairs → Confirm again that the E32 may control the boiler, or E32 Rooms |
| [ ] | Summer mode (1.4.1, optional) | Summer appears in the house mode; the heating stays off, hot water and frost protection stay; the room cards say Summer; switching it off returns to the mode before | HA dashboard Overview → Home or away; E32 Home |
| [ ] | Update from 1.3.0 to 1.4.0 (13.1, only if you come from 1.3.0) | Integration 1.4.0 first (Marketplace; then restart Home Assistant); then Install on the Firmware entity for 1.4.0; then the takeover is confirmed again; settings, rooms, programs, devices and learning are kept; Repairs no longer lists notices that name no fault | HA Settings → Updates; HA Settings → System → Repairs → Confirm again that the E32 may control the boiler, or E32 Rooms |
| [ ] | Settings tab (1.4.0, seven sections since 1.4.1) | The dashboard's last tab Settings lists the seven sections with what is set now; a room card's Settings button opens that room; a change saved there shows on the E32; Configure has two items while the dashboard is shown (1.4.1) | HA dashboard Settings; HA Settings → Devices & services → OpenThermostat → Configure |
| [ ] | Reset times (1.4.0, optional) | A reset time on a room (for example every day at 22:00 to 14 °C) is listed on the room's screen and on the E32 Rooms page; the week planner shows a marker above its days; the room card names it on the day; at that moment the room takes the value | HA dashboard Settings → Rooms → the room → Week program (the planner's markers and list); E32 Rooms → the room → Reset times (the block under the week program) |
| [ ] | A room that is Off (1.4.0) | A room set to Off still shows its temperature, without a target, on the E32 and in Home Assistant | E32 Overview, Rooms; HA room card and thermostat |
| [ ] | Errors (1.4.0) | The OpenThermostat E32 device has the sensor Errors; it says 0, or how many error lines the E32's system log has had since the last restart, with the last one | HA, the OpenThermostat E32 device; E32 System → Diagnostics and system log |
| [ ] | Update from 1.2.0 to 1.3.0 (13.1, only if you come from 1.2.0) | Integration 1.3.0 first (Marketplace; then restart Home Assistant); then Install on the Firmware entity for 1.3.0; then the takeover is confirmed again; settings, rooms, programs, devices and learning are kept; a lowest water temperature you set yourself is still yours | HA Settings → Updates; HA Settings → System → Repairs → Confirm again that the E32 may control the boiler, or E32 Rooms; E32 Home → Water temperature limits |
| [ ] | Lowest water temperature (1.3.0) | Water temperature limits has the tick Lowest water temperature: automatic and says the value in effect ("now 42 °C (learned)"); the same tick in Home Assistant; a change on the E32 shows in Home Assistant within minutes and is not put back | E32 Home → Water temperature limits; HA dashboard Settings → Heating and boiler → Water temperature limits |
| [ ] | Heat along only (1.3.0) | A room set to Heat along only keeps its target and its valves, and the Reason says it never asks the boiler for heat; switched off and on again it heats along again | HA room thermostat, Heating; HA dashboard Settings → Rooms; E32 Rooms, Overview |
| [ ] | Devices page (1.3.0) | System → Devices lists the Bluetooth sensors, the Shelly devices and, read-only, the devices heard on the boiler bus; the old Bluetooth and Shelly addresses lead there; Home Assistant has the same on the dashboard's Settings → Devices | E32 System → Devices; HA dashboard Settings → Devices |
| [ ] | Status light (1.3.0, optional) | After choosing the board under System → Settings → Advanced the light is steady when all is well and blinks slowly without network, broker or boiler; two short flashes while the E32 waits for your takeover confirmation | E32 System → Settings → Advanced; the board |
| [ ] | Update from 1.0.0 to 1.1.0 (13.1, only if you come from 1.0.0) | Update in the usual order (13.1); every contact you chose before is a window; the options that came with 1.1.0 (boiler settings, the EMS+ tester, Shelly devices) are off | HA Settings → Updates; HA dashboard Settings → Rooms → the room → Windows and doors |
| [ ] | Door and window delays (1.1.0, 11.5, optional) | A door pauses its room only after 5 minutes, a window after 2: the Reason says "A door is open: the room pauses soon", then "Paused: a door is open" (a window: "Paused: a window is open") | HA room form, section Windows and doors (Door contacts, Pause after (doors)); the room's Reason; E32 Overview |
| [ ] | Boiler settings read (1.1.0) | Within minutes after the update the E32 Boiler page shows the boiler settings, each with its "last read" time; Read heating settings reads them again | E32 Boiler; HA dashboard Boiler tab |
| [ ] | New target (1.1.0) | A target changed in Home Assistant is confirmed by the E32 within about 12 seconds | HA room thermostat; E32 Overview room card |
| [ ] | Update from 1.1.0 to 1.2.0 (13.1, only if you come from 1.1.0) | Update in the usual order (13.1); what the E32 learned, settings, rooms and programs are kept; the boiler's values sit on the boiler device and notifications are off until you switch them on | HA Settings → Updates; HA Settings → Devices & services → OpenThermostat |
| [ ] | Last restart (1.2.0) | After the update the sensor Last restart says when the E32 restarted and why; the E32 Diagnostics page says the same, with the time per part of its loop | HA, the OpenThermostat E32 device; E32 System → Diagnostics and system log |
| [ ] | Notifications (1.2.0, optional) | Under Settings → Notifications → Who gets messages on the dashboard a person has a phone (the line at the top names it); a room switched on (on its room screen, Notifications for this room) sends a message when a window is opened while it heats; nothing is sent before you switch it on | HA dashboard Settings → Notifications; the phone |
| [ ] | Learning (1.2.0) | What the E32 learned names the boiler's steady water temperature once the boiler has been seen switching itself on and off, and per room how far its model is ("checking its predictions, 2 of 3 days good") | HA dashboard tab Learning; E32 Home → What the E32 has learned |
| [ ] | Backup (14.1) | A backup file is downloaded, optionally with a passphrase | E32 System → Backup and restore |
| [ ] | Diagnostics console (user guide) | status and log 20 answer |
E32 System → Diagnostics and system log |
| [ ] | Daily summary (user guide, the day after) | Daily summary shows the last finished day | HA, the OpenThermostat device |
| [ ] | Yesterday (11.6, once the E32 has measured a day) | Yesterday shows heating hours, burner starts per heating hour and, per room, how late or early it was warm and how far it overshot | HA dashboard tab Learning; E32 Home → What the E32 has learned |
| [ ] | Morning check (user guide, the first mornings) | After a morning with Smart warm-up on, the room says how it went, for example "Yesterday warm at 09:12 (12 min late); tomorrow 10 % earlier." | HA dashboard tab Learning; E32 Home → What the E32 has learned |
| [ ] | What the E32 knows (user guide, within the first days) | The E32 knows your house: N % with sentences about what it still has to learn; one sentence about the boiler (or "The E32 listens to your boiler once it controls the boiler itself" before the takeover); the chart Water temperature by outdoor temperature | HA dashboard tab Learning (What the E32 knows, House and boiler) and the sensors Knowledge and Boiler response on the E32 device; E32 Home → What the E32 has learned and Heating settings |
After the check #
- Every step done without help: the 1.0 criterion "an installation guide that someone else can follow" is met. Note the name (or anonymous), the date and the firmware and integration versions.
- Every note becomes a fix in the guide.
- Keep the filled-in list with the release records.