GBA Logo horizontal Facebook LinkedIn Email Pinterest Twitter Instagram YouTube Icon Navigation Search Icon Main Search Icon Video Play Icon Plus Icon Minus Icon Picture icon Hamburger Icon Close Icon Sorted

Community and Q&A

Dual fuel heating system – thermostat?

Eric Yancey| Posted inEnergy Efficiency and Durabilityon

We recently built an addition onto our house and instead of extending our existing AC-only system, we installed a second AC/heat pump system. The house also has an oil-fired boiler with baseboards.

We added two heating zones to the addition onto the existing hydronic heating system, so the addition has two heat sources – oil and heat pump.

My question is this – is there a thermostat available that would only fire the boiler when it gets cold enough for the efficiency of the heat pump to drop below a certain rating? Here in western VA it often gets warm enough – like today it is 47F outside – that I believe the efficiency of the heat pump should exceed that of the boiler.

What I would like to have is a thermostat with an outdoor temperature sensor that allows me to use the heat pump when the temps are moderate, and the boiler when it drops below a certain temperature.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

GBA Prime

Join the leading community of building science experts

Become a GBA Prime member and get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.

Replies

  1. Aj Builder, Upstate NY Zone 6a||#1

    Vision Pros and most Prestige by Honeywell can be set up to do what you desire. You may want a pro to do so for you.

    http://yourhome.honeywell.com/home/Products/Thermostats/7-Day-Programmable/SummaryList.htm

  2. Aj Builder, Upstate NY Zone 6a||#2

    The heat pump is programed to be locked out at your desired temperature via the tstat.

  3. Eric Yancey||#3

    Awesome, thanks AJ! I've been wanting to try out a thermostat that I can connect to my home's network anyway, so it looks like I might be able to find one that will control both systems and be accessible over the network. I'm a software engineer/IT guy so I'm a geek when it comes to hooking things like this up :)

    I'll report back my results once I get it all hooked up.

    Thanks again,

    Eric

Log in or create an account to post an answer.

Community

Recent Questions and Replies

  • |
  • |
  • |
  • |