[RELEASE] HVAC Thermostat Automatic Fan Recirculation Scheduling (On/Off/Circulate)

[RBoy (www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)]

Automatic HVAC Fan Circulation and Scheduling

This app automatically turns on / off / circulates the Thermostat/HVAC fan.
This is required for some systems which require constant circulation or just to keep the air around the home flowing on a periodic basis.

Key Features

• Select multiple thermostats
• Setup the fan mode (on or circulate)
• Set the on/circulate duration and off duration of the fan (it will cycle between the modes, i.e. On for ‘X’ minutes and off for ‘Y’ minutes and repeat cycle)
• Option to only circulate when thermostat is idle
• Set an operating schedule (time of days, start/end and days of week, single days, multiple selection or all week)
• Set operating modes for the circulation

Feel free to send in your request for additional features

These apps are available on the RBoy Apps server

Refer to our facebook page http://www.facebook.com/RBoySTApps to get the latest news and updates.

© RBoy Apps

[geko]

FYI, there’s a free alternative developed by @midyear66:

GitHub - midyear66/SmartApp-HVAC-circulate: Activate circulate every X...

It is discussed here:

Thermostat Fan Recirculate

Hello All- I couldn’t find an app out there, but I was wondering if someone might already have or would be able to write one up for me? My problem is that my current thermostat does not have a recirculate mode for the fan. What I’m hoping to do is have a smartapp that can just turn the fan on at certain times of day for a specific amount of time. Let me know if you have any questions or ideas. Thanks! Jeff

[RBoy (www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)]

A little old and works a little differently from this app but nice to know.

[geko]

@RBoy

Nice, wish I had found this sooner would have saved me a ton of effort.

Yep. Doing you homework usually pays off.

[RBoy (www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)]

Updated and fixed for changes in ST platform

[RBoy (www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)]

##hvac Thermostat Automatic Fan Scheduling - Version 1.0.2

• Added fix for error while installing if the hub location/timezone wasn’t specified. Now it’ll warn the user to add the hub location to that it can pick the correct timezone otherwise it’ll default to UTC timezone.

Thanks to DnCCrew for this step:

To set the hub Location, from smartphone app:

1. Clicked on the 3 lines (top right corner)

2. Clicked on gear icon (top right)
3. Click area that says “Tap to set where home is on the map” and zoom in to correct location on map.

[RBoy (www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)]

###HVAC Thermostat Automatic Fan Scheduling - Version 1.0.4

• Fix for a scheduling bug in the ST API when end time is before start time (i.e. next day)

[RBoy (www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)]

###HVAC Thermostat Automatic Fan Scheduling - Version 01.01.00

• Added support for automatic app update notifications

After updating the SmartApp code you will need to open the SmartApp on your phone and click Done for the automatic update notifications to take effect

[RBoy (www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)]

HVAC Thermostat Automatic Fan Scheduling - Version 01.02.00

• Added support for schedules ending past midnight into next day

[RBoy (www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)]

HVAC Thermostat Automatic Fan Scheduling - Version 01.03.00

• Added support for the new ST app

[CMySmart-Thing (Chris Myers)]

It would be great if this auto hvac smart app recognized whether there was a call for heat or cooling and start the timer after that. That is to say, no reason to to run the fan on its schedule if the system just finished running; just start the timer interval after each cycle. In the shoulder months when there’s little heat or cool demand, the fan would run on it’s schedule without issue.

[maddie (Head of Support (rboyapps.com))]

Thank you for your feedback. I’ve created a ticket for this enhancement feature.

[RBoy (www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)]

HVAC Thermostat Automatic Fan Circulation Scheduling - Version 01.04.00

• Added option to only cycle fan when in Idle mode
• Updated icons

[CMySmart-Thing (Chris Myers)]

Thanks for this feature update Maddie! I just published the update and will see how it works. (Great code comments btw)

[CMySmart-Thing (Chris Myers)]

This update seems to have a bug causing the fan to cycle on and off repeatedly.

bcd75139-4f2b-44ea-baec-470eecab0029 2:47:18 PM: trace ThermostatModeReport(reserved01: 0, mode: 3)

4b512dce-d7ab-4e2d-90b3-d875c35a6b50 2:47:18 PM: debug Thermostat operating state is idle, triggering cycling of fans

4b512dce-d7ab-4e2d-90b3-d875c35a6b50 2:47:18 PM: trace Got a change in thermostat operating state, name: thermostatOperatingState, value: idle

4b512dce-d7ab-4e2d-90b3-d875c35a6b50 2:47:18 PM: trace Got a change in thermostat operating state, name: thermostatOperatingState, value: idle

bcd75139-4f2b-44ea-baec-470eecab0029 2:47:17 PM: trace ThermostatOperatingStateReport(operatingState: 0, reserved01: 0)

bcd75139-4f2b-44ea-baec-470eecab0029 2:47:16 PM: trace ThermostatFanModeReport(off: false, reserved01: 0, fanMode: 0)

4b512dce-d7ab-4e2d-90b3-d875c35a6b50 2:47:12 PM: info Thermostat operating state idle, Turning fan to Auto (off) mode for [Z-Wave Battery Thermostat]

4b512dce-d7ab-4e2d-90b3-d875c35a6b50 2:47:12 PM: trace Got a change in thermostat operating state, name: thermostatOperatingState, value: fan only

bcd75139-4f2b-44ea-baec-470eecab0029 2:47:15 PM: debug Setting thermostat fan mode to auto

bcd75139-4f2b-44ea-baec-470eecab0029 2:47:15 PM: trace ThermostatFanModeReport(off: false, reserved01: 0, fanMode: 1)

bcd75139-4f2b-44ea-baec-470eecab0029 2:47:12 PM: trace ThermostatModeReport(reserved01: 0, mode: 3)

4b512dce-d7ab-4e2d-90b3-d875c35a6b50 2:47:12 PM: trace Got a change in thermostat operating state, name: thermostatOperatingState, value: fan only

bcd75139-4f2b-44ea-baec-470eecab0029 2:47:12 PM: trace ThermostatOperatingStateReport(operatingState: 3, reserved01: 0)

bcd75139-4f2b-44ea-baec-470eecab0029 2:47:11 PM: trace ThermostatFanModeReport(off: false, reserved01: 0, fanMode: 1)

4b512dce-d7ab-4e2d-90b3-d875c35a6b50 2:47:05 PM: info Turning fan to On mode for [Z-Wave Battery Thermostat]

[RBoy (www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)]

HVAC Thermostat Automatic Fan Circulation Scheduling - Version 01.04.04

• Fix for Idle mode cycling for some thermostats

[CMySmart-Thing (Chris Myers)]

Not sure why but fan smartapp just won’t work for more than 12-18hrs. Any other suggestions?

[RBoy (www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)]

Some platform servers are having stability issues causing them to losing schedules/timers and other issues. It should fix itself once ST stabilizes it. You may need to open the app and click Save/Done after ST fixes the platform issues to kick start the schedules.

[CMySmart-Thing (Chris Myers)]

I’m still having a lot of consistency issues. Is there any way to fix this with some internal checks or have the smart app run independent of a connection to the ‘platform servers’? There was one smart app I had that controlled the fan and worked very reliably. With this smartapp, it seems to require going to the smartapp every day or two and clicking ‘done’ to reset things.

[maddie (Head of Support (rboyapps.com))]

Hi there. We’ve added a check for dying platform timers; this is not normal and indicates a problem with the server running your app. If the platform misses an entire on/off cycle the app will now try to detect it and kick start the scheduler automatically.
After updating this code you will need to open the and tap Done/Save once for the changes to take effect.

HVAC Thermostat Automatic Fan Circulation Scheduling - Version 01.04.06

• Detect if platform missed a schedule and kick start it automatically