BleepingComputer.com: Floor heating control software.

Hello,

Since my family is building a new house, my family wants it automated. We are using in-floor heating and want to know if there would be a way to automate it. Our idea is a computer program that registers input from thermometers on the slab (floor) and in the room, so when it goes below a certain temperature, the water runs through the pipes, until it is above the temperature. (the room and slab)

basically f (floor) & r (room) < t ( set temperature) turn on

f&r>t turn off

Mostly I want to know if there is a possibility of doing that.
thank you

This post has been edited by Mr.Ninja: 12 January 2012 - 02:40 PM

According to this site it should be: http://homeowners.danfoss.com/Content/82D92EAB-546B-4DE0-9E5F-C4433D0FB8E4.html

The hardware already exists to do that. It is a sensor that goes into the floor and ties into your thermostat.

Surely if you are spending decent money on underfloor heating it comes with a decent monitor? Are UFH monitors for temp drop.

Thank you everyone, but I would like to know which programming language would be best for this type of programming. (I want to learn to program and it would be faster to learn the best for this).

And ident, not trying to be rude, but we're building a new house, and have installed the heating pipes ourselves, so we didn't get a moniter.

If you are really intent on doing it yourself, then the language is irrelevant because the program will be trivial. The thing that maybe I am not explaining well enough is that the cost of a thermostat/sensor combination is less than $150. A cheap micro-controller will cost about $30, thermistor and connecting hardware will be another $30 or so. Then you still need a housing, and some means of being able to interface with the micro-controller so that you can change the settings, as well as monitor the settings. I recall some hobby-type led panels that were around $25 or so, and then a generic circuit board for about another $15 or so.

Okay, thank you for all the help.

/thread

Mr.Ninja, on 12 January 2012 - 02:39 PM, said:

The problem with this pseudo-code is that you will have too many on/off switching when the room/floor temperature is near the set temperature.
You need hysteresis to avoid this. It is often implemented with a Schmitt trigger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmitt_trigger

Example: say the set temperature is 20.0 °C. Then your program turns the switch on when the room/floor temperature falls below 19.8 °C, and turns the switch off when the room/floor temperature climbs above 20.2 °C.

And if your controller is going to be this simple (no clock, no schedule, ...), I wouldn't implement it with a microcontroller. Just make an electronic circuit with a Schmitt trigger.