With the discussion on retrofitting I thought I'd share an update on my long runnning project to automate my heating while retaining the standard controls (a SWMBO prerequisite). As mentioned in an earlier pot I spent hours first tracing out where all the original wires went, figuring out why they went there and what they did and then working out how to automate. TBH a pencil and paper would have been way quicker than Visio, but Visio does at least allow you to move things around and keep them connected. In the end the penny dropped when it was pointed out that wiring two outputs of relays together so that either could e.g. "call for heat" was not a problem as long as they don't compete for control.
The second hurdle was finding out I had a over-temp cut out in the circuit and then figuring out how to include that.
So I have a pair of change over switches (an old double gang light switch, on left in pic) to swap the power to either the timeclock and UFH control or automation; the second switches the output of the over-temp device to the appropriate pump control.
Finally SWMBO embargoed me from starting until it got warmer so a brief spell of sunshine had me heading for the understairs cupboard!
Phase1 was to incorporate the change over switches and allow "normal" controls to continue. So I don't have automation yet, but I do now have a green light to proceed to Phase 2
I hope this encourages anyone else struggling to get their heads around heating. Many thanks to those that have answered my PMs and put me on the right road.
The second hurdle was finding out I had a over-temp cut out in the circuit and then figuring out how to include that.
So I have a pair of change over switches (an old double gang light switch, on left in pic) to swap the power to either the timeclock and UFH control or automation; the second switches the output of the over-temp device to the appropriate pump control.
Finally SWMBO embargoed me from starting until it got warmer so a brief spell of sunshine had me heading for the understairs cupboard!
Phase1 was to incorporate the change over switches and allow "normal" controls to continue. So I don't have automation yet, but I do now have a green light to proceed to Phase 2
I hope this encourages anyone else struggling to get their heads around heating. Many thanks to those that have answered my PMs and put me on the right road.
Comment