Flush mount thermostat sensor distance from dimmer switches?

[Madcoder]

We will be flush mounting some remote temperature sensors for a zoned heating and AC setup, and I notice a fair amount of heat coming off of the room dimmers (1 Leviton fan controller and 1 Leviton light dimmer). The old thermostat was just above one of these clusters, and definitely threw off the accuracy. As the new sensors will be IN the wall, it will certainly be worse. Therefore, I am thinking to move the new remote sensor just below the switch cluster, with the thought that since heat rises, the dimmers will interfere less that way. Does anyone have any practical experience with this (dimmers and flush mounted sensors)? How far down below the switch cluster would be enough? The walls are drywall, and switch boxes are plastic. The remote sensors are the RCS flush mount ones.

 

[Del91574]

How about you move off to the side, as far as possible.
 
The heat is going to radiate out of the box all the way around. If you really want to see, take an IR thermometer and shoot some readings.

 

[Madcoder]

I had thought about that, but was hoping to avoid taking up any more space horizontally from the switch cluster along the wall. You are right though, it is not just about convection, but they will radiate the heat. It is a narrow wall cavity, only as wide as a double gange box, so I will have to drill over into the next bay. The stud should help block any heat from the switches though, and give a more accurate reading of the room temperature, and I just have to warm to the idea of going a bit to the side of the switch cluster instead of over or under it.