Help understanding zones!

[Brian Richards]

I've searched the forums and I can't seem to find a clear explaination for my question. I'm considering installing 2 HAI RC-? tstats with zone control for upstairs, and downstairs on a single-stage furnace.

1. When people mention "zones" do they mean:
a. That they have 2 hvac systems (i.e. furnace and a heat pump)
b. That they have dampers installed and they want to logically separate them into floors?

2. If 1b, Do I need to get 2 RC-90's to control zones and if so, what is the function of and how do you wire the B and O wires for 2 zones? Or perhaps I just need one RC-90 and one RC-80.

Its my understanding that all I need to do to control two different tstats is to install them and then daisy chain an additional wire for the rs-232 connection to my pc. Basically, I'm confused by how zones work with these tstats. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[Kyham]

My setup

I have 6 zones in the house. Each zone is an area consisting of 1 to 4 rooms. I have a hot water heating system so the boiler is on whenever the outside temp is below 65 degrees.

The zones are,

1. Master Bedroom, Master Bathroom, Guest Bathroom.

2. Guest Bedroom A, Guest Bedroom B, and Guest Bedroom C.

3. Livingroom, Dining room, Kitchen.

4. Major basement area.

5. Ham Radio Room, Basement Bathroom.

These 5 zones control the heat only for their area.

Zone 6 controls the air conditioner for the whole house whenever the outside temp goes above 85. As you can see, I prefer it on the warm side. Then again, every room except the kitchen has an outside sliding door to the deck that is on 3 sides of the house. By just having the doors open and being on the top of a hill, I get a great breeze just about all the time.

I use an outside temp sensor on the HAI Omni Pro to turn the boiler on/off. It is also controlled by the door sensors so that the boiler or air conditioner is turned off when any outside door is open for longer than 10 minutes.

Hope this helps. At least that is how I am using the HAI RC-80 thermostats. As I remember they all feed the Omni Pro on using a daisy chain and each thermostat set to a different address.

[Brian Richards]

Is the Omni LT,II,Pro required to daisy chain thermostats or can you daisy chain them and connect them directly to your pc?

[wegienka]

Brian,
If you have any of the HAI Rc Series thermostats, you can daisy chain them together, hook them up via RS232 to your PC and use the HAI thermostat plug-in that is available for free in the HomeSeer updater to control them. No need for any other hardware.

Alan

[cadillackid]

The way my Zoning works is I have 3 Zones, similar ro an earlier post, the house is divided, however since I have a standard forced air heating/ air-cond system it is a little different.

my main Output plenum duct is separated into 3 main trunks going to the 3 areas of the house. i each one of those trunks is a damper which will restrict or allow airflow for the registers on that trunk.

when zone 1 temp drops below the setpoint, the furnace comes on, closes the dampers for zone 2,3 and all the heat is directied at zone 1. if any other zone requires heat during the cyclle, its damper will be openedand heat is directed at any or all zones requiring service. each zone can command the system start-up and run.

I return air from all zones at all times the system is running.

another piece is the bypass damper, if a blower is designed to move air through X number of registers and you cut that way down you will have issues such as noisy vents, whistling or even blowing apart runs. a Bypass damper is generally a simple mechanical damper with a weight on it that will open up when the duct pressure reaches a certain level. the bypass is located on the main plenum before any zone dampers and a duct from it is routed back to the return on the furnace.. preferrably at least 6 feet of return duct before the furnace.

I Use an RCS controller designed for this, im sure there are others out there as good and less expensive, I just like the commercial style features of RCS.

-Christopher
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[Brian Richards]

Thanks guys for all of the great info! It was very helpful.