thermostat help

John Genereux

thanks for the input. are there thermostats that use a remote sensor so that it will take different room temps into account? I have adjustable vents but they dont seem to be working very well. I have the current t-stat set in the middle of the first floor. All the rooms on that floor are withing 1.5 degrees of what the tstat says.
I have done some floor plan changes to the house so maybe i need to calibrate the system again. It was working GREAT when the last tenant was there, very even. Also, what is the working life of the adjustable vents? I replaced all of them about 3 years ago with the ones from Home Depot. I think I have 3 of the nice ones from a plumbing store. Thanks, John

John Genereux

multi thermostat question

Hello,
I have an old 2 family house with a single pipe steam system and one boiler. The boiler is sized correct for the system. I am interested in putting in 2 thermostats, one for each unit. My idea is to have them connected to each other and then to the boiler. That way when one unit needs heat the system will kick on. Is this possible? My tenant is complaining that the house is too hot and then too cold. At least something like this would solve the too cold problem. Any help would be great.

Thanks
John

Empire_2

Possible, yes

Be careful not to use t-stats with heat anticipators like the T-87f by honeywell and equivelant. Each stat would bring on the boiler, but if the 2 called together the anticipator would burn out on 1 if not both. Also, you will always have very uneven areas. Might I sugest adjustable steam vents....? to correctly ballance the 2 areas instead. As I understand it you are going to connect the stats in parallel.

carol_3

What you haven't mentioned is what the two thermostats are going to control. Remember, a thermostat is just a switch. When there's a need for heat the thermostat switch turns on or opens up something that lets the steam flow to that living unit, but not to the other. The piping also needs to be so that you can deliver to one unit and not the other.

Mike T, I'm going to disagree with you on your statement that he can't use stats with anticipators. If the stats are wired in parallel with each other, I think the anticipators, like any other loads in parallel, wouldn't "see" each other. But tell me more about what your thinking is on this.

Empire_2

OHMS Law Rule #1

Rule #1 for parallel circuits. Quoted from "Ugly's" reffrence manual. "The total current in a parallel circuit is equal to the sum of the current in all the branches". In my opinion,...Not only are you energising a small load, say aquistat or valve what ever it is doing, You are also using the anticipator x 2 which is a resistive load to add to the total accumulative load. If they were stats with no anticipators, then yes it acts like a switch, but in the case of anticipation the you can smoke the anticipator. Now if you are set at identical values say .5 and .5, you may get away with it operating ok. At .2 and .2 or .3 and .3 I'll bet it'll smoke every time. Jump in anybody, but this is what I have come to learn and have actually played with this senerio a-little.

carol_3

A stat with remote sensors isn't going to help because it averages the sensors. I think you said your rooms are within 1.5 degrees of the stat. That's great because the best stat gives you plus or minus one degree.

Dan_29

vents

The $4 fixed and $8 adjustable vents at Home Depot are junk. I had them on my radiators with mixed results. I changed all 16 of them to Vent-rite #1 s (adustable-$17 per vent) and the heat output and balancing improved in the system compared to last year. I also unplugged the line vents (which were capped by knownothings of the past and installed Vent-rite 35 vents-$18 per vent-to speed the distribution of steam. Insulation of the main pipes also helped. I did not want to continue heating the basement.

It sounds as if your problem may be more of proper venting and balancing rather than electrical.

Dan

PS: If you don't want to by new vents, I hear they can be heated up in a vinegar and this may remove blockages of dirt and rust which accrue over time.