Okay, need your expert advice on feasibility.
My house has 7 zones for heat, two for cooling (2 of the 7 control two A/C units as well - north half/south half). Existing Tstats are of the "independent and dumb" variety.
The heating season is coming and I need to save fuel. Propane. $3+/gallon. 1,700 gallons consumed last year. New house (2006), well insulated, but the boiler ran almost continuously because each zone is completely independent... and they are rarely, if ever, in sync.
4 zones are radiant floor heating (hot water) + 3 zones are hot water baseboard
I have an ISY and 40+ switches/iolincs/motion/etc. ISY is my preferred method for Tstats. Willing to consider other options, but they need to be easier or cheaper than the ISY setup.
The zone controller brings all 7 zones into 3 circulator pumps that drive manifolds. The manifolds have zone valves like this:
M1: Radiant floor: z1: Kitchen & dining -- the whole manifold is one zone == (1 Tstat)
M2: Radiant floor: z2 - Living Room (+A/C); z3 - Main Bath; z4 - Master Bath == (3 Tstats)
M3: Hydro baseboard: z5 - master Bed (+ A/C); z6 - Second bed; z7 - Third bed == (3 Tstats)
There is an 8th zone (4th manifold) for domestic hot water.
Got it? Simple enough?
Due to the complexity of the setup, when just one zone calls for heat, a lot of pipe needs to heat up. What I really want to do is intercept the call for heat and modify it in the ISY... by creating logical primary zones and secondary zones to make this more efficient (using thermal mass / restricting run time of the boiler).
Example 1: weekend daytime: Living room and Kitchen are the primary; bed3, main bath, master bed, master bath, bed2 are secondary (in that order).
Example 2: weekday daytime: Living room, Bed3, Kitchen are the primary; main bath, master bed, master bath, bed2 are secondary (in that order).
Example 3: nighttime: Master bedroom and MBath are primary, then kitchen, living, foyer are secondary (in that order), bed2 and bed3 are off unless guest is in house.
-> No zone can turn on the boiler except current logical primary zone(s), they trigger at 2 degrees under setpoint
-> When a primary calls for heat, and a secondary zone on same manifold is under its setpoint, heat both (eg. living room and main bath) until each satisfies
-> Attempt to only circulate to 1 manifold at a time (except M4, which is independent)
-> When the requesting primary is satisfied, the other primary is checked for delta to setpoint, if >= 1 degree difference, heat that (follow same rule for 2ndary zones on same manifold)
-> After all primarys are satisfied, follow a pecking order for secondary zones based on weekend/weekday/guest in house (bedrooms 2 and 3 are guest bedroom and home office, respectively)
-> Emergency override if any zone falls below 55 -- heat immediately
-> (future**) If domestic hot water sensor is "hot", check zones in order and "heat to satisfy" if current temp <= 2 degrees below setpoint
-> (future**) force boiler off, circulate to last unsatisfied zone for <time> or until domestic hot water sensor is "cold"
-> (future**) indicate the dist. infra. is hot on a KPL -- time to run washer/dishwasher/take a shower.
** Note the domestic hot water (M4) has a flow valve with a temp sensor (Taco I believe) in it already, I need to figure out if I can tap into this with an IOLinc. The sensor will go hot when a heating zone is calling for heat and the distribution infrastructure heats up, even if the domestic hot water is not being used.
So.. am I nuts? Can I do this in an ISY? Is it smart... what if the ISY freezes up when no one is home (its been really, really stable)! Can I "make it safe" on the condition of a failure of the ISY?
To keep domestic tranquility, I'd like the Tstat to show its current setpoint and the actual temp on its display, and if the Tstat is manipulated, for the ISY to recognize it and continue on... (current temp vs set point). Possible?
Thank you!
50/50