Inexpensive Way to Control Pumps?

[Mushroom Man]

I have many pumps in my system:
Boiler return circ
Primary Loop circ
House (secondary) Loop circ
Barn Primary circ
Barn Secondary circ
Storage loop circ (boiler side of HX)
Storage loop circ (tank side of HX)
DHW circ
More to Come.
All pumps are Grundfos 15-58

I just want to turn them on/off at certain temps. The Honeywell aquastats are so expensive I'd love to find an alternative. Is there one?

 

[Rick Stanley]

Wonder if you could mount electric water heater thermostats on pipes, tanks or whatever? I got no clue. Just a thought.
http://www.pexsupply.com/Robertshaw-5600-312-Upper-Electric-Water-Heater-Thermostat-140-180

 

[ewdudley]

Wonder if you could mount electric water heater thermostats on pipes, tanks or whatever? I got no clue. Just a thought.
http://www.pexsupply.com/Robertshaw-5600-312-Upper-Electric-Water-Heater-Thermostat-140-180

You bet, if surface mount under insulation is responsive enough these can work well reliably.

Also search ebay for 'klixon' for little disk thermo switches, similar to water heater switch, cheaper, but not adjustable so you have to find one that has the right temperature setting and hysteresis.

I haven't tried one yet, but Sure Electronics now has DS18B20 temperature switches that look interesting, but need external 12VDC supply from a wall-wart or whatever. Search on 'LED Temperature Remote Controller'

http://cgi.ebay.com/LED-Temperature...ultDomain_0&hash=item35b124c77b#ht_3681wt_957

But still it's hard to beat the price/ruggedness/feature-set/enclosure/mounting-options of the Ranco ETC-11X000 temperature controllers at fifty dollars.


--ewd