Wireless thermostat options for Energy Kinetics System 2000

kitugreat

Hello. I have an Energy Kinetics System 2000 system, with 3 zones and wired thermostats (LUXPRO) installed. My office always gets cold in the winter because the thermostat that is controlling temperature for this room is in the kitchen. It is about 9 degrees colder than in the kitchen. What can be done to resolve this issue without running wires to this room and installing the wired thermostat in there?
Appreciate any input. Thanks

pecmsg

Decrease the heat loss in that room 
or
increase the heat output

EdTheHeaterMan

pecmsg said:

Decrease the heat loss in that room 
or
increase the heat output

Always a wealth of knowledge of the obvious.

Can you close off the kitchen radiator vent so the kitchen gets less heat? That will force more heat to the office.

pecmsg

EdTheHeaterMan said:

Decrease the heat loss in that room 
or
increase the heat output

Always a wealth of knowledge of the obvious. Can you close off the kitchen radiator vent so the kitchen gets less heat? That will force more heat to the office.

Exactly 

EdTheHeaterMan

This will depend on the heat loss of the office and the heat loss of the kitchen. If the office is an after thought in an uninsulated converted garage that is on a concrete slab floor, and the kitchen is part of the original home that is well insulated, then the thermostat in the kitchen will never represent the actual temperature change that is happening in the office. We would need a little more information to better guide you. Baseboard radiators, cast iron radiators. different type of radiators in the kitchen and the office?

jesmed1

In addition to all the above good suggestions, you could install an Ecobee wired smart thermostat in the kitchen and an Ecobee battery-powered wireless sensor in your office. The Ecobee thermostat will take the temperature input from your office and average it with the temperature it "feels" in the kitchen. It will then manage the zone heating to maintain that average temperature at the programmed setpoint.

This will allow the thermostat to factor your office temperature into its control algorithm, but it won't solve the fundamental problem of unbalanced heating. As the others have said, first you need to solve the fundamental physics of the heat imbalance. But once you get the fundamentals sorted out, a wired smart thermostat in the kitchen with a battery-powered sensor in the office can help give you better control.

EBEBRATT-Ed

I don't think I have ever seen a stat in a kitchen. Butt then again nobody cooks anymore so it doesn't matter.

kitugreat

EdTheHeaterMan said:

Decrease the heat loss in that room 
or
increase the heat output

Always a wealth of knowledge of the obvious. Can you close off the kitchen radiator vent so the kitchen gets less heat? That will force more heat to the office.

I can try that. Thanks

kitugreat

EdTheHeaterMan said:

This will depend on the heat loss of the office and the heat loss of the kitchen. If the office is an after thought in an uninsulated converted garage that is on a concrete slab floor, and the kitchen is part of the original home that is well insulated, then the thermostat in the kitchen will never represent the actual temperature change that is happening in the office. We would need a little more information to better guide you. Baseboard radiators, cast iron radiators. different type of radiators in the kitchen and the office?

Kitchen is in the middle of the house and surrounded by other rooms. Office is on the fro t side of the house and it was converted from a garrage. It also has an oil tank in the closet. The wall behind the oil tank is not insuted too good.
Possibly other walls too. It is a Campanelli ranch style house with baseboard radiators. All rooms have the same radiators.

Roger

Helpful comments all around, as everyone noted, if the office is substantially under-radiated or under-insulated compared to the kitchen where the thermostat is, the temperature will not balance well. There's also a temperature drop as the water flows through the baseboard, so if the office zone is at the end of the loop, the output will be a bit less than if it was at the start. Adding insulation to the office, and/or adding fin tube to the baseboard (if there is open tubing inside the baseboard cover) would move things it the right direction.
Roger