Potential zone fighting?

Mike T., Swampeast MO

That is an interesting question David.

Convention says that there's not much circulation between spaces separated by a normal (say 32") doorway. In many floorplans such a door will lead to an unheated interior hallway so at worst, you'd just be giving a bit more heat to the hall.

In a very open plan however, there might be a problem if the t-stat settings are significantly different.

Your magnetic switch idea for the door is neat. Might I suggest standard magnetic alarm contacts for the purpose? Just check contact ratings carefull--good chance that you'll have to use an additional relay to isolate it from the higher current in the t-stat circuitry.

David_24

Potential zone fighting.

I'm installing several home-run baseboard loops to a new system (using PAP tubing). The house is a very open floor plan, except for the bathroom and a bedroom. I'm tempted to put the bedroom on a separate zone. The problem in my head with that is if someone left the bedroom door open, and had the thermostat set higher, then that bedroom zone would effectively be trying to heat the rest of the house to it's setting, correct? Is this really so much a problem as it seems on paper? I'd thought of magnetic switches in the door to cause that zone to switch to the main house thermostat unless the door is closed - is that some kind of overkill? Thanks... Dave

kevin coppinger_4

good thought....

I have seen this happen before..you do need to pay attemtion to t-stat location...Tell the customer to not have wild temp swings between those t-stats....kpc

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David_24

Thanks Kevin

This does seem like a problem needing a solution. I thought of the mag switch in the door idea as one way of adding a safeguard. I understand that one idea of multiple zones is to make for an easy way of balancing the system, especially if one room is over heated space and another isn't, etc. But invariably I can see it used to personalize the temperature in a bedroom, then end up running all day while gone with the door left open. Maybe that would just mean the main area wouldn't call for het as often and therefor be no extra energy used - yet it seems to take some elegance out of the performance of the system. Thanks again... Dave

David_24

Thanks, Mike

That was one thought I had - on paper it might look like more a problem than in practice - regarding how much heat can flow through a doorway. If the difference in temp was 50 degrees, a lot of air would flow, but considering the difference in temperature at maybe 5 degrees, probably not a lot of pressure to move much air. So I think the magnetic door switch idea might be a neat solution to a non-existent problem. D..