Re: New paradigm for home heating automation and control

[Pat Farrell <pfarrell@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Andrew Burgess wrote:

>>All seems doable. Then you have to ask what is the load
>>of heating a room from 60 to 72 when someone enters,
>>does that actually net out a savings over keeping the
>>room (with furnature, etc.) at a constant value.
>
> Setbacks always save energy. The downside is waiting for the
> room to heat up.
> Or are you thinking of having to have a larger capacity heater to
> make the recovery time small?

Not heating a room that isn't used saves energy.
No argument there. The challenge is that most people
use lots of rooms, some one regular schedules (dinning room
at meal time) and others at very irregular schedules.

A underheated (or overheated) room has not only the
air to heat, but also all the furnishing, floor, walls, etc.
Getting all of it up to temperature quickly is not easy.
Oversizing the furnace, ducts, fans, etc. is not a clear
winner.

What you want is enough sensors to know what rooms
you will be using, and get them conditioned before you
get there.

Not an easy problem.


--
Pat