We have a 1400sf 2-story home (built 1932) that we recently moved into. A single boiler in the basement provides hot water for all the radiators in the house, as well as for in-floor heating in the kitchen and bathroom. There’s an old classic round Honeywell thermostat in the dining room. The kitchen and bathroom each have a simple programmable thermostat.
If dining room thermostat tells the boiler to heat, it’ll deliver hot water to the radiators throughout the house. But in order for the hot water to circulate through the in-floor systems, the thermostats in the kitchen & bath need to tell the boiler to kick on. (My understanding of this system is that if the kitchen or bathroom thermostat calls for heat, it’s going to send hot water to the kitchen or bathroom AND the radiators — not just the kitchen or bathroom in-floor — because there’s no valve that can prevent water circulating through the radiators when the boiler is on.)
So, that’s three thermostats to deal with. In addition, next spring, we’re planning to add Unico high-velocity air conditioning with an air handler in the attic, and that would add a FOURTH thermostat, presumably in the second floor hallway.
Okay, my actual question: does a system/solution exist in which there is just a single line of communication between a single controller and the boiler + AC, which can do the following:
- read the temperature in the dining room, upstairs hall, kitchen, and bath (perhaps via remote sensors)
- call for radiator heat based on the dining room temperature
- call for A/C based on upstairs hall temperature
- call for radiator heat PLUS in-floor heat to the kitchen based on kitchen temperature
- call for radiator heat PLUS in-floor heat to the bath based on the bath temperature
I think if it were just A/C and the radiators (no in-floor heat), this would be easy — add a thermostat in the dining room and a remote temp sensor to the upstairs hallway that talks to it; use the temp. sensor on the dining room unit for heat and the upstairs one for A/C. The part that seems complicated is that the kitchen and bath thermostats don’t tell the boiler to do the same thing as the dining room one does — they call for heat AND open the mixing valve for that room.
I have very little knowledge of what’s out there as far as residential thermostat technology, including wi-fi enabled/smart equipment. I’m hoping someone well-versed in all this stuff has an idea if my dream is possible. Thanks!