Re: gEDA-user: the furnace board is in!

[DJ Delorie <dj@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I've been interestedly watching this project evolve, but still
> haven't seen a description of what you're trying to accomplish with
> this controller?

The primary reason for a "smart" controller is because the dumb one
(relays and tilt switches) fried a $900 central air conditioner.  It
didn't know to let it warm up before trying to restart it.  It also
had an annoying habit of running the AC when it was cold out, or the
heat when it was warm out.

So, the board I put in does a couple of things.

It forces the AC to remain off for 30 minutes once it shuts off, no
matter what.

It doesn't run the AC if it's sufficiently cool out.

It doesn't run the heat if it's sufficiently warm out.

It can (but doesn't yet) disable the water heater when the furnace is
heating, as the oil feed tube is a little undersized and they'll
sometimes reset if they're both running and haven't been cleaned
recently.

As a bonus, I can monitor the system from anywhere in the house, even
from the thermostats - they can each tell me what the other zones are
doing.  I can check the outside temp and humidity from any thermostat
(the kids like that).  Someday, it will look up the weather forcast
too.

The humidifier can now manage each zone separately, not just some
house-wide average.

It also gives me statistics on oil and electricity usage, and can
indirectly tell me if I left a window open, or need to service the
furnace or AC.

So, in a nutshell: (1) protect the A/C unit, (2) save money, (3) extra
convenience features.

The fact that it runs Linux is just because it's fun to tell people
that :-)


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