Automated HVAC

Over the past month and a half I have replaced the Honeywell programmable thermostat that came with the house with a Venstar 1900 programmable thermostat. This is exciting. I don't understand why you are not excited to read more about my thermostat below...

I replaced the Honeywell 7-day programmable thermostat with a Venstar 1900. (a Venstar Slimline Platinum Series T1900 Residential Thermostat officially)

The Venstar has a built-in humidistat, which lets you use the interior humidity to control the heater/AC to attempt to regulate it, or an actual whole-house humidifier (which we don't have on our system, we just have AC, heat, and electrostatic cleaner).

With the add-on ACC0414REC wireless thermometer receiver I can have a thermometer downstairs and the temps get averaged. Our house is two stories, but the bottom wasn't part of the original construction or the people were cheap / stupid when they installed the HVAC system - both floors are connected, no separate ducting/etc so one floor is always an uncomfortable temperature compared to the other. Now that I have a remote temp sensor (like the ACC0414RF but from a different company) the system will know the average temp throughout both floors.

The Venstar 1900 has a ton of options (it can sync time to a commercial clock, it can be connected to occupancy-sensors, it can hook up to the phone, a humidifier, control of a UV cleaner, 7-day program, etc), but I won't be using any of them. I bought them so when we sell the house the people will have a decent thermostat. Instead, I'm making use of the thermostat's 'uber feature.'

The accessory port on the bottom can connect a number of attachments, from IR receivers to telephone answer systems. The latest attachment is the Insteon thermostat adaptor which will, wirelessly, connect it to the Insteon network that my computer/home automation system can communicate with.

Pics are on my Flickr page.