Re: Choosing an Advanced Thermostat for Home

["Simon McCaughey" <simonmcc@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Phil,

I get exactly where you are coming from, when I was discussing my plans
with
folks at work others thought I should make it fully automatic, occupancy
based.

However I decided to go for the quick kill, and just get something simple
working, with the option of adding more complexity later.

We have been extremely pleased with the results, and I have become
convinced
that the simple timed solution with a little human input is fantastic. It
also saves us a lot of oil, versus the traditional heating timers.

We only have basic timed programs, on for a few minutes before we get up.
The ability to set the heat on via SMS or web from other houses means that
on a particularly cold night we can text as we drive home, and arrive to a
warm house.

Relatively simple solution, we like it.

As you said, not one size fits all....

S.


On 20/03/07, Phil Harris <phil@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
> Heating is a real bone of contention IMO - I was having a discussion
with
> a
> friend last night who at one point said "It's turned chilly again
- I've
> had
> to put the heating on and here I was hoping it had come warmer so I'd
> turned
> it off."
>
> I know a lot of "us" (i.e. people) do it but just why should
we turn the
> heating off in spring and back on again in autumn? For one thing it's
not
> good for the heating system as it allows the sludge to settle!
>
> Surely if we have a cold spell then the heating should kick in
> automatically
> to keep things comfortable and if the weather takes a turn for the
warm
> then
> the heating should throttle back accordingly?
>
> I've had a little project on the back boiler (if you'll forgive the
pun)
> for
> a while which has been a zoned (currently 10 zones) heating / cooling
> controller written in HomeGate and using a touchscreen interface. It's
not
> "finished" yet as at the moment I have no provision for
actually
> implementing it in my house but it basically works around whether the
> house
> is occupied or not - it assumes that we're generally "in" at
certain times
> (in which case it works to one set of temperatures) and generally
"out" at
> other times (in which case it works to a set of knockback
temperatures)
> but
> also modifies its in/out behaviour depending on whether it sees the
house
> occupied at the time or not. I've had it sat running attached to a
demo
> rig
> (using fake control outputs) and it looks like it should work OK but
> generally it's just used to show people on the training courses a bit
of
> advanced functionality and they almost without exception have real
> problems
> understanding why it doesn't have a "timer". :-D
>
> Phil
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx]
> > On Behalf Of Simon McCaughey
> > Sent: 20 March 2007 16:43
> > To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> > Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Choosing an Advanced Thermostat for Home
> >
> > Since we automated the heating in our home the thermostat is
> > basically redundant.
> >
> > I use detailed timed programs, for example 10 mins on, 10
> > minutes off, to control the overall temperature. Using
> > various patterns the heating control of the house is very
> > easy, and surprisingly very stable.
> >
> > The other problem with our thermostats is that they are in
> > the hall and landing, and have no bearing on the heat in the
> > important rooms.
> >
> > Sometimes I think we over-complicate things, our heating
> > requires some human input - ie does it feel cold in the house
> > - yes then heat on for 30 minutes/hour, no then 15 minutes
> > per hour - simple!
> >
> > S.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 20/03/07, Mark McCall <lists@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> > >
> > > Carlton Bale has an interesting blog post on his
> > investigations into
> > > choosing an Advanced Thermostat for his home. Well worth a
> > read of you
> > > are considering automating your heating/ventilation
system...
> > >
> > > http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/article1862.html
> > >
> > > M.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Regards
> >
> > Simon
> >
> > ---
> > "Think. It's not illegal yet."
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
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>
>
>
>
>
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>
>


--
Regards

Simon

---
"Think. It's not illegal yet."


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]