What is with this absurd headline? Imitating your RF thermostat isn't "attacking" anything.
Attacking My Landlord's Boiler
151–160 of 232 posts
Re: Attacking My Landlord's Boiler
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm still of the opinion that a dial works best. Especially in modern homes (in Europe at least), there seems to be a school of thought that you should just leave your thermostat at the same temperature at all times - the theory being that warming up a cold house in the morning costs more energy than maintaining a stable temperature. Anyway, my ideal setup would be to install 'smart' thermostat taps on every radiator…
> the theory being that warming up a cold house in the morning costs more energy than maintaining a stable temperature This is only true if the heating happens quickly and the system is less efficient when heating quickly. Otherwise, this doesn't make sense from a physics standpoint. A temporarily lower temperature differential means less kWh of heat lost.
I think that maintaining a stable temperature means warm walls/floors/furniture and potentially cooler air temperature, as opposed to a cold house with intermittently warm air. Most people can feel comfortable at a lower thermostat (air) temperature if the walls etc are warm due to maintaining a stable temperature. I don't have calculations or references, YMMV.
Re: Attacking My Landlord's Boiler
#153I would probably just go about this by heating/cooling the thermostat itself rather than messing around with radio signals. Put a little box around it and something that could control the temp in the box, like a little peltier element. When you want the heat to run, cool the inside of the box. When you want it to stop, warm it up. Etc.
But then I build thermal control devices for fun so maybe it just seems like a much easier method to me.
Re: Attacking My Landlord's Boiler
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s a deep rabbit hole as condensation, humidity, etc also enter the picture. Efficiently lowering temperatures for sleeping further complicates things. That said, heat loss is through exterior surfaces so you really want to avoid spot heating of poorly insulated exterior walls. Thus the design of baseboard heaters can make a larger impact than you’d think.
Baseboard heaters need very high temperatures. I would not recommend installing this anywhere. Having big Typ 33 heaters for temperatures below 45°C will greatly increase efficiency of your heating system. Otherwise, a split air con is also an efficient way of heating.
Baseboard heaters are often sized such that very high temps are needed (because that's what cheapest/lowest labor/least space used), but they don't have to be sized that way. In the attic bedroom, we have baseboards around the entire perimeter on two walls and same in the bath. I run the attic zone on the same water temp (outdoor reset controlled to be quite low) as the rest of the house (mostly large cast iron rads, one cast iron convector). Good insulation and air sealing in the attic means that the attic zone calls way less than the downstairs.
Re: Attacking My Landlord's Boiler
#155Men in Black suit knocking on the door for this is a First-world thing.
Re: Attacking My Landlord's Boiler
#156We've moved to an new apartment (house) and we had to do a full renovation. It doesn't have modern insulation and I calculated that for the time being the ROI on insulation isn't worth it. It's a multi-floor semi-detached house and I wanted the best comfort and the most economical heating possible. In particular: stable and individually adjustable temperatures for bedrooms and living rooms; underfloor heating in some…
> We've moved to an new apartment (house) and we had to do a full renovation. It doesn't have modern insulation and I calculated that for the time being the ROI on insulation isn't worth it.
You calculated wrong, guaranteed. Most likely, you wildly underestimated fuel/electricity costs.
> After spending a few hours of understanding the setups that "experts" have recommended, I figured out edge cases where they would be either wasteful or uncomfortable (meaning: unnecessary and inavoidable temperature overshoots or undershoots, etc.).
Instead of thinking "the entire HVAC/heat industry are idiots who can't do any of this right", maybe you should take a look in the mirror and consider that your assumptions and/or criteria are wrong.
For example: under/over shoots in a modern HVAC or heating system will not cause any "waste" or discomfort. 1-2 degree F in overshoot does not mean the space will lose appreciably more heat than if it had perfectly regulated at the setpoint. You also don't want a system that responds instantly. Let's say you open the door to receive a package, and you're signing paperwork, etc. You close the door. The air in the room is substantially cooler.
Should the heat turn on?
I bet it does in your home...but the correct answer is no, because the air will warm up rapidly from all the objects that were at the temperature of the room. Thousand-plus square feet worth of surface area...
Re: Attacking My Landlord's Boiler
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
I moved all my radiators away from under windows (and upgraded the windows to triple glazing) to avoid maximising the temperature differential and energy loss through the wall under the windows, while eliminating the cool drafts that the under-window radiator placement was intended to counter.
Do you mean you moved them to another wall, or just increased the gap? (not a native speaker here)
Moved them to another wall.
Eg: https://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-superinsulating-bedroom.htm...
Re: Attacking My Landlord's Boiler
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
I moved all my radiators away from under windows (and upgraded the windows to triple glazing) to avoid maximising the temperature differential and energy loss through the wall under the windows, while eliminating the cool drafts that the under-window radiator placement was intended to counter.
What do you do for ventilation?
The windows all still open, but in winter we have (nearly) enough MHRV (Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation) not to need to ventilate directly, eg see:
https://www.earth.org.uk/MHRV-mechanical-heat-recovery-venti...
Re: Attacking My Landlord's Boiler
#159I would probably just go about this by heating/cooling the thermostat itself rather than messing around with radio signals. Put a little box around it and something that could control the temp in the box, like a little peltier element. When you want the heat to run, cool the inside of the box. When you want it to stop, warm it up. Etc. But then I build thermal control devices for fun so maybe it just seems like a muc…
X-10 devices [0] that do this have been around for a long time. I've even seen elaborate setups that can be controlled via a landline.
[0]: https://thex10shop.com/products/x10-powerhouse-th2807-thermo...
Re: Attacking My Landlord's Boiler
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s an artifact of how heating is setup inside your home. Which is more efficient depends on where you’re dumping heat inside the home, levels of insulation, etc. Energy moves from hot to cold linearly with temperature differences. Hypothetically, if the pipe was the same temperatures as the inside of your home all the heat transferred would be outside the envelope. The hotter the pipe the better this ratio become…
I moved all my radiators away from under windows (and upgraded the windows to triple glazing) to avoid maximising the temperature differential and energy loss through the wall under the windows, while eliminating the cool drafts that the under-window radiator placement was intended to counter.
I'm really confused about (not complaining, just not understanding) the downvotes.
These are statements of neutral fact, and the whole process is described in some detail on my site, for each room that we retrofitted.
I don't understand if I have caused offense or something: apologies if somehow so!