[SGVLUG] HAK group question: How to remote control a millivolt thermostat (circuit)

[Claude Felizardo]

As with anything, who would be affected if something fails?  If it's
just you and no pets or plants then sure, go for it.  Otherwise just
run some wire upstairs and get an inexpensive off the shelf digital
thermostat that will just work.  Especially as you don't have a forced
air system.

After our room additional, our AC was overloaded so I wanted to zone
my one-story house but the cost and skill for installing automatic
dampers, worrying about over pressurizing and blowing out a duct, etc,
and the fact that I have a family, pets and plants; I had to wait a
few years after the remodel before zoning made it to the top of the
list.  I now have a thermostat in the hallway next to the bedrooms and
another one on the other side of the house in the family room which
has most of the electronic gear so it's warmer during the summer.

The two zones work quite nicely through out the year until the house
we have lots of people over during the summer but then that's what
ceiling fans are for.  And while I don't get to control the system via
the computer, I can monitor the temps all over the place.

Claude



On Sat, Dec 8, 2012 at 8:18 PM, Matthew Campbell <dvdmatt at gmail.com> wrote:
> You can get a new digital thermostat from the home store for $15-35
> depending on your features.  Usually zoning requires the cooperation of the
> furnace controller as it needs to negotiate between two thermostats which
> may be calling for very different functions.
>
> If you want to make this into a project you can replace the thermostat in
> the dining room with a receiver like an X10 thermostat and put a wireless or
> PLC thermostat upstairs that communicates with it.  The downstairs
> thermostat then negotiates between your two sensors and sends a single
> signal to the heater.
>
> I am sorry you were not able to make it to this month's meeting.  I was
> giving away all the required parts at the meeting and you would have been
> able to talk to people who have done this before.  This online list is
> really great for getting advice like this but the meetings offer a lot more.
>
> There are usually several fun projects to look at.  Seeing what others are
> doing can inspire your dreams and tinkering.
>
> I hope to see you at future meetings,
>
> Matt
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 8, 2012 at 12:38 PM, Michael Proctor-Smith
> <mproctor13 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Dec 8, 2012 11:17 AM, "John Kreznar" <jek at ininx.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > Homan Chou <homanchou at gmail.com> writes:
>> >
>> > > I would like to turn the heater on or off based on the ambient
>> > > temperature upstairs.
>> >
>> > Why not just extend the millivolt wiring to the upstairs and reconnect
>> > the thermostat (or a new one -- widely available) there?
>> >
>> I would also say run wiring upstairs.
>>
>> As for relay sounds like you would want normally open and rated for
>> contiunous operation or a latching relay. I am sure there are lots of howtos
>> out there for driving a relay.
>>
>> > --
>> > OpenPGP key: http://ininx.com
>> >  John E. Kreznar jek at ininx.com 9F1148454619A5F08550 705961A47CC541AFEF13
>> >
>
>