Conversion from WebCore / Keen Vent Room Temperature Balancing

#1

Are there any apps that use Keen vents to balance room temperatures?

On ST I have a custom WebCore piston that uses my Ecobee sensor temps, the HVAC run status, and HVAC mode to adjust my Keen vent positions to balance temperature in a few rooms.

I'm hoping I can replicate this in RM, but we'll see...

It uses a number of variables and math to determine things such as which room is hottest when AC is running / which room is coldest when heat is running to determine which vent should be 100% open and which one gets throttled. I just don't see how I will replicate that in RM, but I haven't sat down and started working on it yet - I might be able to do it with a bunch of rules combined if I break it into pieces.

Before I start on that complicated conversion, I thought I would ask if there are any other alternatives.

#2

I don't have an ecobee, but this does work with my nest. I'll help where I can.

#3

I’m confused. I thought this is what Keen Vents were all about? Don’t they each have temperature measurement in the vent and they balance room temp themselves by adjusting flow?

#4

Not really. They do have a sensor in the vent, but that isn't really that useful - it just reads the air temp going through the vent, not the room temp.

And by itself it would have no way of knowing what the temp in a completely different room is either.

In the end, the webcore piston I made isn't THAT complicated, so hopefully I'll be able to replicate it in RM. Room Manager can kind of do it, too... But not quite the way I want it to.

#5

I will check that out! Thanks!

#6

Jason,

I'm interested in your outcome. I want to invest in vents but not sure if it will worth. I don't have a high electrical bill, just I want more automation.

Thanks

#7

I've had automated vents for a year or so, they work great - depending on what you are trying to do.

I don't use them for energy savings. I use them to balance room temperature.

I have some rooms with a lot of windows that get very hot when the sun is on them, despite being tinted / having shades.

The automated vents, and temperature sensors on each room, help dramatically in balancing the temp.

You do need to be careful to not over pressure your system. In my case this is a multi zone HVAC with a built in overpressure bypass at the air handler, so not a huge concern. Even so, I never automate all vents in a single zone anyway, to help prevent pressure issues if all vents closed for some reason.

Instead of porting the ST app, I just wrote a custom app for my balancing needs to replicate how I did it in webcore before. Working great.

#8

Ahh, that will be my problem, I have no way to write an app to do that, my master room is warmer than any other room, other room is the coldest, one zone HVAC here. Thanks for the info.

#9

I have a number of keen vents. I am curious how f you have shared your app.

Thanks