Smart Radiator Valve

My home is heated by the types of old school radiators most brownstones have, it’s very old, I have no idea when it was installed or to what specifications. I’d like to setup a smart heating system that opens and closes these radiator valves at various times of day, such as closing my downstairs radiators at night and turning them on in my kitchen in the morning. Right now I just end up running the heat super high everywhere all the time instead. Very expensive. I’ve come across some potential solutions, like the netatmo and some honeywell options, but I’m not sure how well they integrate with old radiators like those found in NYC buildings, or how well they work at all. Has anyone had any good or bad experiences to share? A pic of my radiator valve type is attached.

[16041445120205773496999155376020](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:wKAE:16041445120205773496999155376020.jpg.jpg)

garaypetra17

in General Discussion 4 years and 6 months ago

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Guest User | 3 years and 4 months ago

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Runwise.com will not do what you are asking but is a very thoughtful smart boiler control system

stevecym | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Rick is correct, you should be able to balance the system and rooms which are too hot, put smaller vents in them. Put a little larger one in the room where the thermostat is located to shut the system down sooner. The hardware store i go to has a layout of a house and shows which vents work best where and you can take it from there with a little experimentation. i did my system with a few trips back and forth and we ended up pleased. Since you are new to this, take a few minutes to read about Grotton and Hoffman radiator vents; they must have a lot about this for DIYer’s on their websites.

Keep in mind, you have control of your thermostat and can put a programable one in. the one time i really felt the need to have something like a Danfoss was when we lived above an elderly landlord who constantly ran the heat high. even after i switched the vents to smaller ones we realized her apt was so hot that the heat was coming up through the floor. My better half and i simply resigned to leaving the windows open and sleeping with them open and did not mind waking u p in freezing rooms . we also shut radiators off when this got real bad. this was ok until we had a baby and he hated the heat as well (and still does) and would kick his blankets off at night. we knew she would turn the heat off at night and were very afraid of what could happen. A Danfoss on the vent side of the radiator might have helped us.

Rick | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Seems over complicated . Balance your system and use the correct stock vents per location and use a thermostat that you could program. It worked for me for the last 20 years.

Guest User | 4 years and 5 months ago

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the radiator labs smart cozy item has got to be one of the lamest ideas i’ve seen…instead of addressing the overheating in a building by adjusting venting and cycle length it attempts a workaround by basically wrapping radiators in blanket with a fan… youre still wasting fuel overheating the building but covering up the problem

Guest User | 4 years and 5 months ago

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https://www.radiatorlabs.com/

BklnRefugee | 4 years and 6 months ago

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Check out Honeywell Evohome. I am not sure it works on one-pipe systems, but it does have the features you aare looking for and can accommodate multizone systems (e.g. if you already have a Taco box and multiple pumps/loops)

Guest User | 4 years and 6 months ago

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this would work if you have a two pipe hot water heating system, albeit it sounds like you would be introducing a level of complexity into your heat that would be to put it mildly unnecessary. The idea of a temperature sensor located next to the valve seems like a terrible idea as well. If you have steam heat this is a nonstarter. In that case get a pro to size the air vents properly and walk away

Master Plvmber | 4 years and 6 months ago

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Controlling 1-pipe steam radiators has to be done by regulating the rate at which it is able to vent air. Danfoss is one company that manufactures devices to help do this but I don’t know of any on the US market that allow for remote or timed operation. That said, if you’re handy, you can always put a few things together and create a Frankenstein-esque product that does what you want it to do.

stevecym | 4 years and 6 months ago

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i am not sure about smart controls at the radiators themselves, but since john hancock references Europe, i will mention a product from that side of the pond: Donfoss or Danfoss. they do not work on time, but on temperature and they are adjustable. i think they have different versions – ones for the inlet valves and ones that go on the vent tap. we had the ones that went on the vent and i would think they would be the best as they would not trap and condensate in a one pipe system which many of us have here. the work by closing when the temp hits a certain point and by closing the vent, no fresh steam can enter the radiator.

professionals might have some opinions on these Danfoss products that you might want to consider before installing them. i wonder if they cause problems the rest of us would not understand. perhaps the inlet control can trap condensate or something, not sure.

i had bought some of these valves for my own house and never used them. we shifted to a different way of heating – if only one or two of us is in the house, we use a space heate r in that room as opposed to firing the boiler and heating the entire house. i have thought about giving the valves away on here.

JohnHancock | 4 years and 6 months ago

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I’m not sure how these valves would work in a 1 pipe system like what we have here in the US. In Europe everyone has a 2 pipe system enabling any radiator to be controlled separately. Maybe one of our heating experts can chime in (again)