Overnight Steady House Temps

[BoiledOver]

The house temperature swings during the night are a nuisance to a good nights sleep. This rascal (Uponor 3-way) could very well remedy the situation. Yes? The objective is to level out the temperature peaks and valleys that occur while under the covers. Is installing this unit and running the circulator 24/7 going to reach the objective?

This Uponor (Wisbro) valve uses the outdoor reset feature to control the mixed temperature. Model A3040075 3/4" or A3040100 1". It has a maximum water temperature of 240F and a reset ratio range from 0.2 - 2.2.

This unit does not appear to use the indoor house temperature in its equation. Is another controller required? Or, Is there another unit that does double duty? Anyone using another add-on unit to achieve steady house temps?

 

[Bad LP]

I can't speak for that Uponor valve but I'm using a Taco Radiant Mixing Block (RMB1) and the rooms with RFH stay dead on even during this severe cold snap. I do have a problem with my kitchen zone due to 3 cold walls and half a cold ceiling but that's another topic.

It looks like the valve you are thinking about does the same thing as the controls on the RMB.

 

[maple1]

I'm not familiar with these temp swings. Can't think of why they would only be a night time thing either. My thermostats seem to keep things pretty even no matter what the supply temp is. But odr should give more even steady heating.

 

[BoiledOver]

I can't speak for that Uponor valve but I'm using a Taco Radiant Mixing Block (RMB1) and the rooms with RFH stay dead on even during this severe cold snap. I do have a problem with my kitchen zone due to 3 cold walls and half a cold ceiling but that's another topic.

It looks like the valve you are thinking about does the same thing as the controls on the RMB.

They appear to be similar with the Taco unit having additional features. The price is above what I will expend to address my issue though.

 

[BoiledOver]

I'm not familiar with these temp swings. Can't think of why they would only be a night time thing either. My thermostats seem to keep things pretty even no matter what the supply temp is. But odr should give more even steady heating.

Probably the swings occur 24 hours of the day. Unfortunately, I am a very light sleeper and will wake to sweating or a chill, not to mention noise, odor and any other sensing. Maybe swapping back to an old wall thermostat and adjusting the anticipator would get better results.

 

[TCaldwell]

I think Tarm USA sells the LK brand, outdoor reset with indoor feedback, a poster last winter named sparky in vt installed one. The Uponor looks like a taco ivalve.

 

[maple1]

I'm a light sleeper too. Our night time heating actually got more peaceful when I didn't bother fixing the end switch in our bedroom zone zone valve when it quit working. The slow convective flows seem to be more even and steady and not much expansion contraction noises any more.

 

[BoiledOver]

I think Tarm USA sells the LK brand, outdoor reset with indoor feedback, a poster last winter named sparky in vt installed one. The Uponor looks like a taco ivalve.

Thanks for the response. That looks promising. Looked through the literature for info on the indoor controller but did not find clarification on how it is different from any other thermostat.

 

[BoiledOver]

I'm a light sleeper too. Our night time heating actually got more peaceful when I didn't bother fixing the end switch in our bedroom zone zone valve when it quit working. The slow convective flows seem to be more even and steady and not much expansion contraction noises any more.

Yeah, can relate to that. It seems an always on circulator with a controlled 3-way valve should do the trick. How and what is used to do the controlling is what I need to determine.

 

[JohnDolz]

Thanks for the response. That looks promising. Looked through the literature for info on the indoor controller but did not find clarification on how it is different from any other thermostat.

I can't speak for the LK Brand Indoor Controller but I can tell you how mine works. It monitors the desired indoor temperature vs. the actual. If the delta gets larger than what is allowed by the Indoor Controller it will override the ODR and set a Design temp to maintain the desired indoor temperature. Once the Indoor temperature is back in range it gives control back to ODR. Of course you need to have the required BTU's in storage but assuming that, it compensates for when the ODR Design Temp is not appropriate to maintain desired room temp. I would assume the LK Indoor controller works similarly.

 

[Fred61]

I think "feels like" temperature and actual temperature are two separate phenoms, especially with radiant. Radiant is instant heat felt by the human body that the thermostat doesn't feel. Ever pick up a sheet of aluminum roofing, twist it just right and if the reflection of the sun hits you in the face, you feel the heat instantly at the same time you are being blinded. I ran across a technical paper last year on radiant and it was filled with facts (theories) that would get anyone thinking. In a nutshell it implied that radiant doesn't care what's in the way except for a reflective surface. One area discussed was windows with cold radiation from one direction and heat from the other and how a reflective material prevented the transfer.

I'll bet that if you put a recording thermometer in the room you would very small temperature swings. I have a mud room with three outside walls that I have set at 69and in this cold weather the radiant is on constantly to keep the room at the setting. Even at 68 or 69 it's as comfortable as the rest of the house which is set at 70 and all the thermostats satisfied.

 

[BoiledOver]

I think "feels like" temperature and actual temperature are two separate phenoms, especially with radiant. Radiant is instant heat felt by the human body that the thermostat doesn't feel. Ever pick up a sheet of aluminum roofing, twist it just right and if the reflection of the sun hits you in the face, you feel the heat instantly at the same time you are being blinded. I ran across a technical paper last year on radiant and it was filled with facts (theories) that would get anyone thinking. In a nutshell it implied that radiant doesn't care what's in the way except for a reflective surface. One area discussed was windows with cold radiation from one direction and heat from the other and how a reflective material prevented the transfer.

I'll bet that if you put a recording thermometer in the room you would very small temperature swings. I have a mud room with three outside walls that I have set at 69and in this cold weather the radiant is on constantly to keep the room at the setting. Even at 68 or 69 it's as comfortable as the rest of the house which is set at 70 and all the thermostats satisfied.

Yeah, the "feels like" changes here with the relative humidity, which is below 30% at this time of year. Set a recorder in the bedroom today to see if there is a considerable variation, 66F with 27% RH. The main house is set to 70F and will fall back 2 degrees for the night. The truth is, I awaken from too warm and too cool regardless if there is a temp swing, covers on, covers off. Manopause maybe, LOL? We will see.

 

[BoiledOver]

I can't speak for the LK Brand Indoor Controller but I can tell you how mine works. It monitors the desired indoor temperature vs. the actual. If the delta gets larger than what is allowed by the Indoor Controller it will override the ODR and set a Design temp to maintain the desired indoor temperature. Once the Indoor temperature is back in range it gives control back to ODR. Of course you need to have the required BTU's in storage but assuming that, it compensates for when the ODR Design Temp is not appropriate to maintain desired room temp. I would assume the LK Indoor controller works similarly.

Yeah, the Armatur LK 130 literature states "The room temperature unit is adaptive which means that it memorizes, upon installation, how long it takes for the system to reach a desired temperature. This guarantees that the different temperature settings occur at the programmed time. After a temperature setback a booster function briefly increases the supply temperature in order to quickly reach the desired room temperature. Should the room temperature unit sense a sudden change in temperature, such as when airing a room, the unit disregards this change for the following half hour."

That sounds quite similar to what your controller does. Have you heard anything of the price of an Effecta controller like yours? My system runs primarily with the RKU controller as boiler temp only and various other mods for everything else. The Effecta unit does everything plus the OR and zone controls. Sounds like a well designed controller.