Get clocked Challenge

Voyager

GW said:

ahhh I misunderstood, so if the place is dropping, then you nailed it- you need more heat. I didn't catch that.

I think there is plenty of heat, but the thermal mass of the slab simply can’t be overcome. It would take some sophisticated controls that looked at the weather and tried to anticipate the temp drop each night and start putting heat into the slab hours ahead of time and anticipate the temp rise in the morning so the heat could be turned off a few hours before sunrise.

By the time the simple wall thermostat sees the temp change, the slab simply can’t respond quickly enough. Just the nature of the beast with concrete radiant.

GW

OK, I think I understand. You’re doing a basic on off thermostat. I really dig the constant circulation for large mass, radiant. I’ve done a lot of Bosch and Viessmann. Pretty easy to set up indoor feedback to the boiler brain. Your boiler, cannot do?

Voyager

Yes, basic Honeywell on/off thermostat. Not sure what you mean by constant circulation with indoor feedback.

GW

Well that’s what you need. No more on- off, just “on” if the outdoor temps are below x 

if you’re boiler isn’t smart enough, look at Tekmar. 

Voyager

Not seeing how that helps. Do you mean constant circulation and variable firing? Or constant circulation and firing?

GW

It might be goos to start a new thread “constant circulation pros cons” or something to that effect. Others can probably explain it better than me. You want to keep the pump going non stop and the boiler just comes on as necessary. If you stop the circulation. The whole slab cools off and you’re in a viscous cycle, wasting energy. You do have an outdoor sensor right?