educate me: Baseboard heat + programmable thermo
 

i have built in baseboard heating in all 3 rooms of my home.
the thermostats are all manual and it's extremely inefficient.

looking to change to 5-1-1 or 7 day programmable thermostat.

questions i have..

1- is there a central thermo that can control all heat all three rooms?
i know the downside is that if no one is in room #2 it will also heat it.

2- if i need to buy 3 thermo's for all three rooms - do you guys have any recommendations? i can't afford nest / ecobee + nest does not have a high voltage version. i see a lot of products on the Home Depot shelf!

3- anything else i should be aware of?

edumacate the n00b!

Only way to control all 3 would be if they had been initially wired together.

I purchased a 7 day programmable thermostat from Home Depot back in our appartment it was a Honeywell I beleive. Thing with the digital programmable baseboard thermostats is they are all pretty ugly and have limited models to choose from. The Honeywell one was nicer but quite big.

Think your best bet may be to use a programmable one in the room you frequent the most then keep the others at a temp where they aren't constantly on/off.

A huge energy drain is when your thermostat is located in a cold area so it constantly has to kick on or off, have a situation like this in our suite where one thermostat/heater is close to the entry door so cold air is constantly circling there, best to maintain a temp imo then to try and go from 10 deg to 21 throughout when you get home etc

It's an electrical code requirement that every room gets a separate t-stat.
And depending on the size of heaters, putting three together would likely put the power draw higher than most residential t-stats can handle.

I'd recommend a TRIAC thermostat, they proportionally modulate the power to the heater (& heat output) rather than just clicking the heat on/off, which keeps the room temp more consistent rather than swinging up & down.
Something like the Honeywell TH106.

BR 1 - two baseboard heater
BR 2 - one baseboard heater
LR - two baseboard heater

each room has manual thermo right now.

so in this case, I need to buy 3x Honeywell TH106 (at cost of $150+tax)?
Am i understanding this correctly?


Dimplex - Electric Heating » Choose Your Solution » Multi-zone Programmable CONNEX? Controller
- what about this kind of one? can I use one of these?


Also - besides you guys, what kind of person can I ask or call in to show what I want to try and do? Would it be an electrician or an HVAC guy?

Correct, you would need 3x Honeywell TH106.

To use that Dimplex CONNEX controller, you would have to replace your baseboard heaters with CONNEX compatible ones (They have brains in them to work with the wireless CONNEX signal)

If you need help, the appropriate person to call would be an electrician.

Electrician here. 68 Style is correct. Each room will have its own thermostat to control that room. And each thermostat will be controlling only the heaters in that room. By sounds of it, you will need to purchase 3 separate thermostats, one for each room. One thing most owners overlook when they buying thermostats is the wattage rating, (I dunno how many times I've seen this when owners purchase their own parts) You need to purchase a thermostat that can handle the wattage of the heater. Baseboard heaters are roughly 250W per linear foot. So for example if you have a 4' baseboard heater, you would need a t-stat that can handle at least 1000W of power. 4'x250W= 1000W. PM me if you have any more questions and I can help.

Thanks 68 & JBell.

So I guess there is no system where you have a control unit in 1 room and 2 or 3 network units that monitor the heat in their respective rooms and check with the control unit to see if the room needs to be heated or not?

So if I'm going with a dumb thermo, do you guys just program it to turn on couple hours before you come home so it's nice and warm?

Or do some of you run one wifi unit + dumb ones for the remainder?

Also this will go into a condo. If that matters.

I have the same issue baseboard heating is fucking garbage

Agreed.

But it's cheap to install and that's why shitty condo developers go with it.

Let's get something straight here:

http://www3.telus.net/bryster/Mundy1.jpg

68Style on the left, Great68 on the right.


:p

I still get you 2 confused. I know one of you owns a mazdaspeed3 as well.

That's me, he's into MR2's :)

hvac here

make sure you understand that your thermostat setbacks are what save you money. not the thermostat.

too many customers bitch and whine that they dont see any savings after installing a programmable thermostat. well..... sorry buddy. but if you leave it on "permanent hold" or "hold" or "emergency heat" (furnace + HP combo) for 24/7. you are not saving any money.
Second problem ties in where people do not know how to, or are too lazy to adjust their thermostat during different seasons. Hence why they leave it in "hold"

Yes, set your thermostat to turn on an hour before you get home, so that its up to spec by the time you arrive.
Most newer programmable thermostats will do this automatically as a "learning" feature. Just please read the dam manual

And lastly, if you can drop the temperature by a degree, or two, when you are actually home. It makes a large difference for your heating bill. Vice versa for cooling season.

This^

Temperature setbacks will cut your energy usage, on average, by 10-20%, but it depends on variables (insulation, air flow, etc.)

During heating season,

Natural Resources Canada recommends 20°C during occupied periods, 17°C during unoccupied periods and while you're sleeping.

BC Hydro recommends 21°C during occupied periods (20°C while cooking or exercising), 18°C while you're sleeping, and 16°C during unoccupied periods. This may be impossible for some programmable thermostats.

Depending on your windows, insulation, and humidity levels in your home, you may not be able to go that low without excessive condensation for forming which can result in mould and mildew.

Another thing to note is whether you have single-pole or double-pole baseboards.

whats a thermostat setbacks ?

can someone explain in non technical terms? pretend i'm a 10 year old!


Also Hydro rec's of 21/18/16 - are they crazy? at 21, i still find it super cold. I'm wondering do most of you wear layers when at home?

"Setback" is the temperature you lower your thermostat setpoint to when you're not home.

I setback to 15 when I'm not home, but I have oil-fed forced air, the house gets to 20 degrees in about 20 minutes when I get home.

If you're cold at 21°C then you may have drafts or excessive air flow (if you have a forced air system) ... or just low metabolism.

I have mine set at 20°C during the day and I'm usually in a t-shirt.

How to know if there are drafts? my parents have a 3 level townhome and i'm always cold there. need to heat upto 23/24 for 2nd/3rd level to feel 20/21. then 1st level is like Hawaii.

on average how long to heat 10x10 room to 20 degrees on baseboard heater? maybe if i set back to 15 like some of you i can save money too.

Keeping the Heat In | Natural Resources Canada

Chapter 4 outlines how to check for drafts, common places to find drafts, how to address them, and other important information (i.e. health and safety).

https://www.bchydro.com/news/conserv...ng-drafts.html
https://www.bchydro.com/powersmart/r...ce-drafts.html

Is the townhouse only using baseboards for heating or is there a central heating system?

A well-insulated space should heat quickly and cool off slowly. I have an apartment in an old building (1970s) and my living room/kitchen is about 450 ft^2 with exterior walls on the south and east sides, a sliding glass door (aluminum-frame, double-pane) and a 4'x6' window (vinyl frame, double pane). There's a single 8' 2kW baseboard heater below the sliding glass door.

I wouldn't consider it to be particularly well-insulated (1970s building code + large window area), but I have taken measures to reduce drafts (weather-stripping, caulking gaps). If it's in the low single-digits outside and dark outside (to take the morning sun out of the equation), it usually takes about 45-60 minutes for it to heat up from 17°C to 20°C.

The other thing to take into account is to make sure there's room to breathe around your baseboards. Baseboards work on convection, so you need to have space around them for them to work efficiently.