Thread: Looking for ideal programmable thermostat for ski club

So I tried looking at Lowe's tried looking on the internet, and am starting to think what we need ain't out there...

I am a member of a ski club in NH and about 1/4 of our operating costs are from heat. People are supposed to turn down the thermostat when they leave but it doesn't happen often. Easy solution right, get a programmable thermostat, the only time it needs to be warm is 4pm - 10pm Fri - Sat and 6am-8am Sat Sun... Except there are several old people who come up in the week who are going to need to override the thermostat. So we basically need a button that will override the default settings for 24 hrs with another pre-programmed day. This has to be super simple as some of these people are completely techno illiterate. Thoughts? Solutions?

Thanks

I have one on my AC to have it come on 5 minutes before we open our store and shut off 30 minutes before closing, with settings for closed on sundays ect. Electricity is stupid expenzive in Hawaii.

It's a pain to set, I would not let anyone fiddle with it, put one of those clear boxes with a key access to get to it. It's a White-Rogers.

you have wifi up at your place? this could solve the problem.

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/electri...ht-182800.html

kind of expensive, but will pay for itself in a year or two no question

http://www.nest.com/

edit: also the easiest to program thermostat available, would work well for the old folks

^^^ That is the best thing ive seen so far, thanks

I have the very same problem at my ski cabin (well, the cabin I manage). I don't think the Nest will work since there's no schedule to learn. Every day is different. I like the Wi-Fi thermostat. In theory I could drive it from the reservation system.

In a past life I designed HVAC automation. What I want is a thermostat with an occupied push button that OCCUPIES that space for some period of time. Each press would be an hour or two. Sadly I haven't found it yet. I don't want to build something with programmable controllers since I don't want to maintain it forever. There are companies that developed "building automation controllers" but that's not cheap either.

There used to be a hotel solution -- a thermostat with a motion sensor and a door sensor. When the door closed and motion was detected then the room was OCCUPIED until the next time the door closed. Works great for a hotel room.

My practical solution so far is a programmable thermostat that resets periodically and instructions how to override the setpoint.

+1^^^^^^
Programmable is the way to go. I just install those things so I'm not very keen to what's out there. I know through some friends that the touch screen ones will eventually fail cause the screen stops working. They install fairly easy. Just count the amount of wires you have going to it.

Originally Posted by Snow Dog

I have the very same problem at my ski cabin (well, the cabin I manage).
In a past life I designed HVAC automation. What I want is a thermostat with an occupied push button that OCCUPIES that space for some period of time. Each press would be an hour or two. Sadly I haven't found it yet. I don't want to build something with programmable controllers since I don't want to maintain it forever. There are companies that developed "building automation controllers" but that's not cheap either.

There used to be a hotel solution -- a thermostat with a motion sensor and a door sensor. When the door closed and motion was detected then the room was OCCUPIED until the next time the door closed. Works great for a hotel room.

You could get at something like this using a Z-Wave enabled door lock and Z-Wave enabled thermostat.

The nest learns and is accessible from an app on your phone or the internet, I believe.

I'd bet there is more of a schedule than you think (sleeping, weekends etc) and if there isn't just control it from your phone from anywhere. Also multiple people could have access on their phones.

Sent from my DROIDX using TGR Forums

Originally Posted by Sirshredalot

You could get at something like this using a Z-Wave enabled door lock and Z-Wave enabled thermostat.

It has 6 bedrooms so once a person is through the door there's no way to know if they're upstairs or downstairs or which bedroom. With electric heat almost every room has it's own control.

Look young fella, you're asking a lot from the thermostat--people come in different days of the week, presumably for different lengths of time. Even if there were a thermostat with two selectable programs, the mid week folks would have to remember to turn it back to the weekend program when they leave (although I'm willing to bet it's not the old people who are forgetting to turn the heat off when they leave--we ancients are OCD about that sort of thing, especially the men). Seems like the best solution might be a garden variety programmable -when you leave you set the temp to whatever low you want it and "hold", when you arrive you "run program"--if you buy one that can be controlled remotely you can check to see if it's been turned off, assuming you know when people are supposed to be there. Alternatively, we ancestors grew up without thermostats or even furnaces, so we can start fires by rubbing two sticks together--that might be best for the technophobic.

Originally Posted by old goat

-people come in different days of the week, presumably for different lengths of time. Even if there were a thermostat with two selectable programs, the mid week folks would have to remember to turn it back to the weekend program when they leave

That's why I wanted it to have a 24 long override button, so if they come in mid week, they just hit 24hr override and it would go for a day.

The motion detector idea is awesome, that would work for us, anyone ever installed one in a home environment?

Another item for the wish list, since the main concern is frozen pipes, is there a way to link these things to an outside thermometer so the heat would be off when it was above freezing?

How about a REDLINK from Honeywell or a Ecobee SmartSI thermostat, they have the ability to control your thermostat by a smart phone or touch pad. Get either one at centralthermostat.com

Originally Posted by neufox47

So I tried looking at Lowe's tried looking on the internet, and am starting to think what we need ain't out there...

I am a member of a ski club in NH and about 1/4 of our operating costs are from heat. People are supposed to turn down the thermostat when they leave but it doesn't happen often. Easy solution right, get a programmable thermostat, the only time it needs to be warm is 4pm - 10pm Fri - Sat and 6am-8am Sat Sun... Except there are several old people who come up in the week who are going to need to override the thermostat. So we basically need a button that will override the default settings for 24 hrs with another pre-programmed day. This has to be super simple as some of these people are completely techno illiterate. Thoughts? Solutions?

Thanks

Best feature of Nest is that you can control everything, current mode and the full schedule, from an iPhone app. It also gives you readings on energy usage patterns in convenient charts. Short of writing the software yourself, you won't find custom features like 24-hr override.

I just took a class on that kind of equipment. A Lutron system to be exact. They are allot of money and adding occupancy sensors just gives more things to break.

I have a "honeywell deluxe programmable thermostat"
It has a temporary setting

You program 4 periods per day 7 days a week

If someone wants to override they just hit and up/down button and it overrides until the next period starts or they hit the "run" button.

This thing is about 10 years old. It looks like this. I assume there is newer version.

Gonna join the Nest bandwagon. This thing is amazing! Seems to be the perfect solution. If I had central a/c, I'd definitely buy one of these.



http://www.amazon.com/Nest-T100577-L...pf_rd_i=507846

Originally Posted by Todds

I have a "honeywell deluxe programmable thermostat"
It has a temporary setting

You program 4 periods per day 7 days a week

If someone wants to override they just hit and up/down button and it overrides until the next period starts or they hit the "run" button.

This is the easy answer. All weekday periods would have the same temp, but programmed into morning, midday, evening, and night. Easy to override to whatever temp they want (say, 70 in the morning or evening), and at the next period (say 10am for midday or 10pm for night) it will go back to the programmed 60 degrees or whatever.

I don't have the answer to your thermostat question but as far as keeping the cost of heating down, if you haven't already done these things--1) good down comforters and electric blankets in the bedrooms;2) if there is a large community living room/dining room/kitchen use a woodstove to up the heat while people are there (woodstoves give off a lot of infrared which heats the people even when the air temperature is low), 3) dress warm--people don't have to dress like they're in the city and 4) don't let the furnace go above 60. People will acclimatize to that temp and will actually feel warmer outside when they don't over heat inside. The wood stove also keeps people thinking about being energy efficient since they can see the wood burning up and have to tend the fire and add more wood, and it goes out when they leave, as long as they don't set the place on fire.