What kind of thermostat for garage hydronic radiant heating?

Coronos

Hello All!

I am trying to reduce heat cycling in a garage with hydronic radiant heating. It was installed more than a decade ago with just a regular household thermostat.

I live in northern Alberta where temperatures regularly drop into the -30s C (-20s F) throughout the winter. I’m guessing that at these temperatures, whenever the garage door opens to let a car in or out, the thermostat calls for heat even though the concrete floor is a giant heat sink that will likely have the space back up to room temperature before too long without needing more hot water (or at least, not much).

I have been looking at thermostats with a remote sensor and I’m wondering if I just need one of these coupled to the floor? Another option I read of just used a sensor in (or coupled to) a container of water that acted as a slow-response room temperature. Is this an acceptable practice?

Is there another common method or special thermostat for this application that does not react unnecessarily to quick temporary drops in temperature?

Thanks!

hot_rod

Typical thermostats have a 1-2 degree working band or differential. The intent is to keep the space at a consistent temperature
Some brands allow you to adjust that range, as occupant comfort is not as much a concern in a storage garage.

That would lessen the cycling but it still takes X amount of heat to maintain a space temperature

If fuel savings is the goal, lower the temperature  or increase insulation, seal door edge air leaks

as the door closes, the huge concrete flywheel will recover the temperature quickly. But you also brought in several thousand lbs of cold steel the needs to be warmed to room temperature

If you know the weight if the vehicle, its temperature and room temperature, you can calculate how much heat, $, it takes to warm it up.

50F is plenty warm for vehicle storage, and snow melt. If you work out there 65 or so F.

my shop had s 12x22 door , it moves a bit in the wind, Im looking into some of these edge seals to lower the air leakage