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Basement Heating Fan Sensor


rockmeupto125

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Okay, not sure what to look for to do this.

 

I'm putting a hydronic heater in the basement to warm things up down there, reduce moisture, and hopefully increase the overall heating in the house.  It's basically a big heater core that will radiate heat after plumbing it in to my baseboard hot water heating system.  I can order a plug in thermostat for the fan, but that doesn't make much sense to me.  If there's no heat in the radiator, why run the fan?  Once the furnace warms, the circulating pump will kick on, and the radiator will warm up.  That's when I need the fan to come on, then shut off when the radiator cools after the circulating pumps shuts off.  

 

I guess I could wire a relay into the circulating pump to also switch the fan on and off, but I'd rather have a delay built into it so the fan runs to cool the unit down, I think that might make it last a bit longer.  It is just a block of radiator and I would think there would be a lot of residual heat available.  What sort of thermostat could I get that would turn the fan on when the temperature rises above a certain point, rather than below a certain point, and just has a remote sensor I could ziptie to the tubing?

 

I'm just planning, I'd like to have this all figured out to install wihin a day.

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35 minutes ago, rockmeupto125 said:

I can order a plug in thermostat for the fan, but that doesn't make much sense to me.  If there's no heat in the radiator, why run the fan?  Once the furnace warms, the circulating pump will kick on, and the radiator will warm up.  That's when I need the fan to come on, then shut off when the radiator cools after the circulating pumps shuts off. 

 

Just my 2 cents.  Having air always circulating helps ensure even heating.  As you want to reduce moisture, getting air moving would improve effectiveness.  No issue with humidity during the warmer months?  I have a dehumidifier in the basement to prevent items from absorbing ambient moisture from the air.

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Amazon is your friend. There's a bunch of plug-in heating/cooling thermostats like this. 

 

EconoHome Adjustable Thermostat - Universal Plugin Heating & Cooling Thermostat - Compatible with Most EconoHome Wall Mount Space Heaters

by Green N Urban
Learn more: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08HNHBC8P/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_0H7NE7P97VAV80XFRAK2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

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2 minutes ago, Zero Knievel said:

 

Just my 2 cents.  Having air always circulating helps ensure even heating.  As you want to reduce moisture, getting air moving would improve effectiveness.  No issue with humidity during the warmer months?  I have a dehumidifier in the basement to prevent items from absorbing ambient moisture from the air.

Lol...says the guy running unvented gas heaters that are spewing out condensation because of lack of ventilation.

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You're making this way too complicated. How expensive and durable is your radiator? Just wire the fan to come on at the same time as the pump, if you're worried about how much current the fan draws versus how much you you have available for the pump, use a a relay. Don't worry about the few btus of residual heat you'll have in the heater core, unless it's an old cast iron monster, it won't keep much heat after the furnace and pump shut off.  

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Okay, JoWhee, I'll consider that good advice.  The heater is the cheapest 50k water to air unit I could find for a little over $300 shipped.

 

Today's saga (continued from last night) is finding a new Taco circulating pump.   I can hear it, it pulls the .8 amps that it should, and it circulates a little because the pipes warm up.  But they don't warm up enough to heat the house, tinkle with expansion, or let the furnace run for more than 4 minutes before it reaches the heat limiter.  No noise or bubble in the pipe that might indicate air.  Can't think of anything else it would be.

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Things could be worse.  It was so warm in the house a few days ago we almost had to run the AC.

 

And now I'm in FL where it's perfect outside, but they AC the house to 68 and I'm wearing a jacket indoors.

 

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Well, a brand new Grundfos for $50 more than I wanted, but now there's hot water actually circulatating.  Had the 220 heaters going and swear there was a draft from the electric meter.  Was going to break into the system while I had it down for the pump, but decided not to bite off more than the day would support...it took me most of the day to get a pump.

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8 hours ago, SwampNut said:

Things could be worse.  It was so warm in the house a few days ago we almost had to run the AC.

 

And now I'm in FL where it's perfect outside, but they AC the house to 68 and I'm wearing a jacket indoors.

 

Damm thats crazy town   LOL

 

Right now a lot of folks here in Florida are freaking out down here cuz some winter temps are finally arriving and they might have to turn the heat ON.

 

Normally, most of the people I know keep inside temps in the mid to high 70's and that's nice and comfy, at least for me.

 

Sure beats shoveling snow like my friends in Chicago   LOL  

 

 

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On 1/11/2022 at 8:18 AM, rockmeupto125 said:

I guess I could wire a relay into the circulating pump to also switch the fan on and off, but I'd rather have a delay built into it so the fan runs to cool the unit down

You can get relays with timers and just set it for however much after-run you want.  They're available with different amounts of adjustability from micro seconds to minutes, maybe hours.  I haven't paid a lot of attention to details, but I know they exist.

 

There's also small thermoswitches you could use that are available in different temperatures.  The ones I'm thinking of are about the size of a quarter but thicker.  I don't know what they're called.  If you look up RV heater parts you'll likely see what I'm thinking of.  They're used specifically for what you want, after-run of the fan to cool the unit after the fire has gone out.  One of those in the right temp would turn the fan on and off with temperature, all automagically.  The amperage rating is pretty small so it would need a relay to the fan.

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I thought for sure that automagically was my made up word, but when the spell checker didn't give me the stink eye I had to look it up.  It's actually a real word.

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