Thermostat question

[panolo]

Hey guys was wondering if I can get an idea or rather some confirmation. I am switching out (or really just adding) my thermostat to a more basic setup as the I'm not impressed with the honeywell one I have now. Not super happy with eh cycle rates and degrees and I can't get a large enough gap for my liking between my oil furnace and OWB.

What I want to do is go with a two thermostat setup. I would like to work my OWB on a separate more basic style thermostat while I keep the backup heat on the original honeywell or just double up on the basic. 2nd thermostat would be fan only and the first would be backup. I can set a 10 degree difference then if my fire goes out but I still have enough of a swing that if it restarts I'm not burning oil unless I get a good drop.

I don't have an ac in my system and my furnace is about 12 years old with the newer style electronics. I did have a heat pump for a few years when my electric company had aggressive rebates and it ran without a hitch just using the fan power. Due to an electric strike I ended up switching my thermostat and board on my furnace and never fixed the heat pump. I'm not looking to add an aquastat if I don't have to. My pump runs 24/7. In theory I should just be able to jumper "R" to "R" and "G" to "W" on my new thermostat to power the fan for OWB use. Any thing I am missing?

Thank you!

 

[greenskeeper]

Trying to follow along, couldn't you just set the thermostat fan to "ON" instead of "AUTO" so that it runs all the time regardless of what the oil burner is doing? Then set the thermostat to the temperature that you would want the oil burner to come on at?

 

[panolo]

You could but than it will continually pump hot air from the OWB. Trying to control the temp from both heat sources but just want the oil furnace as emergency in case something happens to the OWB.

 

[breymeyerfam]

I have just finished a boiler build and hooked up a dual thermostat setup. Two identical themostats. All I did was pull 24v from the original to power the second. Then from the heat output from the second back to fan output (fan only) in the original. Works like a charm. Second controls the fan in the furnace for boiler heat and then if the temps drop low enough the propane kicks in. Propane is set at 55 and boiler stat is set at 70.

 

[Dogsout]

I have the same set up as above but using radiators with hot water heat I only needed the in house furnace pump to kick on. The OWB pump runs 24/7 so there is heat at the furnace exchanger all the time. I didn't wire it but it works great and using the existing heat system in the house I have a uniform 70* all through the house.

 

[panolo]

I wired it like I posted earlier. My setup looks like yours @breymeyerfam Works like a charm. Thanks for the replies!

 

[mohick]

Why would anyone want their pump running all the time? Have your fan run all the time and the therm. just turn pump on when heat needed!! Ran this way for years and love it, fan runs on low all the time house even throughout and temp never changes!!

 

[panolo]

Why would anyone want their pump running all the time? Have your fan run all the time and the therm. just turn pump on when heat needed!! Ran this way for years and love it, fan runs on low all the time house even throughout and temp never changes!!

I don't know of anybody around these parts that doesn't run the pump 24/7. I'm not knowledgeable about thermal storage so I can't comment on that setup. I know that like me, most people do not run antifreeze in their boiler and with temps ranges from -30 to 30 in the winter it ensures you don't freeze.