Setting Heater for the Winter

[pyrorobert]

Hello all,

I am adding a program for my thermostat to turn on whenever the temperature drops at or below the shown temp then the heater will automatically turn on. Here is what I have, please let me know if this looks correct. I have a Venstar 1700 with an insteon thermostat adapter plugged into it.

 

Thanks,

Robert

 

 

If

Status 'Upstairs thermostat - Main' <= 65 degrees (Temperature)

And From 10:00 pm

To 7:00 am (next day)

And $AlarmStatus_ArmedStay is 1

 

Then

Set 'Upstairs Thermostat - Main' 68 degrees (Heat Setpoint)

Set 'Upstairs Thermostat - Main' Mode Heat

 

Else

Set 'Upstairs Thermostat - Main' Mode Off

[mbrett]

Looks right except put the "mode heat" line above the set temperatures line

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi pyrorobert,

 

This is correct. This said, I do recommend that you make the Else in the separate program since it will run if ANY of the following is not true:

Status 'Upstairs thermostat - Main'

OR

And From 10:00 pm

To 7:00 am (next day)

OR

And $AlarmStatus_ArmedStay is 1

 

I do not think this is what you want.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[pyrorobert]

Hello Michel,

Thanks for the reply, but I think I am a little confused. The whole purpose of the Else is to run as long as any of the If are not true, right. So in this case, it wouldn't turn on the heater if any of those aren't true. Please let me know if that is correct.

 

Thanks,

 

Robert

[apostolakisl]

Hello Michel,

Thanks for the reply, but I think I am a little confused. The whole purpose of the Else is to run as long as any of the If are not true, right. So in this case, it wouldn't turn on the heater if any of those aren't true. Please let me know if that is correct.

 

Thanks,

 

Robert

 

Yes, it wouldn't turn on the heat if any of those aren't true. But that is not the same thing as turning off the heat if any of those aren't true. As long as you actually want this program to actively turn off the heat when things aren't true (like if someone manually turned it on).

[oberkc]

One thing that is not clear to me regarding the program...

 

One of the conditions is that the 'Upstairs thermostat - Main' <= (less than or equal to) 65.

 

One of the THEN actions is to set 'Upstairs thermostat - Main' to be 68.

 

In my experience, this change in status would cause a re-evaluation of the program condition. The condition would now be false, since the termostat is GREATER than 65. This would cause the ELSE clause to run, shutting off the heat? No?

 

If so, the heat will never stay on.

[apostolakisl]

One thing that is not clear to me regarding the program...

 

One of the conditions is that the 'Upstairs thermostat - Main' <= (less than or equal to) 65.

 

One of the THEN actions is to set 'Upstairs thermostat - Main' to be 68.

 

In my experience, this change in status would cause a re-evaluation of the program condition. The condition would now be false, since the termostat is GREATER than 65. This would cause the ELSE clause to run, shutting off the heat? No?

 

If so, the heat will never stay on.

 

I think that the part about <=65 is the measured temp, not the set temp. So effectively this would be setting the thermostat to 65 even though it is set to 68, which is OK I guess but a little un-orthodox.

 

I really think the OP has over-complicated this. The thermostat should have built-in programming that can do all of these things except for the part about the alarm system status.

[Xathros]

I really think the OP has over-complicated this. The thermostat should have built-in programming that can do all of these things except for the part about the alarm system status.

 

I agree. Why not just change the thermostat set point based on the home/away or alarm status and let it do what it was designed to do.

 

-Xathros

[oberkc]

I think that the part about <=65 is the measured temp, not the set temp.

 

You may be correct, but I note that the device name ( 'Upstairs thermostat - Main' ) is the same in both cases.