automatic fan control

[EVOLVO]

The wife and I just bought a new old house. It has a Blaze King propane heater with an internal auto fan. There is also a ceiling fan in the room that is on a normal light switch. They work well together if I wait to turn on the ceiling fan after the heater fan comes on. Problem is I often forget to turn the ceiling fan off after the heater fan has cycled off and it starts to blow cool air almost immediately. Is there a way to wire the ceiling fan so it uses the same on/off signal as the heater fan? Even better would be a way to do this wireless, is that a possibility?
Thanx in advance!

 

[kamesama980]

Possible? absolutely. All it takes is money and time/research. How much work depends on how clean you want it to look.

Take the heater apart and find the control board. tap into the line that controls the relay to it's fan, run it to another relay that you're going to wire the cieling fan to.

If you want it wirelessly, you could probably rig something up with various home automation kits...specifically though, you're out of my realm of expertise there.

 

[EVOLVO]

OK, thanx. At this point I have lots of time, just need to come up with lots of $$$$$.

 

[kbs2244]

Try putting the ceiling fan on a timer switch.
With a little pratice I would expect you can come close to the run time of the heater.

 

[Thumper68]

There should be a switch on the ceiling fan to reverse rotation, summer fan should move air down, winter move air up. By sending the air up it moves the air across the ceiling and down the walls, No cold breeze and no hot air trapped against the ceiling. We have our fan on most of the winter, lowest setting only turn it off at night.

 

[EVOLVO]

There should be a switch on the ceiling fan to reverse rotation, summer fan should move air down, winter move air up. By sending the air up it moves the air across the ceiling and down the walls, No cold breeze and no hot air trapped against the ceiling. We have our fan on most of the winter, lowest setting only turn it off at night.

Thumper, Thanx, I've got mine blowing down now. I was thinking it would get the hot air down into the room, it does, but what your saying makes sense. I'll give it a try!

 

[2ManyProjects]

Is there a way to wire the ceiling fan so it uses the same on/off signal as the heater fan? Even better would be a way to do this wireless, is that a possibility?

Possible? absolutely. All it takes is money and time/research. How much work depends on how clean you want it to look.

Take the heater apart and find the control board. tap into the line that controls the relay to it's fan, run it to another relay that you're going to wire the cieling fan to.

Before hacking up the control board, I'd look at the existing relay. It MAY have a "spare" pole not currently used for anything; if so, then you can use that with an appropriate sensor. If not, then a second relay can near-certainly be driven off the output of the existing relay; just match the coil of this relay to whatever voltage the existing relay is outputting. Either way, this would be much "cleaner" (and far less risky) than trying to attach something directly to the control board.

If you want it wirelessly, you could probably rig something up with various home automation kits...specifically though, you're out of my realm of expertise there.

Once you have an appropriate relay contact to use, the rest is simple. Use this:

http://www.smarthome.com/2450/IOLin...-Contact-Closure-Interface-1-In-1-Out-/p.aspx

to sense the relay state; and this:

http://www.smarthome.com/2475F/FanL...ht-Controller-Fixture-Module-Dual-Band/p.aspx

to control the fan itself.

OK, thanx. At this point I have lots of time, just need to come up with lots of $$$$$.

Not really all that much money. A bit over $100 for the stuff mentioned above, plus maybe a few bucks for another relay, if needed.

 

[EVOLVO]

2MP, That's just what I was looking for. I'm going to add this to my to do list.