Smart Thermostat for Single Pipe - Natural Gas Steam Heat - 2 Wire System

pfeiffeh

Recently replaced my 30 yr old Boiler using my Nest Thermostat (with moderate success) with a UTICA UH1604HSID and it definitely does not like my Nest so changed out with a Honeywell th611od 6000 (non Smart) Thermostat and much improved but miss being able to change via Alexa or remote through the app. Any recommendations?

pecmsg

Honeywell T-87. As Smart as they have to be!

Jamie Hall

I have heard that the later Ecobee thermostats talk to the rest of the world (not something I'd want, but some like it); whether they talk specifically to Alexa and the Amazoniverse I'm not sure. That said, they do seem to be somewhat friendly to steam systems than Nests.

Also, that said, you will be much happier with any such gadget if you power it independently from the boiler. There are a number of ways to do that depending on how your system is configured, but the simplest and most reliable involves powering the gadget with a separate transformer, connected to R and C, and having R and W control a relay which, in turn, controls the boiler.

jmconboy

I'm looking for a similar solution to install a Honeywell T9 smart thermostat that has remote sensor that I would install on the third floor to keep the boiler creating steam longer until the third floor gets ~warm. It's very difficult getting the steam balanced since everything is so old in the house. I've had limited success and am looking to install a relay like Jamie said. (diagram borrowed from another post)

pecmsg

jmconboy said:

I'm looking for a similar solution to install a Honeywell T9 smart thermostat that has remote sensor that I would install on the third floor to keep the boiler creating steam longer until the third floor gets ~warm. It's very difficult getting the steam balanced since everything is so old in the house. I've had limited success and am looking to install a relay like Jamie said. (diagram borrowed from another post)

A remote sensor would only make the 1st and 2nd floors TOO warm / HOT by the time the 3rd is comfortable.

KarlW

I'd go with an Emerson Sensi, it can run off one wire and you can buy separate sensors.

The Sensi worked great and I had no complaints.

I had one until I went full European and bought a system that isn't sold in the US (Netatmo). These can control thermostatic valves remotely allowing me 12 independently controlled radiators.

pecmsg said:

A remote sensor would only make the 1st and 2nd floors TOO warm / HOT by the time the 3rd is comfortable.

I throttle the radiator in the room with my thermostat to mimic the heat loss upstairs, it calls for heat about as often as my bedroom (room with the highest heat loss I want to keep at temperature) does.

But I have a two-pipe system, I'm not sure you can do that in a one-pipe system.