Re: oil fired furnace X-10 off/on swich control

[gordonb.omhdz@xxxxxxxxxxx (Gordon Burditt)]

>I live in the Northeast and have an oil fired furnace which provides
>hot water to heat the house and for domestic hot water.
>
>During the warm months we turn off the oil furnace when we do not need
>hot water to save energy.
>
>There is a low-voltage off/on toggle switch next to the oil furnace.
>This turns off/on the furnace control.  This works great except when
>you want to take a shower when you wake up in the morning.
>
>Is there a way to use an X-10 device to turn off/on the furnace
>instead of walking out into the garage?

Isn't there an X-10 device that operates low-voltage relay contacts?
I'd put the manual switch and the X-10 device in series, so OFF on
the manual switch means OFF, so you don't surprise anyone doing
maintenance.

Another possibility is to find the power supply/transformer powering
the low-voltage circuit, and cut off the power there with a 110VAC
X-10 device.  My (gas) furnace has a 110VAC switch controlling a
low voltage (12 or 24V, I think, it's been a while since I had to
replace the transformer) transformer which powers the thermostat.
I don't know whether oil heat is set up this way, but *something*
needs to power the circuit, and my guess is it's not batteries.
(Beware that smart thermostats may need power to keep the program
memory functioning, although this IS often done with batteries.)