Is there a work-around for the Nest Thermostat to control line voltage electric baseboard heaters?
I just installed my Nest V2.0 thermostat yesterday - it is controls our oil furnace, which is actually a back-up system to electric baseboard heaters that are the primary heating system. I know you can't directly connect Nest to a line voltage thermostat, but is there a way to add a step-down transformer (or something similar) between the Nest and line-volt thermostat to get around this limitation?
I understand you want to replace a line voltage thermostat with a low voltage programmable thermostat. I see this as a simple relay hook. The new low voltage thermostat would be used to switch a relay that would switch the line voltage for the baseboard heaters. I can not think of the name of it just now but there is a company that makes a kit just for this. I have install 3 or 4 over the years. In your case the thermostat on wall now (the one in the picture) would be replaced by a relay box. The new low voltage thermostat would be placed beside it. A short wire would connect the two. The new low voltage thermostat would have it's own separate power supply. Google "baseboard heater relay kit"
ReplyDeleteEDIT=Here is once such set up http://www.fixmyownairconditioning.com/images/ACC0436-wiring.gif
Here is one with the unit mounted knob control being replaced by a relay. http://www.gntrains.com/CanalCar/Images/P02_0203_1758_0045a.jpg