I was recently told by a well known maker of whole house fans that using Z-Wave wall Switches would void the warranty of their products. The product in question is this.
In the description it says the following.
Hardwired for power and control (control not included), recommended controls are the TTi-HVRC remote kit or an SPST wall switch or a non-digital spring wound mechanical timer, all other controls will void the product warranty
Any thoughts on why?
Because they want to sell TTi-HVRC remote kits?
Honestly, other than this public conversation we’re having there’s no way they can prove you connected it to one if something goes wrong. So if something does, just disconnect it and don’t mention it. I mean at that point they shouldn’t support breakers in your panel that don’t have their brand on in.
They are covering them selves against people connecting this to a dimmer, or another type of solid state load controller.
Every zwave lighting module that I’ve run across that is not a dimmer has an internal relay to control the load.
An internal relay exactly duplicates the electrical function provided by an spst wall switch.
So you will be fine using any zwave module which contains a relay to drive a load and can handle the current required by the fans.
You can’t miss a relay within a device, they make a clicking noise when turning on and off.
Another whole house fan option, which provides more flexible mounting options:
http://shop.quietcoolfan.com/
I have one of these and am very happy with it, it’s very quiet.
Most HA switches (including ZWave) are not designed for high current motor loads. Use the switch to apply input to a high current relay and you will be golden.
What is the current rating on this circuit? Most ZWave switches are rated only 15 amps, but can control only a small fraction of that with an inductive load.
+1 that manufacturer is anticipating that some half-smart owners will put the whole-house fans on resistive dimmers, or Zwave dimmers, and start a whole-house fire.