Two thermostats - Upstairs / Downstairs for night/day comfort?

[Jason Hirsch]

Hello-

I've searched the forumns but had no luck; I thought I'd try here first.

I'd like to install a thermostat upstairs to place a setpoint at around 60F at night (say 1am till 6am). After that period I'd like the downstairs thermostat to kick in and setpoint to 60F.

I realize this may sound contradictory, but the way this house is designed the front door leaks near the thermostat, triggering it more often then needed. Thus at night all the heat builds up upstairs.... and I like it cold.

Are there any complete systems that come to mind that might fit this requirements?

Thanks in advance,

Jason

[indago]

The easiest way to resolve this problem would be to turn the thermostat down at night. Next, put some weatherstripping around the door so it doesn't leak cold air anymore.

[Doug Miller]

Yeah -- it's called "weatherstripping".

-- Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

[I-zheet M'drurz]

Or, relocate the thermostat. If you don't want to go that far, a simple programmable would do it. You would need to fine tune the night setting to reach the results you want upstairs, but there has to be a number below 60 downstairs that will yield ~60 upstairs.

[Doug Miller]

Geez, Tom, that's just ridiculous, even for you. The *first* thing to do is

*obviously* to fix the air leaks at the front door.

-- Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

[Grumpy OM]

I had similar problem. Fortunately the stairway has a wall on each side so I installed a drape at the bottom to minimize upstairs draft. Grumpy

[Phisherman]

Consider fixing the air leak around the door and install a storm door. Keep the area near the thermostat clear of objects.

[George Elkins]

Have you considered a wireless thermostat? You could relocate it upstairs/downstairs. Little or no installation cost if it is a drop-in replacement for original stat.

George Elkins

[PJ]

Ditto on fixing the leak.

You didn't mention your setup, but if it was my problem with my system and I didn't have the money to do it right, I'd just stick a couple of identical cheap programmable thermostats in parallel (without the cooling wire Y connected upstairs) and give that a try.

The programming would take care of your timing and temperature problems.

PJ

[jmagerl]

I once went to radio shack and got a 4 pole double throw relay (1 pole for each thermostat wire) and appropriate power supply . Then a simple wall timer activated the relay at night and switched the furnace to the upstairs thermostat. Don't think this will work with programmable thermostats that get their power from the wire.

[Jason Hirsch]

Thanks George-

Do you have any recommendations as to a wireless thermostat?

I've actually dragged out an IR camera and photographed the heat loss to the door that leaks like a sieve. I didn't think I needed to explain all 100 reasons as to why I would want to regulate the upstairs temperature at the expense of the downstairs in order to get a useful direction; apparently I was wrong.

Perhaps the biggest reason? It's an old house and, even with all of the areas patched, insulated, thermostripped, there still exists a cold sink in that area. Thus, regardless of most of the groups helpful suggestions, they all have been done. Moving the thermostat to any other wall requires moving the ductwork off the base of that wall, otherwise hot air would immediately shut the furnace off after 5 seconds (tested by moving the thermostat with electrical wires).

Thanks again George for the suggestion- I'll try looking at a pair of them and seeing if I can't devise a shutoff system for them.

[George Elkins]

Sorry, I can't recommend anything. I have very little knowledge other than what I found via a search engine.

Seems like you'd want a single thermostat consisting of a wired base, to replace existing thermostat, and a wireless remote which can be repositioned up or downstairs.

I'd call the manufacturer's 800 number to ensure compatibility with your heating/cooling system and try to order through your local HVAC people.

George Elkins