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Technology good?

grye
grye Member Posts: 88
in THE MAIN WALL
Hi All. I recently installed a NEST thermostat which links to your phone and automatically can turn down your heating system (way down, if selected) while youre out of the home.

I either have someone home, or someone in and out of the home all day/night. With a one pipe steam system, there's no chance I might waste more from it constantly turning on/off than just leaving it on, right? I was likening it to turning your car off at a traffic light, because the old wives tale was that it wasted more gas (not true, 10 seconds is the break even point).

Just making sure the boiler having to kick on to fill trip the vents and then fill the radiators several times a day wasn't wasting more energy than just leaving it at a constant temp.

Comments

  • nicholas bonham-carter
    nicholas bonham-carter Member Posts: 8,576
    Many people here do not believe in temperature setbacks of less then 48 hours. Just as much gas is used to bring up the temperature to normal as is saved. If you must use periods of lower temperature, then don’t go lower than a degree or two.
    I don’t believe the stoplight analogy is valid in this case, as the car’s engine is not under load while stopped, and it must be hard on the starter. How many gallons of fuel can you buy for the price of a new starter?
    For real economy, pay attention to:
    1. Main venting
    2. Low pressure, ounces-not pounds
    3. Clean water in the boiler—NBC
    delta T
  • delta T
    delta T Member Posts: 884
    The Nest was designed for use with a forced air heating system, which is a far cry away from a steam heating system. I would never recommend a Nest for a steam system for a myriad of reasons. What you need is a basic 5-2 or 7 day programmable thermostat with a cycle per hour setting designed for steam.

    I would get the book We Got Steam Heat from this site and educate yourself about your steam system a little bit. There is a ton of stuff that you can do to drastically lower your heating bill that a fancy thermostat is never going to accomplish.

    Do you know what pressure your boiler is running at? That is the best place to start.....
  • GBart
    GBart Member Posts: 746
    Nest is marketing, nothing more, if you want to see your system from anywhere any thermostat with wifi can do that and be programmed.

    Nest is one of the worst thermostats on the market, anything in our industry that is marketed around us and directly to consumers is junk because we won't sell it or recommend it.
    delta TSolid_Fuel_Man
  • Solid_Fuel_Man
    Solid_Fuel_Man Member Posts: 2,646
    Absolutely correct /\
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    Serving Northern Maine HVAC & Controls. I burn wood, it smells good!

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