Ecobee with Steam

The Steam Whisperer

I was recently doing a consulting visit at a small 6 flat here in Chicago and found an Ecobee with 4 sensors running the system. We were there a couple hours and much to my amazement the Ecobee appeared to be running nice long on and off cycles for the boiler. (As a side note, the boiler was even the proper capacity with decent header piping for other sources of amazement)

Could it be that there is finally a "smart" thermostat that is not so dumb that it can't operate a steam system?

Jamie Hall

I do believe that the Ecobees — particularly the newer ones — can be programmed to play at least decently, if not well…

EdTheHeaterMan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPQlXNH36mI

ethicalpaul

I've never tried one myself but I've been reading on the forum for a couple years that Ecobee maybe might have possibly gotten it not completely wrong

This post spurred me to try one…PSE&G gives $100 credit for one

jesmed1

Not a steam guy myself, but our ecobees have been great for hot water. And the adjustable differential (swing) is, I imagine, the what helps it work well with steam.

And the beestat.io app for data collection and analysis is outstanding. It's helped me quantify/verify efficiency improvements on our boilers.

Waher

I have an Ecobee on the default settings and it works fantastically. The system is a fancy anticipator that learns the thermal lag relative to outside temperature and adjusts quite well after it learns for a bit.

AdmiralYoda

I have an Ecobee with my one-pipe steam system and it works great! I can't pick my cycles per hour but it seems to do just fine. This morning it was 6F and it didn't run more than one cycle per hour.

It "learns" how fast the house heats up and cuts the heat as to not overshoot. I have 4 sensors in my two story home and it helps the whole house stay evenly warm.

It also knows the outdoor temp so it will react accordingly. Overall I like it as it works better than my old Honeywell 7 day programmable thermostat.

jesmed1

Yes, it seems the "knowing" of outdoor temps via WiFi connection to the outside weather world helps the anticipator greatly. It quickly adapts to changing outdoor air temps and doesn't under or overshoot. Really impressive.

dabrakeman

Have had one for many years now. Anticipator works quite well although this must be differentiated from the Smart Recovery function. Smart recovery will start the boiler at a learned amount of time before the target temperature is supposed to be reached. This may work for some but for me in order to do a recovery without building pressure I have to have this function disabled and instead as mentioned before cycle on and off at 30 minute increments to recover. This would confuse the **** out of the Smart Recovery function. You can tie the swing temperature to any individual programming interval as well so I have a +/-1deg F swing most of the time except the evening ours where we are usually planted on the couch and want it a degree warmer and more steady temperature. Can see the result in the typical day plot.

P.S. - I am not sure there is any limit on how many programming cycles you can have per day except each has to be at least 1/2 hour long.