Ecobee Thermostat with pellet as stage I and furnace as stage 2

[hikertom]

Hello,

I recently picked up a Vistaflame (Store-brand Enviro) VF55 multi-fuel pellet stove and I want to wire it to my Ecobee Smart Si thermostat so the pellet stove is treated as stage 1 heat and the oil furnace is my stage 2 backup. The VF55 comes with it's own wired thermostat and there are two wire connections on the stove (basically it's just looking for either a complete circuit or a broken one to tell it whether to run in "hi" or "lo" mode.

Anyway, here are the connections available on my thermostat:
N/C
Y (1st stage comp)
W O/B (1st stage heat/reverse valve)
G (fan)
RC (Cool transformer)
RH (Heat transformer)
C (common)
Y2 (2nd stage comp)
W2 (2nd stage heat or aux)

It's clear to me that the W wire will be connected to the pellet stove. I am unclear on which other wire needs to be connected to the pellet stove to complete the circuit the stove is looking for to function normally with the thermostat. I have searched for this at length but have found surprisingly little about how to set it up. Your help is greatly appreciated!

Ecobee can be found at www.ecobee.com. I am really impressed with it so far.

Tom

 

[misterpat]

I have mine hooked up to W and G.

http://www.englanderstoves.com/manuals/AddingAnExternalThermostat.pdf

I know its for an englander, but like You said, it just makes or breaks a circuit.

 

[hikertom]

Hi Misterpat-

Thanks for your reply. I am not sure how that would work as G controls the fan on the furnace. Does your thermostat also use G to control your fan?

 

[misterpat]

I have a thermostat just for the pellet stove. I tested it with my multi-meter switched onto continuity and it beeped once the t-stat called for heat.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

If you just connect a pellet stove to this T-Stat you use RH and W

Now the 2nd stage is the tricky part
My best guess would be RH and W2 if your furnace uses a millivolt T-Stat, if your Furnace is 24 volt that would be different.


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Anyway, here are the connections available on my thermostat:
N/C
Y (1st stage comp)
W O/B (1st stage heat/reverse valve) <<<< Pellet Stove
G (fan)
RC (Cool transformer)
RH (Heat transformer) <<<< Pellet Stove
C (common)
Y2 (2nd stage comp)
W2 (2nd stage heat or aux

 

[velvetfoot]

Hi Tom. Did you ever get it working?

 

[Screwy]

Hi Tom. Did you ever get it working?

Did some research and came to the following conclusion. Can't just mix 24V central heat/AC R with a seperate millivolt R.It might actually work due to the seperate common but not sure if its safe for the stove electronics. Here is what I will be setting up next weekend:

I will be moving W to W2 to have my oil furnace as second stage and hook up a 24V relay between W and C in the basement. On the the secondary side of the relay I will connect the two wires from the pellet stove. This isolates the two circuits and should give me exactly what I need.

Will update this thread when done.

 

[cjmalanga]

I have an Ecobee3 Lite. I am looking to run a GFI55 pellet stove as my stage one (TT) and my oil fired furnace as stage two. I have ran a common wire tapped from the transformer at the furnace. Can I use Rh for both stages, W1 and W2 with a common and not have issues with the wrong voltage being sent to the pellet stove?