wkearney99
Senior Member
We're building a new house and I'm looking to find thermostats I can automate. In the old house we had a single NG/AC unit controlled by a Proliphix thermostat. Worked well and had a web page control for altering the temps and the setback schedules. Not the prettiest UI but it did the job.
Now in the new house we've got three geo-thermal units, one each for basement, 1st and 2nd floors. The basement unit has a dual-zone air handler to allow separate control over a theater space. As in, modulate the temp in the theater first, rest of the basement rec room 2nd. This to keep the theater from becoming an oven when there's lots of people in there. Anyway, that part is reasonably sorted out.
What I'm interested in finding are thermostats for these that will allow at least the same level of remote control and programming as the old Proliphix unit. The HVAC folks want to go with some Honeywell units that have their 'RedLink' protocol. Apparently there's a gateway that can be had to allow remote control of it. How well this works I have no idea.
Two local automation installers have had less than satisfactory customer experience with the NEST units. And given the 'stable temp is best' nature of geo-thermal it's not like I really need the features the Nest claims to offer.
This is a new build and I'm in rough framing now. So I've got plenty of access to put wiring or units wherever we want. My plan currently is to pull regular thermostat and a CAT5 cables to the thermostat or sensor positions. Might not need it now, but can't hurt to have it already buried in there for later needs.
I'm not (at this point) considering a central automation controller. The lighting is all Lutron Radio RA2, as we really liked how well their RA1 system worked, and want to integrate their shades with it.
So I'm wondering what other thermostats to consider? Suggestions? Warnings of what to avoid?
Now in the new house we've got three geo-thermal units, one each for basement, 1st and 2nd floors. The basement unit has a dual-zone air handler to allow separate control over a theater space. As in, modulate the temp in the theater first, rest of the basement rec room 2nd. This to keep the theater from becoming an oven when there's lots of people in there. Anyway, that part is reasonably sorted out.
What I'm interested in finding are thermostats for these that will allow at least the same level of remote control and programming as the old Proliphix unit. The HVAC folks want to go with some Honeywell units that have their 'RedLink' protocol. Apparently there's a gateway that can be had to allow remote control of it. How well this works I have no idea.
Two local automation installers have had less than satisfactory customer experience with the NEST units. And given the 'stable temp is best' nature of geo-thermal it's not like I really need the features the Nest claims to offer.
This is a new build and I'm in rough framing now. So I've got plenty of access to put wiring or units wherever we want. My plan currently is to pull regular thermostat and a CAT5 cables to the thermostat or sensor positions. Might not need it now, but can't hurt to have it already buried in there for later needs.
I'm not (at this point) considering a central automation controller. The lighting is all Lutron Radio RA2, as we really liked how well their RA1 system worked, and want to integrate their shades with it.
So I'm wondering what other thermostats to consider? Suggestions? Warnings of what to avoid?