Can anyone help with pointers for automatable garage heaters? So far my searches aren’t finding anything. My requirements are:
- remotely preheat when I want to work out
- alert if it’s left on, or automatically turn off
I’m in the US, looking for 240v maybe 5,000w electric heater. The basic item is cheap and readily available at home centers or online. I even see variations with Bluetooth remote and/or controlled by app.
I’m looking for something locally automatable. Matter/Thread would be ideal but I’m fine with Zigbee or z-wave. But I’m not finding anything like that, and getting stuck on some vendors portal is not ok. Any leads?
Or something that can use an external thermostat - I actually have an extra Ecobee - that can be locally automatable. Any leads? Any search tips that might find such a thing?
I briefly thought of automating an outlet, however even if smart outlets are available for those loads, that wouldn’t work because all these heaters have a safety feature to run the fan until the unit is cool
Yeah, your last point might be an issue for this. But if you manage to find a heater that works as a simple on/off, this z-wave high power relay might suit your needs: https://www.thesmartesthouse.com/products/zooz-z-wave-long-range-high-power-relay-zen78-800lr
I would be very careful with automating a heater in your garage, as they’re obviously a fire risk, especially when unattended. I would make sure whatever automation you land on has safeties based on if you’re home, if a smoke alarm goes off, or if connection to your controller is lost (this one would be more difficult to automate, but is probably doable with an esp32 or similar).
It you’re using a relay to turn it on and off then just put like a 90F furnace high limit switch on the air inlet side of the heater and run the control signal for the relay through that high limit switch. That way if the air going into the space heater gets too hot from the room getting too hot or the area around the heater gets too hot from the fan failing, it’ll shut off. Also furnace safeties are cheap, easy to find, and already designed to fail open circuit for safety.
And built into the heaters already.
Clearly people here have never tried to maintain these things - the safety in them today is annoyingly extensive. They fail for the most trivial things (which really is for the best, just a nuisance from a maintenance perspective).
To be fair, I don’t think I’ve ever actually bought a space heater. I just get them from places and they’re always from the early 2000s at best. The ones I’ve worked on usually only have a fuse in them as far as safety features go. I’m glad new ones are more safe though because they used to be deathtraps.
For sure on the safety, and this is one of the reasons I’m going for something intended for purpose, rather than portable space heaters. The other reason is power. Basically I want to ensure the heater is Always off unless I want to work out, but that also means sufficient power to heat the garage quickly in the coldest months
Something mounted on wall or ceiling is a critical safety feature, so it can’t get knocked over nor anything fall on it. There will never be anything flammable in my garage: it’s too small for cars and I converted to battery lawn equipment
I even see heaters with automatic 2 hr shutoff, but not automatable. That’s probably my backup plan
Realistically my priority goal is alerting and shutoff: remote pre-heat would be a bonus
Just as a backup you might consider putting some atandalone zigbee/z wave temp sensor in the garage just as a double check that the heater is operating as it should
For sure, and it’ll be a nice addition to my house data. I like seeing data even when I have no practical use and already graph 5 different temperature sensors!