Relocate Thermostat?

mahoney

Hello,
I have gotten a bunch of help on my steam system from this site. and my system works perfectly. 2300 Sq Ft. 4 square house Circa 1910. We installed a wood burning stove recently. keeps the downstairs nice and warm, but the thermostat gets satisfied and the second floor is chilly. I was thinking of moving the thermostat to the central hall of the second floor. We have a laundry chute so running the wires would be a piece of cake. Anyone against this idea?

nicholas bonham-carter

Is there a radiator in that area, so the thermostat will know when it is satisfied?
Will the heat from the downstairs rise up the stairs and still satisfy the thermostat too soon?
Can you put it in one of the chilly bedrooms up there?
What will then keep the downstairs from overheating?
Using a Honeywell VisionPro thermostat downstairs in its present location, with remote sensor in the bed room would prevent too much playing with the settings.—NBC

KC_Jones

Seems like a difficult situation to get right. With a steam system the only way I can think this would work correctly (not overheat any part of house), would be to move thermostat and then install TRV's on all the downstairs radiators.

If you only move it upstairs it will run the whole system longer to get the upstairs warmer and then make the downstairs even hotter than it is now. Roughly speaking you could end up with the same differential you have now.

So say the upstairs is 65 and the downstairs is 70 with a satisfied thermostat. If you move it, the upstairs would now get to 70, but the downstairs could end up at 75. It's not cut and dry like that, but for discussion purposes that's what would happen.

If you move the thermostat and install TRV's, the downstairs would effectively stay off while the upstairs warmed to set point. However this would have the effect of over sizing the boiler when you run the wood stove. You would probably build pressure and short cycle the boiler.

There are ways to make it work, but there will be some kind of sacrifice versus only using the steam.

Fred

Can you add a thermostat upstairs and put both thermostats on an A/B switch so you can switch between the two depending on if you are using the wood burner or where you want the most comfort? Maybe even put both of them on a timer, programmed to the way you want the floors heated for your comfort.
You could also move the thermostat elsewhere on the first floor, to a location not so affected by the wood burner.
As has been said, just moving it upstairs will have other unwanted consequences. Just some thoughts.

ratio

The Honeywell TH-8110 can be used with either a wired or a wireless remote indoor sensor, and can either control to the remote or average them with the onboard sensor.

Huh, I believe this is is exactly what @nicholas bonham-carter suggested above.

FWIW, I wouldn't run wires through the laundry chute unless you like replacing them from time to time.

EBEBRATT-Ed

What @KC_Jones is the only right answer. Anything else will overheat the downstairs