Two Pellets Stoves One Thermostat

[adam6979]

Hello all. I am new to the forums and have not been able to find any answers so I signed up today and am posting my first question.

I have about 2400 sq ft of space but little insulation (R10 max ceiling, R16 max walls) and it gets COLD up here. 10F right now but almost 0 with wind chill. Winds are often 15MPH or higher.

Anyway I bought a quad cb1200 back in 2011 and it is my primary heat. During the extra cold spells it just was not enough so in 2012 I bought an Englander 55TRPH. I have them both on opposite sides of the house on exterior walls. I am controlling them both with LUX TX500E thermostats. Historically they have sort of worked against each other. One works hard while the other short cycles....

I want to try to get them to turn on together and heat up the area and shut off together (at least within say 1 minute of each other) Problem is no two thermostats seem to be the same. There is a little difference between the two.

So I figured I could just hook both stoves up to one thermostat but when touch the quads wires to the england it turns on the england. I reversed the wires in case of a feed from the quad and got the same result.

I have adjusted the swing settings to be equal and have just lowered the calbration on the one that was higher by 1 degree ... not sure if this will work or not - but shouldn't I be able to eliminate one thermostat and simply have them controlled together?

 

[Chitownhillbilly]

I've been told it can't be done cheaply or easily.

 

[hossthehermit]

I've been told it can't be done cheaply or easily.

Are both t'stats in the same location ?????? If not, I'd try that ......................

 

[Bioburner]

Might be that one can get two relays controlled by one thermostat so each stove has its own relay without any stove feed back?

 

[Harvey Schneider]

You can use a 24V transformer with a DPST (double pole, single throw) relay. The thermostat closes the circuit for the transformer and relay coil and each stove gets connected to a normally open contact pair. If you need more explanation, I will draw a sketch for you. Right now I don't have the time.
With this arrangement the stoves are not connected to each other.
If you can get a plug in transformer, all of the wiring is safe low Voltage.

 

[TimfromMA]

Or 2 single pole relays.

 

[CaptSpiff]

Yeah, you can deal with transformers and relays and maybe even hook it up to your computer,......

Or you can just look up:

double pole line voltage thermostat wiring diagram

I have an old school thermostat that even has two set screws under the cover.
This lets me stage in the baseboard first and the fan forced wall heater a few degrees lower, from the same stat.

Caution: I see some double pole thermostats come with one contact as a thermostat and the other as an on/off (aka positive off). This will not work for you.

edit: I may have to retract my suggestion because I cannot find a single listing for the mechanical thermostat I have (1990 install) in my all electric Vac home. I'll get the exact model # next time I'm there.

 

[Wilbur Feral]

Or, just buy another thermostat, which will likely work better in the long run.

 

[adam6979]

I'll stay with the LUX TX500E as it is one of the few with a good swing setting for pellet stoves. And yes with some playing around I got it dialed in now. I have the swing at a 6 on both and keep one thermostat just slightly higher than the other one. Also I have found out that the LUX TX500E needs nice new batteries to work well. The low battery light won't come on soon enough. New batteries and they work great. And yes I just relocated them directly next to each other and this has helped out huge. The next project is wiring up a DC power pack to the battery terminals then diode them out to a battery pack - then I can have AC power run the thermostats - forget about batteries and all the batteries will do is take over if the power is out until I get the generator swapped over. Thank you all for your comments.

 

[adam6979]

You can use a 24V transformer with a DPST (double pole, single throw) relay. The thermostat closes the circuit for the transformer and relay coil and each stove gets connected to a normally open contact pair. If you need more explanation, I will draw a sketch for you. Right now I don't have the time.
With this arrangement the stoves are not connected to each other.
If you can get a plug in transformer, all of the wiring is safe low Voltage.

And yes Harvey - If I was to re-approach switching to a single thermostat again I would do exactly that. Just like the switch I had to build for the fan in bathroom. Every body makes a timer switch that will run a fan for a set amount of time. However nobody make a switch to shut off the fan for a given time. I have a fan on the ceiling in the bathroom that blows the heat down from the ceiling to the floor ( water pipes). However if the stove is not running this gets chilly to be under naked or on the toliet. One relay later and I setup the timer switch to disable the fan for a given time but no longer need to remember to turn the fan back on. Thanks again!