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>
> I want to automate the heating in my house.
>
> I have a fireplace insert that throws a lot of heat on one area of the
> house. This makes it difficult to rely solely on a thermostat to keep my
> house comfortable, for example at night the heat from the fire keeps the
> thermostat from turning on the furnace (thus the bedrooms get cold).
>
> Having computer programming experience, I can envision writing a "smart
> software utility", to do things like...
>
> - Keep the bedrooms warm at night
> - Conserve oil by leaving the bedrooms go cool during the day
> - Conserve energy by turning on fans to circulate heat as required
> - Perform in different ways based on "outside temperature", "home
> occupied/not occupied"(based on last motion detected), etc...
>
> I can use X-10 to turn on fans as required (maybe a floor fan or two
> placed in strategic areas). I'm sure there are some in-line duct fans
> available somewhere, which could be connected to the existing ducts in my
> hot-air system, (that could be turned on seperately from the furnace
> controlled fan via X10). There are currently times when it's too warm in
> the living room, near the fireplace, and too cool in other areas of the
> house. So, instead of relying solely on the furnace to warm the bedrooms
> (while also making the existing hot areas hotter) my software can control
> these fans (maybe also with X10 controlled dampers) to direct heat to the
> needed areas of our home.
>
> Question A : My software will need to know temperatures of various areas
> (three or more) of the house at any given time... Can anyone recommend a
> product that can be polled for the temperature (and not restricted to the
> vendor's proprietary software, but from my own application or via X10
> commands)
>
> Question B : Can anyone recommend a line of products for directing my
> furnace heat to certain areas of the house, such as X10 controlled dampers
> or X10 controlled in-line fans....
>
> I know I can google for such information. In the past this is how I got
> my information, but I have ended up with a lot of obsolete product that
> I've wasted my money on that doesn't do exactly what I thought it would.
> So I thought I'd start here for recommendations, and try to get the right
> products and the right plan the first time. Thanks a million
>
> Dave
>