Nakynaw Posted January 30, 2016 Posted January 30, 2016 Hi guys & gals, I have a Venstar T1900 controlling the heat pump and the gaz furnace. The thing is, it's at the rez de chaussé, and on the second floor it's often 2 degrees colder because of the HRV blowing cold air. What would be the cheapest way to make ISY send a signal to the main thermostat to start heating if the second floor gets colder than the temperature setpoint? Thanks!
Techman Posted January 30, 2016 Posted January 30, 2016 Is the T1900 on your first floor your main thermostat? Is it your only thermostat? You could use an Insteon wireless thermostat on the second floor that could send a signal to the ISY which in turn could activate an IOLinc that would close contacts to turn on the heat.
KeviNH Posted January 30, 2016 Posted January 30, 2016 I have a Venstar T1900 controlling the heat pump and the gaz furnace. The thing is, it's at the rez de chaussé, and on the second floor it's often 2 degrees colder because of the HRV blowing cold air. What would be the cheapest way to make ISY send a signal to the main thermostat to start heating if the second floor gets colder than the temperature setpoint? So you're saying the thermostat is controlled by the ISY994, but is on the first floor,doesn't know you need heat on the second floor, because there is no thermostat upstairs? You want a way to detect that the upstairs is too cold? The cheapest solution would be to dig out an old mercury switch wall mount thermostat (free!) and connect it to an insteon open close sensor. Better yet, if you have Z-Wave module, get a multisensor (one that's known to work well with ISY). I use two different models of Aeotec, powered off USB adapters. Seems many people use the Insteon 2441ZTH as a remote sensor for their Insteon thermostats, usually with a 2441TH?
larryllix Posted January 30, 2016 Posted January 30, 2016 Hi guys & gals, I have a Venstar T1900 controlling the heat pump and the gaz furnace. The thing is, it's at the rez de chaussé, and on the second floor it's often 2 degrees colder because of the HRV blowing cold air. What would be the cheapest way to make ISY send a signal to the main thermostat to start heating if the second floor gets colder than the temperature setpoint? Thanks! As per Techman above, use Insteon 2441ZTH to send temperature and humidity to ISY. I wouldn't be comfortable having Insteon signals operating my HVAC equipment for heating but I would be comfortable operating the HVAC circ fan to even out the temperatures. If your Insteon system fails the furnace may not turnoff and be stuck on. I would save that for direct wired reliable equipment only. Having said that I do modify the temperature on my Venstar thermostat but the stat has regular time quadrants during the day where it sets the temperature back to it's schedule.
stusviews Posted January 30, 2016 Posted January 30, 2016 Insteon thermostats, both wired and wireless, have the four auto schedules that virtually all programmable thermostats have that will revert the temperature back to it's schedule. I am comfortable having Insteon signals operating my HVAC equipment for heating (and cooling). If heating turns on and not off, I'd know it. If I'm not here the system is off. If I need to know when I'm not here, then, yes, I do rely on my Insteon system which is controlled by direct wired reliable Insteon thermostats. The only difficulty I'm currently experiencing is voice control. Alexa's OK, but Izzy has some difficulties.
Nakynaw Posted February 3, 2016 Author Posted February 3, 2016 Thanks for all your great inputs. So, basically, it seems like a wireless thermostat from Insteon installed upstairs would be the best idea? It would send information to the controller (ISY), and then, if need be, and depending on how I program my stuff, ISY could control the T1900 of the first floor - which is wired to the HVAC system - and send a «heat» command ? As you guys said, the problem of overheating if the system fails should not scare me. If ISY if down, then the t1900 will stop the heating cause it will have reached the setpoint. If it is up, I will make sure the program is not simply a «turn heat on» command but a command to heat until another setpoint is reached on the second floor wireless thermostat. Right? Another question : I programmed the schedule of the t1900 directly on the device. It seems much more detailed than what I can do on the ISY Dashboard... Am i not right? Just to start the fan from the java app from the phone seems to interfere with everything from the thermostat... Any advise on the subject if welcome. Thanks again.
stusviews Posted February 3, 2016 Posted February 3, 2016 All my heating/cooling schedules are ISY programs.
larryllix Posted February 3, 2016 Posted February 3, 2016 Thanks for all your great inputs. So, basically, it seems like a wireless thermostat from Insteon installed upstairs would be the best idea? It would send information to the controller (ISY), and then, if need be, and depending on how I program my stuff, ISY could control the T1900 of the first floor - which is wired to the HVAC system - and send a «heat» command ? As you guys said, the problem of overheating if the system fails should not scare me. If ISY if down, then the t1900 will stop the heating cause it will have reached the setpoint. If it is up, I will make sure the program is not simply a «turn heat on» command but a command to heat until another setpoint is reached on the second floor wireless thermostat. Right? Another question : I programmed the schedule of the t1900 directly on the device. It seems much more detailed than what I can do on the ISY Dashboard... Am i not right? Just to start the fan from the java app from the phone seems to interfere with everything from the thermostat... Any advise on the subject if welcome. Thanks again. As per the flavour here, I have my thermostat set for day and night temperatures and can override any errors in Insteon or ISY judgment after a period of time. I also have remote control of ISY and thermostat and alarms from other monitoring devices to alert me. For setback I use a program to set the temperature early to accommodate my comfort levels. This is always a compromise between being cold before bed and being hot in bed as my home drops heat very slowly and even the two degrees takes about 6 hours. It has a hard time hitting the night temperature on day warmer than freezing. If ISY totally screws up, my stat will kick the night time temperature at 11:00 PM anyway. For recovery I do the same thing in reverse. My stat is set to day temperature at 10:00 am as a just in case setting. In my programs I consider wind speed and outside temperatures as factors. The other factor is a measured speed at which the house drops degrees and rises degrees. I also use a wind compensation for my temperatures because it is very windy where I live and it creates cold draughts in far corners of the house from the windows. I increase the running temperature by 0.5 degrees C, the finest increment on the T7900 thermostat and then return them after 45 minutes. BTW: The windows are deepset design, latest modern heat saving technology, available in this area, so no need for the window R-factor discussion. Frequent winds over 50kph with outside temps of -20C make cold panes. My air handler fan motor is ECM and I run a cycler on top of that kicking in at regular intervals when heat/cold is not circulating the air,
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