This Beta is for the Whole House Fan feature of my SmartApp, Climate Control Guru.
Whole House Fan Feature Overview
Whole house fans and window/skylights are toggled, taking advantage of daily temperature swings to save energy. It makes use of an inside temperature sensor along with current and forecast conditions from Weather Underground to accurately predict and fully automate when and how much to ventilate.
This feature of Climate Control Guru improves upon the SmartThings app, Whole House Fan, in the following ways:
Highlights
- Needs no outside temperature sensor. Temperature is obtained from Weather Underground.
- Provides maximized savings 24/7/365 without any seasonal adjustments.
- Heats as well as cools.
- Automatically prevents overcooling or overheating.
- Automatically opens windows (can also work with manual windows).
- Will turn off thermostat while venting.
- Will shut off fans if smoke is detected.
- A learning algorithm allows the app to better regulate inside temperatures over time.
- Optionally incorporates humidity into calculations allowing it to be used in humid climates.
- Can open window coverings for ventilation without interfering with normal window covering operation.
Required Devices
- Whole House Fan
- Inside Temperature Sensor
Optional Devices
- Windows
- Window Covering
- Contact Sensor
- Humidity Sensor
- Smoke Detector
- Thermostat
Installation
To run this app you must cut and paste it into the SmartThings IDE as a new project and then publish it to your SmartThings hub from there. The code can be downloaded from here, https://github.com/lawsonautomation/Climate-Control-Guru. Learn more at https://LawsonAutomation.com.
Screenshots
Night Venting and Day Venting Shown Graphically
#Baseline, No Heating or Cooling
This graph shows a time when no heating or cool of any kind was applied. All systems were off.
Note the even sine wave of the inside temperature and that the daily range falls between 69 and 74 degrees F. Inside average and outside average are roughly the same.
#Cooling with a Whole House Fan
This graph shows cooling using only night venting. No AC was used.
Note the rapid drop in slop of the inside temperature line as cool outside air is introduced. Even though outside average temperatures hover around 80 degrees F, the inside average remains around 74 Degrees F, roughly 5 degrees lower.
#Heating with a Whole House Fan
This graphic shows heating using only ventilation. No heater was used.
Note the steep incline of the inside temperature when warm outside air is introduced. Average inside temperature was maintained around 5 degrees F above outside average.