RE: Re: X10 central heating control

["Nigel Giddings" <nigel.giddings@xxxxxxx>]

I am controlling my CH with Homeseer / Temp05 / Relay05

Operating motorised valves is pretty easy. If you apply 230V to the signal
wire of the Zone Valve it drives the motor and opens the valve. Once the
Valve is open it operates a micro switch in the valve which signals the
boiler to heat and the pump to run.

The boiler heats the water all the time it is called for heat by a Zone
Valve. My system has 3 single valves but there is no limit... The output
temperature of the boiler water is controlled by the boiler thermostat,
this
is as standard.

I have left my old thermostats in place and have used a changeover switch
that allows me to use either the Old Thermostat or a 230volt signal
switched
by Homeseer.

If the PC had a catastrophic failure all I have to do is operate the
changeover switches and everything reverts to the old method of switching.
You have to be there to do this of course and you may have to return to a
cold house with cold water... but I find Homseer and the Temp05 set-up very
reliable... in the last couple of months 100% reliable. I must be due for a
failure soon ?

One advantage, which I have not set up yet, is to hold off hot water
heating
while rooms are being heated. Once the house reaches temperature you can
then heat the hot water. A small advantage but should allow more accurate
(quicker) temperature settings in the rooms. Of course if it is very cold
you could limit this to a period of time or until the water got below a
second threshold, otherwise you might never get any hot water.

I hope to use this in a new build with 12 Zones of under floor heating, the
DS1820s should come into there own with this application, although I may
need 2 x Temp05 / Relay05 as there are only 8 relays to each board. I
suppose I could use this to add redundancy to water heating in case of a
board failure. Even with 2x Controllers it still works out at a good price.

Regards

Nigel

-----Original Message-----
From: steevc [mailto:steevc@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 11 December 2001 12:36
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Re: X10 central heating control

Currently my heating is controlled by a basic 7 day timer. All that
seems to be is a relay which tells the boiler to turn on/off. All the
clever stuff such as the thermostat is connected to the boiler.

In that case I would expect it could be replaced by an X10 appliance
module controlled by Comfort/Homevision or even just the X10 timer
unit.

In our new house it will be a little more complicated as there may be
2 zones so some motorised valves may come into play. By connecting
the thermostats to the control unit there could be some clever
switching so that the heating comes on earlier when it's colder. I
know there are dedicated units to do this, but they seem expensive. I
was planning to just use Comfort if possible.

I'd like to keep mine simple enough so that the X10s could be easily
replaced by standard timers in case a future buyer is scared by any
fancy automation.

Steve