Is it possible? Pellet stove as EM heat

[Wallace02mgd]

I usually burn my pellet stove as my only source of heat all through the winter. At least once it gets cold enough for the emergency heat on the heat pump to start kicking on. Electric emergency heat is very expensive and drives our bill up by a few hundred or more a month. Pellets are now 300 a ton as well and we use about 5 ton ro get through a typical winter. So looking to see if it's possible to make some kind of hybrid option here.

So the question is can I set up my regular thermostat that controls the heat pump (it's an eecobee smart thermostat) to turn on my pellet stove instead of the electric heat? Stove is a quadrafire. I think this would be a nice price balance using the heatpump whenever the temperatures allow and then when it can't keep up with demand turning on the pellet stove instead of the electric coils.

 

[EbS-P]

I usually burn my pellet stove as my only source of heat all through the winter. At least once it gets cold enough for the emergency heat on the heat pump to start kicking on. Electric emergency heat is very expensive and drives our bill up by a few hundred or more a month. Pellets are now 300 a ton as well and we use about 5 ton ro get through a typical winter. So looking to see if it's possible to make some kind of hybrid option here.

So the question is can I set up my regular thermostat that controls the heat pump (it's an eecobee smart thermostat) to turn on my pellet stove instead of the electric heat? Stove is a quadrafire. I think this would be a nice price balance using the heatpump whenever the temperatures allow and then when it can't keep up with demand turning on the pellet stove instead of the electric coils.

Soooo… short answer, no not like you think. The eco bee runs 24v AC from the heatpump. The stove has its own voltage supply. You don’t want to tie the common wires of two appliances together (remember AC current).

What I would do make sure strips are locked out for any temps above 30 (I forget what setting it is). Then set up manual staging so that the strips have like an 8 degree delta. (You could just not use them/ disable them but I like the backup ). I would set up a second thermostat for the stove and play with the set point so that it acts like second stage heat.

You might and I have no idea if this is possible, be able to if you have the premium eco bee to use the accessory inputs but it’s unlikely.

 

[Wallace02mgd]

Will have to look into how to lock out emergency heat above a certain temp if that's possibleble. Not sure what you mean by the 8 degree delta. Would that be the emergency heat would only be available le below 30 degrees and when the temp drops 8 degrees below the set point?

 

[EbS-P]

Will have to look into how to lock out emergency heat above a certain temp if that's possibleble. Not sure what you mean by the 8 degree delta. Would that be the emergency heat would only be available le below 30 degrees and when the temp drops 8 degrees below the set point?

Look up manual staging in the eco bee manual. The delta is degrees from set point. I have a two stage heat pump. I have my eco bee set for to lockout heat strips above 35. Stage two is set at a 2 degree delta with heat strips ( emergency set at 5 degrees delta). So set to 68 first stages comes on at 67 and second stage at 66 with emergency heat on at 63. It’s our first winter with the eco bee so those may change. I also set reverse staging. So when it get back up to 67 second stage turns off.

Basically I wanted really long runtimes for the summer. I don’t think it’s ideal for winter but I lit the stove today for the first time so it won’t see much runtime. High today was 70.

In general I like the eco bee but it’s not as customizable as I’d like it to be. It has all the capabilities (hardware wise) to tune your pellet stove as an emergency heat (the premium flavor) but I don’t think it can. I want it to turn on the fan if a sensor and the unit are differing in temp by more than 2 degrees but it can’t. I want to run over cool for humidity don’t and a dehumidifier it won’t. I want to lockout the dehumidifier if thr AC is running, it won’t. I’m not an average user but I’m not about to make my own thermostat.

 

[EbS-P]

Thought of a way to make it work.
You need a 24v ac relay. The eco bee will be connected to the the normally open relay. You will have to tie in a common on the relay to the common in the t-stat.

The stove will then be connected to the relay on the contactors side.

I would set up with stove as second stage (two stage plus ‘‘em heat and single stage coil (if that’s what you have). But only with manual staging. The automatic staging would short cycle the stove too often. Or you could replace the ‘Em heat with the relay. The hvac unit should still have control of the strips during defrost even without a the wire connected in the t stat.

I would want a way to override the ecobee though. Not 100% on this but you could probably run a separate thermostat. Two wires, (relay and t stat) under the t stat screws on stove. The stove would get the signal to turn on once either of the thermostats called for heat. Since the power for the signal is comtfrom the stove and isolated by the relay All the smoke will stay inside the stove

 

[shtrdave]

Thought of a way to make it work.
You need a 24v ac relay. The eco bee will be connected to the the normally open relay. You will have to tie in a common on the relay to the common in the t-stat.

The stove will then be connected to the relay on the contactors side.

I would set up with stove as second stage (two stage plus ‘‘em heat and single stage coil (if that’s what you have). But only with manual staging. The automatic staging would short cycle the stove too often. Or you could replace the ‘Em heat with the relay. The hvac unit should still have control of the strips during defrost even without a the wire connected in the t stat.

I would want a way to override the ecobee though. Not 100% on this but you could probably run a separate thermostat. Two wires, (relay and t stat) under the t stat screws on stove. The stove would get the signal to turn on once either of the thermostats called for heat. Since the power for the signal is comtfrom the stove and isolated by the relay All the smoke will stay inside the stove

No desire to try this because I don't have a smart stat, and once it gets cold here it usually stays to where I just run the pellet stove,usually in manual so it burns 24/7 if it warms up enough I will set it to auto to cycle on and off with the stat that runs it.

But very nice description and knowledge of your stat and electronics. Your idea sounds great, but me not being electronics minded so much, it would be difficult for me to figure it out. But if laid out as a simple diagram or even a hand drawn picture on a piece of paper, it would probably go a long way in helping someone like myself that wanted to try this get it figured out. Just a thought.

Any chance you know anything about forklift battery chargers.

 

[EbS-P]

No desire to try this because I don't have a smart stat, and once it gets cold here it usually stays to where I just run the pellet stove,usually in manual so it burns 24/7 if it warms up enough I will set it to auto to cycle on and off with the stat that runs it.

But very nice description and knowledge of your stat and electronics. Your idea sounds great, but me not being electronics minded so much, it would be difficult for me to figure it out. But if laid out as a simple diagram or even a hand drawn picture on a piece of paper, it would probably go a long way in helping someone like myself that wanted to try this get it figured out. Just a thought.

Any chance you know anything about forklift battery chargers.

Post the question to the DIY forum. There is a lot of knowledge here..