Thermostat Controlled Outlets

[mushupork5]

leave it to someone like dopest to mess up icmag's photo allery system. someone this handy with DIYs needs some computer lessons!! lol dopest, just joking

 

[stonewall]

i picked one of the t-stats up today. it does say 20 amp on the package and 4.4 on the housing.

i'm guessing the 20 amp rating is for resistive loads and the 4.4 amp rating is the inductive or motor load rating.

cheap and east to find, good work The Dopest!

 

[Guest]

I'd like to know how accurate and responsive they are...what's the differential between on/off? How many degrees? Inexpensive is nice but I'm more interested in how well the unit works. If there's lots of slop no tanks. Hopefully someone can report???

 

[stonewall]

it's not going to be very accurite or responsive. it is just a bi-metal limit switch.


for closer tolorances stick with cappilary tube or electronic sensors.

 

[green_grow]

i once came across an entry where the writer said NO to using a thermostatically controlled fan . the reasoning was as follows ...

fire starts in grow area ...
fire raises temps. ...
high temps cause thermostatically-controlled fan to turn on ...
fan feeds fire with fresh oxygen.

comments ? rebuttals ? baileys irish cream ?

 

[The Dopest]

i'll take a crown and coke,,,

while i hook another one of these up to a dpdt relay and wire it so that when the temps reach 100 it shuts power to the room? ok another DIY is in order.

 

[Guest]

I downloaded the pictures on the 23rd of Dec - would those be the originals? If so, I'll upload them. This is the one that shows the back of the package; that looks like a 20A to me.

 

[green_grow]

i have no idea what a dpdt relay is, but it sounds like you are on the case . right on !

 

[The Dopest]

thats it Ambre!!! sooo good to have you stop by! if you could, please just upload the few im missing and i will get this tutorial back in order.

thanks Ambre!

 

[Guest]

thats it Ambre!!! sooo good to have you stop by! if you could, please just upload the few im missing and i will get this tutorial back in order.

thanks Ambre!

OK, here's the other two!

Have a great New Year!

 

[The Dopest]

aaaaaand we're back! thanks Ambre, i owe ya one

 

[Guest]

I think you'r right stonewall,whenever you see FLA or full load amps its always referring to motor loads,perhaps they say 20A on the package so that it will be wired up in a 20A or 12 AWG circuit?Although that makes little sense also lol

 

[Guest]

it's not going to be very accurite or responsive. it is just a bi-metal limit switch.

for closer tolorances stick with cappilary tube or electronic sensors.

That's what I thought. The Dopest has a great thread here with an nice tutorial. I'm currently using electronic stats 2x as expensive but still not as accurate as I'd like so I gotta change out the thermistor...more time and cost. Dopest's setup is a great inexpensive option I know a few friends could use.

As for no thermostatically controlled fans...never thought of that. I guess that could make a worst case scenario catostrophic...and fast. I'm gonna wire up a smoke detection equipment and look forward to Dopest's 'fix' for this as I'll definitely use it!

 

[fuzygrowth]

i've asked this of several people and get different answers. If there is a fire in your home while you are not there, would you want it to be a half ass fire??? personally i hope it BURNS BURNS BURNS burning away most of the evidence along with it. if you have a minor fire it will most likely bring the fire dept. the fire dept will go through the whole house, you really want them bring out something that even resembles a pot plant? ehhh... off topic.. n/m sorry dopest , awesome tutorial, just what i needed to control the temps in that middle room.

 

[Guest]

If you're med and within your numbers, or even close, why burn the house down??? But I have thought about that fire scenario and for some it may be the best solution to the 'problem'.

 

[MTF-Sandman]

i've asked this of several people and get different answers. If there is a fire in your home while you are not there, would you want it to be a half ass fire??? personally i hope it BURNS BURNS BURNS burning away most of the evidence along with it. if you have a minor fire it will most likely bring the fire dept. the fire dept will go through the whole house, you really want them bring out something that even resembles a pot plant? ehhh... off topic.. n/m sorry dopest , awesome tutorial, just what i needed to control the temps in that middle room.

That's why I store 4 spare propane tanks in my growroom

 

[Guest]

That's why I store 4 spare propane tanks in my growroom

ROFLMAO!

I have a thermostat controlled outlet for my exhaust fan (one I purchased), but I stopped using it. The garden, of course, gets cool when the lights shut off, so the fan shuts off. I found that having the exhaust fan off during the dark period allowed the humidity to rise too high and I started seeing signs of PM.

I think the most useful system would be a combination temp & RH controller that would kick the fan on if either one went above the setting (in other words, it would require both temp & humidity to be below the set levels in order for the fan to turn off).

 

[Guest]

That's why I store 4 spare propane tanks in my growroom

LMAO...hopefully your growroom is not next to your bedroom and fire rages while you sleep.

 

[bartender187]

Im not an electrician... this is all conjecture...

How hard would it be to wire another set of outlets that would be given power while the fans are off?

So... Outlet 1 - Controlls your Exhaust.
Outlet 2 - Controlls CO2 equipment

Outlet 1 - receives power when temps are above user selected temp... stays on till ~7-8 degrees below the setmark.

Outlet 2 - Recevies power whenever outlet 1 is not active.

 

[Guest]

Im not an electrician... this is all conjecture...

How hard would it be to wire another set of outlets that would be given power while the fans are off?

So... Outlet 1 - Controlls your Exhaust.
Outlet 2 - Controlls CO2 equipment

Outlet 1 - receives power when temps are above user selected temp... stays on till ~7-8 degrees below the setmark.

Outlet 2 - Recevies power whenever outlet 1 is not active.

Just buy a Johnson Controls A419 SPDT thermostat. It has NO and NC (normally open and normally closed) controlled by a relay. They're very inexpensive at about $70+ shipped, heavy duty at 15 amps and you can control the temp differential to adjust for a 7-8 degree swing as desired. One thing about the A419's is it uses a PTC thermistor which is a little slow to react, especially since the probe is in a metal case. If the temp swings fast the stat may be slow to react. If you want more precise control, believe it or not, get the A319 analog unit if you can find one, and change out the NTC thermistor for a faster reacting one. Once you change out the thermistor it's bare and reacts even faster than being in the original plastic case. If you do change the thermistor you've just made the temp readings on the dial obsolete as the resistance will undoubtedly be different so you have to adjust the unit using an external thermometer for reference. Also...you can get NTC thermistors accurate to .2F...I like accuracy.

You can wire 2 outlets that flip flop.