Hi from Ireland

[cerberus]

Hi All,

Renovating a 30 year old house at the moment. Background in electronics and control systems so hoping to apply that to custom low cost heating control (adaptive and predictive hopefully) and monitoring system. Hoping to post soon.

Padraig.

[Daox]

Welcome to the site Padraig.

What are you working on currently?

[cerberus]

I am currently removing the old heating system and getting the house ready to make way for the new set-up. Working full time, studying part time and trying to do as much DIY as possible so it is slow going at the moment. There are a few areas of interest covered on this site that I will be looking into for ideas; mainly, heating, solar ,hydro (stream at the end of the garden, low head). I am looking forward to seeing what I can find out.

The heating system, as the plans stand at the moment are a condensing oil boiler (mainly backup), wood burning boiler stove, 500l vented thermal store with DHW and solar heat exchange coils, the radiators (spec'ed for 30deg delta t) are individually controlled through an UFH manifold setup. The custom controller will have temperature feedback from all rooms and web interface for settings and schedules etc. The way things are now I have no fixed schedule for when I am in the house and for the next while I am the only one there bar weekends so individual room control and remote management/control is a must. The aim is to see how functional I can make a low cost control system (around €150-€200 from my last bill of materials) be.

[AC_Hacker]

Originally Posted by cerberus

...The aim is to see how functional I can make a low cost control system (around €150-€200 from my last bill of materials) be...

Well cerberus, with talk like that you have definitely shown yourself to be a welcome addition to this fitful and resourceful rabble.

Your experience with control systems is especially welcomed, as most of us are short on experience in that area. I can assure you that any information you have to share regarding control systems will be much appreciated.

I personally have two projects that hinge on control systems.

One is the conversion of a recently obtained Air Source Heat Pump (air-to-air) to an air-to-water hydronic floor heater. That project is going on HERE.

The other project, not previously announced, is to build a very high efficiency Heat Recovery Ventilator using a Fine-Wire HX core that I was able to obtain. There's a company in your area that makes these things and they have a controller that senses the CO2 & humidity and only runs the HRV when measured conditions call for it. I inquired into obtaining a controller from them, but they only make a 220V 50Hz model.

Anyway, back to your project, you'll hear it from most people at this site that your starting point should be A:minimizing air infiltration. Only after that should you focus on B:insulation. And after that, it is time to weigh your options for C:heating strategies. Efforts made in this order will give you the best bang for the buck, or in you case the most efficient use of your Euro.

By the way, do you speak Arduino?

At any rate, welcome to the conversation, we're all here to learn.

Best,

-AC_Hacker

[cerberus]

Hi AC_hacker, thanks for the welcome. I agree with your ABC although I need to get the heating system installed in the house then its ABC, with the C becoming just the control strategy. The use of a buffer tank allows me to have efficient use of the oil boiler, storage for boiler stove output (main source) and a dispatch-able resource for thermal energy to the house so the control strategy can be worked on after to minimize the use of that resource.

I saw the heat exchanger the day I joined and was in contact with the guy who put the post up to see could I get one, you were lucky to get one when you did. Manufacturing of the complete units (control, case etc.) has moved to a factory in Europe and the price is now around €1000, the exchanger units on their own are not available . On the control side of your heat exchanger I might be able to point you to a possible solution. A product that I got to see in action and was very impressed by was the COZIR Co2 sesnor (COZIR Ambient CO2 Sensor | Gas Sensing Solutions Ltd), very impressive both in design and function. There is one that can give you temperature (not very accurate), Co2 concentration and humidity all from one package, not cheap but an all in one sensing (both for control and logging) solution with fast response. This could be connected to an arduino with a simple PID algorithm for Co2 and/or humidity management to control a DC or AC fan.

Edit: much cheaper option here (http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a...-SENSOR/1.html)

I have used different microcontrollers before but have started to use the arduino boards lately, arduio IDE so far but moving more towards AVR-GCC. The nano clones are a great low cost solution giving regulated power, oscillator etc. that I could not even come close price wise for making with low volume part orders.

[AC_Hacker]

Originally Posted by cerberus

...you were lucky to get one when you did. Manufacturing of the complete units (control, case etc.) has moved to a factory in Europe and the price is now around €1000, the exchanger units on their own are not available...

Yeah, the Fi-Wi concept seems really great. I have contacted the company that markets Fi-Wi solutions, and they seem only casually interested in selling their stuff. But for those of us who are interested in low exergy solutions, this technology is very attractive.

It looks to me like a 3D printer could dispense the successive layers of the "glue-walls" and some kind of loom device could lay up the fine wire layers. Really, how difficult could that be?

There is no law that prohibits someone from making a patented item for themselves.

But yes, I am glad I got my core. Believe it or not, I knew where I would be able to get one (their last one), and I pondered on it for a whole year, before I ordered it.

I just ordered the 2nd CO2 sensor you pointed out. I'm getting two of them. Yes, great price on that one.

I already have a few Arduino clones lying about, and when the sensors arrive, I may need a bit of advice & guidance.

Thanks, cerberus for the info!

Best,

-AC