ELK-enabled baseboard heat?

[slipnfall]

Hi Folks,

'Curious to know if anyone has integrated 220V baseboard electric heat into their home automation projects. The house is primarily heated by a heat-pump (with electric backup), but the house is split into two seperate apartments. The baseboard heat is intended to suppliment for the basement area.

What are your thoughts here? I would like to give the tenants a thermostat for control, but have some control myself as well. Electric routing is fully open to change.

My thoughts are to add a normal, non-controlable t-stat. Bonus if it's digital. At the sub-panel (their main panel), add a small utility box and 2-3 rail-mount 220V contactors. This way from within ELK, I can 'override' the power to the baseboard if the tenant decides to crank it to 95°. Simply monitoring of rooms temps can acomplish this.

In general what are the NEC requirements for routing LV control wires into a 220V box like that?

Your thoughts?

Cheers,
Jamie

 

[slipnfall]

Wow, I see there are actually quite a few digital t-stats out there... the Honeywell looks nice.

I guess the question is now are there any out there that *are* remote programmable? I don't expect to find compatability with ELK, but I'm sure I could roll my own Homeseer plugin.

Jamie

 

[dBeau]

I posted a reply to a similar [topic="9201"]question[/topic] a few weeks back.

 

[AutomatedOutlet]

We're working on a solution for that right now using UPB. We should have something to post in a few days or so when some samples come in. The end result should be a 240V 30 Amp UPB controlled relay.

 

[brotsten]

Here is a post I made a couple of weeks ago for a cheap high amp SSR that will connect directly to an m1 output.

Brian

 

[slipnfall]

Here is a post I made a couple of weeks ago for a cheap high amp SSR that will connect directly to an m1 output.

Brian

Very nice, thanks! I think hardwired makes the most sense for me, since it's new mains wiring anyway. That said that UPB switch could come in mighty handy for re-work down the road. One thing I was considering was not only a water-shutoff valve for the water heater, but a contactor cut-off so I don't burn up the tank heaters.

I don't know why I didn't consider a SSR: they appear cheaper than a good contactor, and no noise.

Not to be a purist, but that doesn't look like it would fit code... I only bring it up because I will be subject to inspection when finished. Can I merge some industrial ways of doing things into residential? For instance can I mount a DIN-rail inside a small squareD enclosure and mix HV/control wiring inside?

Thanks for the responses: BTW I *did* search, but to be fair not for HV control.

Kindly,
Jamie

 

[RobWalker]

We're working on a solution for that right now using UPB. We should have something to post in a few days or so when some samples come in. The end result should be a 240V 30 Amp UPB controlled relay.

Did anything ever come of this?

I am looking to automate the electric heat in our church. We currently only have baseboard heaters, and there are programmable thermostats in about half a dozen locations. People come in at odd times during the winter and bump up the heat, and it is hard to get them all set back to normal.

What I'd like is a UPB or Z-wave 220V thermostat so we can centrally control everything. Given our current hydro bills for the winter months I'd expect the ROI on the devices to be something like 3 months :blink:

 

[Spanky]

The NEW ELK-9200 60 Amp contactor in a box can directly plug into ANY appliance module such as X10, UPB, Insteon, Zwave, Zigbee... Then control the contactor with the M1 or any other control system.

 

[RobWalker]

The NEW ELK-9200 60 Amp contactor in a box can directly plug into ANY appliance module such as X10, UPB, Insteon, Zwave, Zigbee... Then control the contactor with the M1 or any other control system.

Interesting ... I had been thinking about replacing the T-stats in the wall, but I guess with this I could leave them as they are and basically add the relays back at the panel. I couldn't install the relays in the rooms for aesthetic reasons (& lack of 110V power to the appliance modules). I'll have to check to see if any circuits control heat to more than one room.

Do you have a link for the specs on the 9200?