# 3 zone thermostat



## moggi1964 (Nov 21, 2006)

Hi,
I have a three zone heating system in my recently purchased house. We had someone install a single thermostat and wire all three together through that stat. Unfortunately the difference in temperature in the room where the stat is and the bedroom is about 8f and the wife is going nuts.

I want to return to a multizone setup but with programmable options (the old stats were not prgrammable).

Can someone recommend a thermostat that can do this or will I have to install a seperate stat in each zone?

I currently have a ritetemp 8050C.

The heating system is a Weil McLain Boiler with 175,000 BTU output.

As an aside, the AC is hooked up to a single zone stat in another room; is it possible to multi-zone the AC too?

Thanks.


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## iGotNoTime (Oct 25, 2006)

You have all the valving done for a multizoned system? You are saying you merely changed the thermostat? So you ran jumper wires from each valve over to the next rigging them all together? Can I ask why you would trade a Cadillac for an Escort? I gotta be missing something.


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## moggi1964 (Nov 21, 2006)

We moved in and didn't have any programmable stats.

My electrician talked me into getting a single stat to control everything as we are a ranch and he thought that temperatures wouldn't vary much!

He was wrong!

I have ordered another ritetemp 8050c which I got for $30 new so we will move from one zone to two. If I can find another at that price I will go back to three zones.

Cadillac to Escort; you are exactly right. I had my reservations but listened to what I thought was good advice.

Thanks for getting back to me; I appreciate it.


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## 747 (Feb 11, 2005)

You can't have a multizone system on one thermostat. They have to be on there own thermostat. This way the thermostat can read the temp in each zone there by calling for heat. Also the purpose of multizone best when you have hotwater copper baseboard is this. You can have the bedrooms on one zone and the rest of the house on another. There by saving money when not sleeping. Example i have two zones. Back of the house front of the house. One thermostat is in hallway other is in bedrooms. Zones are as follows. Zone 1 kitchen dining room living room den. Zone 2...3 bedrooms two bathrooms. So if i was home alot which i'm not i would wakeup turn down thermostat in bedroom and turn up thermo for rest of house.


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## iGotNoTime (Oct 25, 2006)

Sorry for the delay getting back. As a matter of fact you can have a multi-zone thermostat on one control. They are not cheap or easy though. I have seen up to 5 zones on a single unit. The nice thing is you do all your programming from one single unit but the things start at about $300 for a 3 zone system. It is much cheaper to install individual thermostats into each zone unless you will be going with some sort of home automation system.

As far as the temperature sensors needing to be in the room, they make sensors that install with just a set of 18ga. speaker wires. The sensors are not even as visible as a nail hole in a wall or can be put anywhere really such as hidden in a ceiling fan. The sensor is in the respective zones but the actual switch is at the computer/thermostat which is in turn wired to the thermostat reciever and from there it's final route is to the valve itself. It is possible but costs more but it does take about the same amount of time really. I would imagine considering it is the same amount of work.

Going a bit further with the A/C I don't know. You mentioned a boiler so you use hydronic heat? Do you have a central A/C unit all ducted already? I am sure you could zone an A/C system with dampners and such but I doubt the wiring would be very pretty considering there is likely only wire terminals for a single thermostat.


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## moggi1964 (Nov 21, 2006)

Thanks for the advice guys.

I figure it will be less expensive to install two more 8050C units rather than go for the single unit option.

As for the heating; it pumps water around the system and heats a kind of radiator (about 8 inches high and 8 feet ling with multiple leaves of metal that heat up when the hot water passes though the back of them I think) i suppose you would call it. (I'm a Brit and this setup is familair though our raditors are usually more substantial units).

Anyway, the AC is ducted through vents in the ceiling and currently runs off a single stat. I guess I would need to replicate the three controllers (likfe the heating system used to be) and then wire the ac unit up to those and then into each respective stat.

Sorry if my terminology confuses anyone.


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## 747 (Feb 11, 2005)

iGotNoTime said:


> Sorry for the delay getting back. As a matter of fact you can have a multi-zone thermostat on one control. They are not cheap or easy though. I have seen up to 5 zones on a single unit. The nice thing is you do all your programming from one single unit but the things start at about $300 for a 3 zone system. It is much cheaper to install individual thermostats into each zone unless you will be going with some sort of home automation system.
> 
> As far as the temperature sensors needing to be in the room, they make sensors that install with just a set of 18ga. speaker wires. The sensors are not even as visible as a nail hole in a wall or can be put anywhere really such as hidden in a ceiling fan. The sensor is in the respective zones but the actual switch is at the computer/thermostat which is in turn wired to the thermostat reciever and from there it's final route is to the valve itself. It is possible but costs more but it does take about the same amount of time really. I would imagine considering it is the same amount of work.
> 
> Going a bit further with the A/C I don't know. You mentioned a boiler so you use hydronic heat? Do you have a central A/C unit all ducted already? I am sure you could zone an A/C system with dampners and such but I doubt the wiring would be very pretty considering there is likely only wire terminals for a single thermostat.



Oh i didn't know they made a hightech one like that with sensors you could mount in a room But it doesn't sound cheap. I bet if i lived in Penn. and asked MD to get me going with that he would get deep into my pocket.:laughing:


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## bascompany (Feb 2, 2012)

iGotNoTime said:


> Sorry for the delay getting back. As a matter of fact you can have a multi-zone thermostat on one control. They are not cheap or easy though. I have seen up to 5 zones on a single unit. The nice thing is you do all your programming from one single unit but the things start at about $300 for a 3 zone system. It is much cheaper to install individual thermostats into each zone unless you will be going with some sort of home automation system.
> 
> As far as the temperature sensors needing to be in the room, they make sensors that install with just a set of 18ga. speaker wires. The sensors are not even as visible as a nail hole in a wall or can be put anywhere really such as hidden in a ceiling fan. The sensor is in the respective zones but the actual switch is at the computer/thermostat which is in turn wired to the thermostat reciever and from there it's final route is to the valve itself. It is possible but costs more but it does take about the same amount of time really. I would imagine considering it is the same amount of work.
> 
> Going a bit further with the A/C I don't know. You mentioned a boiler so you use hydronic heat? Do you have a central A/C unit all ducted already? I am sure you could zone an A/C system with dampners and such but I doubt the wiring would be very pretty considering there is likely only wire terminals for a single thermostat.


I am looking for a 3-zone thermostat with remote sensors and can not find one. Do you have a brand name for one?


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