outdoor reset

James Day_2

I have to install a sensor for outdoor reset.  The only location I can get to would be the east side of the house.  It would be installed under a porch where it would be shaded all the time.   Would this be a viable loction to install it?

Jean-David Beyer

Outdoor sensor.

I am not an authority on this. My house has four sides, nominally north, east, south, and west. But it is not really like that as sun shines on the "north" side for a while in the late afternoon. And that is where my outdoor sensor is. The system seems to work pretty well.



I have a cheap Radio Shack Indoor-Outdoor thermometer with a wired outdoor sensor; not a thermocouple. It is on the "east" side of the house and gets sun almost all morning and a little in the early afternoon. It is mounted high on the wall, just under the eave, so the sun never shines on it. It reads a degree or two high when the sun is on that wall; possibly convection rising.



My guess, as a non-contractor, would be that while not ideal, it would work pretty well if there is no sun on the sensor and that there is enough air circulation to prevent heat build up near the sensor.



I feel sorry for the technician who installed my sensor. He had to crawl through the space between my inside wall and the outside wall upstairs (Cape Cod house), loaded with fiber-glass insulation.

bill nye_3

East

East would be better than west. If the sun faked the sensor out in the morning it would not be so bad because the house is going to warm up with solar gain during the day. It would be ok if the boiler water started to cool down.

West. You would not the sensor aiming west because the late day sun would fake the control while the outdoor temp. is getting ready to take a quick plunge.

South? Well, if the structure has a lot of solar gain and a lot of glazing some times you would need the sensor looking south. North is usually best but sometimes it is difficult to get the wire there.



Under the porch is fine. Just stay away from dryer vents or other things that could affect the ambient temperature

icesailor

Out door reset locations:

Under porches aren't the good locations they may seem like. The ground may hold heat and effect the sensor. You can get radiational cooling outside the deck/porch but not under the deck. If it was January, and 20 degrees out, and I had to dig a ditch, I would expect there to be frost in the ground. I wouldn't expect much if any frost under the deck.

The North side in the shade is the better if it can be done.

Big Ed_4

North is better

If you can only run a wire out an east wall under a porch , why not run the wire to the right and mount it on a north facing post , fascia or any north part of the porch ? Vinyl siding channel , Flashing or trim is great for running 18/2 wire ..Comes in white or brown too ... ... I would say West is better then East , The largest load is the North West part of the house in the middle of the night ... The south and east walls are in the low pressure area of the home ...

Brad White

North or East

but with a white cover. Also not directly on the house nor near a window (and, duh, a laundry dryer vent, the things I have seen...)



A stand-off bracket off the house makes sense too.



I have to tell you, with the ice dams we have seen this year, you can really tell how effective the north sides of the house theory works. Those are the only sides with snow or ice left on them. The others are bone dry and clean.

Zman500

Recent Install

Just yesterday I had a Buderus G115WS installed with the Logamatic control. They installed the outdoor sensor on the basement window frame, on the east side. My concern is that the window is 50 years old and not sealed well, so heat from the basement could seep out the window and warm the sensor. The basement is not heated, but is not too cold. I used two thermometers and found that it was 8 degrees warmer by the window than 10 feet or so away from the house. I think he chose that location because the house is stone and it would be too hard to fasten the sensor to stone. I may ask them to move it.