Thermostats should never display numbers.......Cosmo

Christian Egli_2

This sounds like a fight for the heat lever in the car. They're usually just red and blue like you call for; I remember a car we had when I grew up, it was special, it had a rotating wheel with temperature in degrees on it - the ultimate control, you could be finicky to the highest degree. Well it never solved the arguments between the front passengers, worse, it seemed to add oil on the fire. Now the fighting was not just about being too hot, it was about being crazy for setting the dial to 90 - we never set it that hot at home...

It was obvious the dial has nothing to do with indoor temperature but only a relation to the air supply. Not the same thing.

Back to your dials, can you write a label on the device to make it clear this is only an operating temperature and not, NOT, the room temperature. Perhaps that will clear up the argument between the passengers, but I'm not sure they listen.

Recalibrate the dial or stick on a label to cover the parts you don't like.

That's a good idea you have for a product. Have you looked at what Theben has to offer, they make controls and have quaint ways of using pictogram labels. I'm thinking of their Ramses line I once saw at the AHR.

Cosmo_3

aargh

Seems like every house where I install floor warming for the bathrooms I get the same questions from the homeowners.

I have a builder that wants warm floors in the bathrooms. So I install floor warming (generally plates, but staple up if budgets don't permit) and each bathroom is controlled separately with an individual floor sensor, and Uponor 501s thermostat that senses/regulates floor temperature only, the thermostats are mounted in the boiler room.

So obviously to us in the business we know that the floor may need to be hotter/colder than other floors to get to the temperature where the occupants feet feel warm. Sensor placement has a more direct effect, sometimes there is no choice but to install a sensor off center between loops so as to be accessible in the future. But it really doesn't matter if one bathroom needs 77 Degrees F and another needs 80......does it?

Now if I could buy thermostats that had remote sensing capability, and PID logic to work with the radiant and the only indicator was a blue fading into red line well then life would be easy!!!!

Cosmo

Vermonter_3

Re: Aargh

I know where you're coming from. You could try the ETI floor sensor. "Power" and "on" indicators only. I used to use them but the Tekmars have so much more to offer.

It's always a crap shoot as to what the senser should be set at relating to surface temp when the bulb is positioned somewhere in the floor "sandwich". Trial and error with the infrared gets to a slab minimum. I've had to set them as high as 90* to get a surface temp of 78* with plates. As always...in a well insulated room, a warm floor means a HOT room. I stick with the "it just won't be a COLD floor" story.

Here's the link to the ETI. BTW, I always install the stat in the bath, not the boiler room.

Good luck

http://www.tycothermal.com/assets/Americas/English/Document/Datasheets/2779/fwt3_18769.pdf

EDIT: I just noticed the pdf is for the high volt model. They make a 24V as well.

Dave_4

How about an FHV (floor heat valve) instead of a thermostat? Just like a TRV the actuator has a relative scale--not absolute...

Dave_4

Hijacked again. Previous message from me.

Author corrected via edit. Strange...

Perry_3

Response to the tittle of this post.

This may not help your floor temperature control... But; I disagree with your premise.

Themostats should have numbers on them. Even numbers that change automatically depending on the weather.

The numbers needs to be in either cents or dollars per hour (or dollars per day).

I wonder how much it would affect the fuel usage if everyone knew how much per day it was costing them to heat their house (or their bathroom floor).

You would of course have to have an outdoor temperature sensor - and perhaps others - along with some minimal computer.

Golly, its cold out and the cost to heat the house just went up $5 per day...

Building Green is more than a concept.

Besides you can make more money by selling and installing this neat little accessory

Perry

Cosmo_3

Perry

I don't disagree with you one bit.

just venting man

Thanks for the idears, will look into for next time

Cosmo