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HomeKit thermostats and electric heat

boston04and07

boston04and07

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 13, 2008
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Hi everyone - I'm hoping someone here would be able to answer a question about HomeKit thermostats that I can't seem to find an answer to. I recently started Homekitting up my house with the addition of iDevices switches and Philips Hue bulbs and absolutely love how it's going. It's kind of addictive, adding new accessories to the setup and having them all work with my automations, haha. So naturally, trying to get my thermostats to work with HomeKit would come next. However, this is where I'm running into some questions...

The heating system in my house is entirely electrical, with at least one baseboard heater in each room. The house was built in the early 80s (located in New England in the northern US if that affects anything) and the thermostats we currently have are a mix of very old school turn-dial ones and somewhat old school ones that display the temperature digitally and can be programmed (but we never use that feature currently because the means of programming is kind of annoying, haha). All of the heaters are fairly small baseboard units, usually no more than three or four feet across. In researching HomeKit thermostats, however, I've found conflicting answers as to whether you can even use the main brands at all with electric baseboard heat. Ecobee, for example, says to open up an existing thermostat to check the voltage or for any high voltage warnings, but the ones I have seemingly can't be opened without completely taking them apart and have no obvious high voltage warnings on them that I can find.

So I guess my question is, has anyone here successfully used any homekit thermostats with electric heating systems? If so, how did you know that your system was compatible? I'd love to hear any thoughts any of you guys have on this as clearly, I have no idea what I'm doing...:rolleyes:
 
Okay, so scratch most of the above - I found one random outlier thermostat in the house that allowed me to easily take off the front plate. On the inside I did find the high voltage warnings and a warning that it was a 120v thermostat, so I guess most of the name brand smart thermostats aren't compatible with my system. Bummer! I wish a high voltage smart thermostat were on the market, I'd totally scoop a bunch up.

Anyway, in the meantime I did find this high voltage thermostat that's compatible with Z-Wave. Now I'm thinking I could possibly get some of those (as they're more affordable than the other low-voltage ones I was looking at anyway), and try to connect them via HomeBridge, or maybe that Mixtile hub that was announced at CES this week. Or just wait for someone to release a high voltage smart thermostat, but who knows when that will be...
 
boston04and07 said:
Okay, so scratch most of the above - I found one random outlier thermostat in the house that allowed me to easily take off the front plate. On the inside I did find the high voltage warnings and a warning that it was a 120v thermostat, so I guess most of the name brand smart thermostats aren't compatible with my system. Bummer! I wish a high voltage smart thermostat were on the market, I'd totally scoop a bunch up.

Anyway, in the meantime I did find this high voltage thermostat that's compatible with Z-Wave. Now I'm thinking I could possibly get some of those (as they're more affordable than the other low-voltage ones I was looking at anyway), and try to connect them via HomeBridge, or maybe that Mixtile hub that was announced at CES this week. Or just wait for someone to release a high voltage smart thermostat, but who knows when that will be...
Click to expand...
Yeah, you may be out of luck for the time being.
 
xraydoc said:
Yeah, you may be out of luck for the time being.
Click to expand...

After doing some more research on this I'm afraid you might be right. :( I hope someone comes out with a thermostat to fill this gap at some point...it might be more of a niche market, but electric heat is semi common in my area so I bet people would buy it. I know I would!
 
If you have a 120v thermostats and no smart stats are 120v compatible then the solution is simple. You need to use a step down transformer to bring it down to 24vac.

The leg that is switched in the stat is either the hot or common. You need to follow this wire back to where it goes. If each room has separate stats then it most likely travels through the wall down to the heater. Under the heater cover there will be both the hot/common wires to enable the heat.

What needs to happen at this location is two things to get this to work with all standard 24vac thermostats.

1. Buy a 120VAC/24VAC step down transformer. Look at the nameplate data on the baseboard heat(should be on the inside cover somewhere) to find out what the current(amp) draw is at 120v. Then buy a relay that is rated for over this amount. If the baseboard heater is rated at 8 amps then buy a 10 amp relay. Chances are it's not going to be over 15 amps as that's the standard circuit breaker size.

Anyway...the transformer is about $20 and the relay and socket is about $12. That's all you need to get it done. If you decide to do it and need more info on exactly what to do or buy let me know. I have an associates in HVAC, Bachelors in IT Management and do Building Automation for a living. I deal with these types of things all the time while programming for all types of hvac, industrial, security, and anything g else that can be controlled.

I'm in the New England as well(southern nh) if anyone ever needed help.
 
boston04and07 said:
Hi everyone - I'm hoping someone here would be able to answer a question about HomeKit thermostats that I can't seem to find an answer to. I recently started Homekitting up my house with the addition of iDevices switches and Philips Hue bulbs and absolutely love how it's going. It's kind of addictive, adding new accessories to the setup and having them all work with my automations, haha. So naturally, trying to get my thermostats to work with HomeKit would come next. However, this is where I'm running into some questions...

The heating system in my house is entirely electrical, with at least one baseboard heater in each room. The house was built in the early 80s (located in New England in the northern US if that affects anything) and the thermostats we currently have are a mix of very old school turn-dial ones and somewhat old school ones that display the temperature digitally and can be programmed (but we never use that feature currently because the means of programming is kind of annoying, haha). All of the heaters are fairly small baseboard units, usually no more than three or four feet across. In researching HomeKit thermostats, however, I've found conflicting answers as to whether you can even use the main brands at all with electric baseboard heat. Ecobee, for example, says to open up an existing thermostat to check the voltage or for any high voltage warnings, but the ones I have seemingly can't be opened without completely taking them apart and have no obvious high voltage warnings on them that I can find.

So I guess my question is, has anyone here successfully used any homekit thermostats with electric heating systems? If so, how did you know that your system was compatible? I'd love to hear any thoughts any of you guys have on this as clearly, I have no idea what I'm doing...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


Looks like we may be in luck. Mysa has announced its smart thermostat for electric heat that is HomeKit compatible. Unfortunately, it’s not yet released, but listed as “release soon”, and one can pre-order. Here’s the website: https://getmysa.com/?utm_source=adw...MI0IOmzbTp2AIVxLrACh33Bg0sEAAYASAAEgIdvPD_BwE
 
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123Bud! said:
Looks like we may be in luck. Mysa has announced its smart thermostat for electric heat that is HomeKit compatible. Unfortunately, it’s not yet released, but listed as “release soon”, and one can pre-order. Here’s the website: https://getmysa.com/?utm_source=adw...MI0IOmzbTp2AIVxLrACh33Bg0sEAAYASAAEgIdvPD_BwE
Click to expand...

Thanks @123Bud! I actually found this company a few weeks ago and preordered one of their units. I’ve been getting email updates every week and they seem pretty legit. I’ve also been emailing them directly and it’s never taken them more than a couple hours to respond, which is a good sign. They say I should get mine in early March. Once I get it and have it installed, I’ll report back here with what I think of it.

I hope it works well. I’ve preordered just one, but if it does work I’ll likely replace most of the thermostats in my house with this. It’s crazy that it’s taken so long for a company to make a thermostat compatible with baseboard heat, but I’m glad someone is finally doing it.
 
boston04and07 said:
Thanks @123Bud! I actually found this company a few weeks ago and preordered one of their units. I’ve been getting email updates every week and they seem pretty legit. I’ve also been emailing them directly and it’s never taken them more than a couple hours to respond, which is a good sign. They say I should get mine in early March. Once I get it and have it installed, I’ll report back here with what I think of it.

I hope it works well. I’ve preordered just one, but if it does work I’ll likely replace most of the thermostats in my house with this. It’s crazy that it’s taken so long for a company to make a thermostat compatible with baseboard heat, but I’m glad someone is finally doing it.
Click to expand...

It appears you’ll need a neutral to operate that thermostat (because it needs power).

Electric base board throughout the house is very rare in the area I live anymore what I do see rarely has a neutral at the stat.

However if you do and that is “as advertised” that should be perfect.
 
cynics said:
It appears you’ll need a neutral to operate that thermostat (because it needs power).

Electric base board throughout the house is very rare in the area I live anymore what I do see rarely has a neutral at the stat.

However if you do and that is “as advertised” that should be perfect.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve changed any thermostats but I’m almost certain we do. The thermostats we have in several rooms right now are programmable (ie not simple dials or anything) albeit not smart.

In my area (eastern New England) electric baseboard heaters are somewhat common in houses that were built in the era mine was built in, the early 80s. Those aren’t necessarily the most common houses around, but it’s not unheard of. I love it. Better for my allergies and I never have to worry about running out of oil or anything.
 
boston04and07 said:
Thanks @123Bud! I actually found this company a few weeks ago and preordered one of their units. I’ve been getting email updates every week and they seem pretty legit. I’ve also been emailing them directly and it’s never taken them more than a couple hours to respond, which is a good sign. They say I should get mine in early March. Once I get it and have it installed, I’ll report back here with what I think of it.

I hope it works well. I’ve preordered just one, but if it does work I’ll likely replace most of the thermostats in my house with this. It’s crazy that it’s taken so long for a company to make a thermostat compatible with baseboard heat, but I’m glad someone is finally doing it.
Click to expand...

That's great news. I'll be preordering one as well. Looking forward to seeing how it works -- we can compare notes. Thanks and good luck to us both!
 
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123Bud! said:
That's great news. I'll be preordering one as well. Looking forward to seeing how it works -- we can compare notes. Thanks and good luck to us both!
Click to expand...

Amen to that! Looking forward to seeing how it works for you too. Fingers crossed! Thermostats are really the last piece of the puzzle for my house...
 
boston04and07 said:
Hi everyone - I'm hoping someone here would be able to answer a question about HomeKit thermostats that I can't seem to find an answer to. I recently started Homekitting up my house with the addition of iDevices switches and Philips Hue bulbs and absolutely love how it's going. It's kind of addictive, adding new accessories to the setup and having them all work with my automations, haha. So naturally, trying to get my thermostats to work with HomeKit would come next. However, this is where I'm running into some questions...

The heating system in my house is entirely electrical, with at least one baseboard heater in each room. The house was built in the early 80s (located in New England in the northern US if that affects anything) and the thermostats we currently have are a mix of very old school turn-dial ones and somewhat old school ones that display the temperature digitally and can be programmed (but we never use that feature currently because the means of programming is kind of annoying, haha). All of the heaters are fairly small baseboard units, usually no more than three or four feet across. In researching HomeKit thermostats, however, I've found conflicting answers as to whether you can even use the main brands at all with electric baseboard heat. Ecobee, for example, says to open up an existing thermostat to check the voltage or for any high voltage warnings, but the ones I have seemingly can't be opened without completely taking them apart and have no obvious high voltage warnings on them that I can find.

So I guess my question is, has anyone here successfully used any homekit thermostats with electric heating systems? If so, how did you know that your system was compatible? I'd love to hear any thoughts any of you guys have on this as clearly, I have no idea what I'm doing...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
[doublepost=1516723856][/doublepost]Try https://www.sinopetech.com/en/. They have a great web based solution for controlling your electric baseboard heat.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
boston04and07 said:
Hi everyone - I'm hoping someone here would be able to answer a question about HomeKit thermostats that I can't seem to find an answer to. I recently started Homekitting up my house with the addition of iDevices switches and Philips Hue bulbs and absolutely love how it's going. It's kind of addictive, adding new accessories to the setup and having them all work with my automations, haha. So naturally, trying to get my thermostats to work with HomeKit would come next. However, this is where I'm running into some questions...

The heating system in my house is entirely electrical, with at least one baseboard heater in each room. The house was built in the early 80s (located in New England in the northern US if that affects anything) and the thermostats we currently have are a mix of very old school turn-dial ones and somewhat old school ones that display the temperature digitally and can be programmed (but we never use that feature currently because the means of programming is kind of annoying, haha). All of the heaters are fairly small baseboard units, usually no more than three or four feet across. In researching HomeKit thermostats, however, I've found conflicting answers as to whether you can even use the main brands at all with electric baseboard heat. Ecobee, for example, says to open up an existing thermostat to check the voltage or for any high voltage warnings, but the ones I have seemingly can't be opened without completely taking them apart and have no obvious high voltage warnings on them that I can find.

So I guess my question is, has anyone here successfully used any homekit thermostats with electric heating systems? If so, how did you know that your system was compatible? I'd love to hear any thoughts any of you guys have on this as clearly, I have no idea what I'm doing...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...




I have an electric heating system in my home. My whole house is electric. I have the ecobee 3 and I was able to get it all working no problem with my homit kit
 
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