Why does this simple rule not work?

[JoeJ]

This rule turns on/off a heater (via a z-wave switch) based on temperature.

This one DOES NOT work:

This one works:

[aaiyar]

@JoeJ

This one DOES NOT work:

A screenshot of logs would be helpful.

[danabw]

I replicated your rule (below) and it works fine.

Yours:

Mine:

Logs:

Something odd is going on at your end.

[danabw]

Do you have other rules/automations managing your heater that might be conflicting?

Ideally you should enable logs for the sensor and the heater and then get the sensor to the necessary temps to kick off the actions and see what you get.

Easier, replace the sensor w/a virtual thermostat which you can use to set artificial temps to just confirm that the heater is turning on/off when the temps low/high are hit.

You can add virtual devices in the Add Device flow from the top of the Device page.

Virtual thermostat example:

[JoeJ]

I think I found the problem. The "temperature change in degrees" in the driver overrides the "Report Interval" setting. So if the temperature did not change enough the report interval is ignored.

[danabw]

The Basic Rule is a simpler approach, rather than running the Rule Machine rule every minute which will be going off even when there is no temp change.

You could change the RM rule to run when there is a reported temperature change from the sensor, so it only needs to be active when something significant is happening.

Or change the RM rule trigger to have two triggers, (if temp < 70 or if temp >78) and you can use the same if statement in the rule body.

[JoeJ]

Thanks for the ideas. I will implement them.