Ethernet central heating controllers

[Tournifreak]

Hello all.

I don't think this subject has been discussed recently, and for me it's quite an interesting one. This is my scenario:

A church building is currently heated by ancient gas boiler. 3 zones (effectively S-plan), 3 thermostats and a 15-year old 3-zone basic controller (not sure what make off hand). Different parts of the building are used at different times each week, so someone needs to re- program the controller every week. The building is not particularly well insulated, and the timing is greatly affected by the weather (eg. when it's cold, the heating has to go on at 3am to be warm enough for

10:30am, when the building is used!). Insulating the building better now would be a huge expense, particularly as plans are being made for a big extension (or possibly demolition) anyway.

What I really want is a central heating controller that is outside temperature compensated. I would like the ability to program it from the comfort of my own home, via the internet. We have a broadband connection already in the building, so what I need is a heating controller with an ethernet port.

This is what I've found so far: Honeywell Hometronic (hugely expensive and radio-based - not sure if it will work in a non-domestic setting) Heatmiser.co.uk (not very helpful technical support, but product could be OK) Lots of ethernet IO boxes (cheap, but I would need to design hardware/ software to go with them - I am technically able, but lacking in time)

Does anyone have any experience of Hometronic or Heatmiser? Or come across anyone else who does these things? Surely there must be a sizeable market for this sort of stuff these days???

Thanks for any help! Jon.

[tony sayer]

In article , Tournifreak scribeth thus

Ever looked at a Barix Barionet?. These do that sort of remote control type thing and you can hang thermostats etc on them and remote open close contacts over the net..

[auctions]

Heatmiser stuff is good. Tech people have been very helpful in person and on the phone.

A

[The Natural Philosopher]

Well I don't know how technically literate you are, but I would set up a broadband connected Linux server with a bunch of relays, and a web interface, and do the whole controller in software!

Actually, its no bad idea for many homes..could connect up stats and motorized valves via ethernet over mains..what is needed is a generic I/O board for a PC..and a tad of software..

[Robin]

I'm in the process of doing something similar, though on a smaller scale).

My plan is to use ZoneMinder (ZM) running on Linux to be a server that I can VPN into to control X10 connected devices. I want some CCTV in the mix too, hence ZM is a natural choice.

The central heating part of X10 seems a path well travelled, as does ZM access via the net.

ZoneMinder -

- that helps.

[Tournifreak]

Thanks for the replies so far. I've never used Linux, but I could do all of this using Labview, via windows.

I had a look at the Barix Barionet. It looks really good. Lots of IOs, relay o/p, temp sensor inputs etc etc. I think it's just the job, but only if I had the time. I have so many other jobs to do, I don't think I can spare the time to design the software and hardware etc. OTOH, it would be a lot of fun!

For the time being, does anyone know any alternatives to the Heatmiser system? (I've decided the Honeywell system is too expensive!)

Cheers, Jon.

[franklydude]

Hello people, I'm interested in doing similar for remote control of a heating system via internet, and while I like heatmiser a lot, it's an expensive approach. From what I have read so far, only a DIY system would be "cheap", but this system by proliphix is cheaper than the heatmiser approach.

figure it could be wirelessly hooked up to a router via an ethernet to wi-fi bridge.

If anyone already has one of these, I'd be very interested to know how it all works! I havn't taken the plunge yet! happy home automating guys (and gals) cheers Franky

Jon said:-

[Andrew Gabriel]

That's pretty much what I've done. For the I/O, I use the house alarm system which has loads of input and output ports, which can be monitored and controlled by the computer. The computer also gets to see from the alarm system when you're at home, in bed, away, etc, and automatically modifies the heating behaviour accordingly (and heating of hot water). The computer interfaces directly to the room stats via an i/o board which drives a number of digital temperature sensors and monitors the room thermostat set positions.