SmartThings running 24v Evaporative Humidifier with Smart Plug and Ecobee3?

SmartApps & Automations
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I am a new SmartThings (V2) user setting things up mainly for security/surveillance, but very excited about its potential all over the house.

I have been using an ecobee3 thermostat to control my furnace/ac and have a Honeywell evaporate humidifier installed in my duct by my furnace 3 flights upstairs. I had intended to hardwire the humidifier and run one of its wires through the walls of the house to the ecobee to control the solenoid valve on the humidifier (24v ac).

However, I’d prefer not to run a wire 3 stories through our townhouse walls if ST can provide a solution. What I hope is to connect the humidifier upstairs to a plugin transformer connected to a smart outlet and automate it based on the humidity sensors of the ecobee3 if the fan on the furnace is running (required for evaporative humidifiers).

Can ST retrieve/use the fan status and/or humidity sensor from the ecobee3? I would be willing to install a zigbee humidity sensor, but the fan status is necessary for this to work I would think.

Any ideas on how to automate this? I am new to SmartThings, but excited to learn.

Thanks for any input.

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Hi @pmgauthier,

I don’t use an Ecobee thermo, but if the device handler you’re using has the right attributes set up for fan modes, then you may be able do what you want using a SmartApp like CoRE, or you can create a smartapp for yourself.

How did you set up your Ecobee in SmartThings? If I know what device handler you’re using I can dig into this a little more for you.

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Hi @johnconstantelo,

I haven’t actually set-up the ecobee3 in SmartThings yet (Just doing some learning before I receive the Hub in the mail), but one handler I found looking around was this one: https://github.com/StrykerSKS/SmartThingsPublic/blob/master/devicetypes/smartthings/ecobee-thermostat.src/ecobee-thermostat.groovy

A portion says:

"standardTile(“fanMode”, “device.thermostatFanMode”, inactiveLabel: false, decoration: “flat”) {
state “auto”, action:“switchFanMode”, nextState: “updating”, icon: “st.thermostat.fan-auto”
state “on”, action:“switchFanMode”, nextState: “updating”, icon: “st.thermostat.fan-on”
state “updating”, label:“Working”, icon: “st.secondary.secondary”

Does this mean I can detect the fan mode in the Hub? I also see a standardTile for Humidity.

I will definitely be looking into CoRE or learning how to build smartapps. Thanks for helping me out.

1 Like
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Hi @pmgauthier, glad to help in any way.

Yep, that device handler should work with CoRE.

I was experimenting with CoRE a little while ago after I saw this post. It has the capability to use fan states, so you should be fine. You’d set up a “Piston” in CoRE to monitor the humidity %, and when it drops to a certain level, turn on the humidifier only if fan mode is on.

As a test I set up a Piston based on a humidity sensor I have in my bathroom that turns on an exhaust fan, and my thermo’s fan only if it’s already off. I won’t know if it works for sure until someone takes a shower in the morning to bring up the humidity level in the room, but it should work fine.

It’s almost just that simple, but I think you’ll get the hang of CoRE when you start using it.

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That’s great to hear @johnconstantelo! Thanks again for the advice. I look forward to tinkering when the hub arrives.

1 Like