Connect a home thermostat to a small electric heater?

[Jono]

Sorry for the cross post, I think this may be the correct group to post
this. Would it be possible to connect a home thermostat to a small
portable electric heater? I am trying to control the temp in another
project inside an insulated box, and was trying to get more precise temp
control than the built in thermostat on the heater.

 

[Al]

In article <MCywf.295$be7.94@fe04.lga>, Jono <jono@dont-spam-me.com>
wrote:

Sorry for the cross post, I think this may be the correct group to post
this. Would it be possible to connect a home thermostat to a small
portable electric heater? I am trying to control the temp in another
project inside an insulated box, and was trying to get more precise temp
control than the built in thermostat on the heater.

Sure, with the proper relay, no sweat. I did it with a window mounted
A/C. The A/C on-board thermostat sucked, so I got a cheap house unit,
built a relay box, and voila, great A/C control. I has set it to cool.
With the heater, set it to heat. Mount the thermostat within the
insulated box.

Al

 

[Jono]

What kind of relay would I need? Sorry but I know only very very basic
electronics.

Sure, with the proper relay, no sweat. I did it with a window mounted
A/C. The A/C on-board thermostat sucked, so I got a cheap house unit,
built a relay box, and voila, great A/C control. I has set it to cool.
With the heater, set it to heat. Mount the thermostat within the
insulated box.

Al

 

[Al]

In article <61Bwf.470$VG5.389@fe05.lga>, Jono <jono@dont-spam-me.com>
wrote:

What kind of relay would I need? Sorry but I know only very very basic
electronics.


Sure, with the proper relay, no sweat. I did it with a window mounted
A/C. The A/C on-board thermostat sucked, so I got a cheap house unit,
built a relay box, and voila, great A/C control. I has set it to cool.
With the heater, set it to heat. Mount the thermostat within the
insulated box.

Al

OK. This may be too much of a project for you then.

I had disassembled an old oil burner controller. I used the relay and
the transformer from it to build a circuit that the home thermostat
could operate. I built it into a project box and inclueded safety
features such as a circuit breaker and properly crimped connections. The
24V relay-tranformer-thermostat circuit controlled the high current
requirements of the A/C. Peak current at start up was about 10Amps and
running current was about 4.5Amps. Since you are controlling a heater,
you may need a beefier relay than you can get from an old oil burner
controller.

Al

 

[JoeSP]

"Jono" <jono@dont-spam-me.com> wrote in message
news:MCywf.295$be7.94@fe04.lga...

Sorry for the cross post, I think this may be the correct group to post
this. Would it be possible to connect a home thermostat to a small
portable electric heater? I am trying to control the temp in another
project inside an insulated box, and was trying to get more precise temp
control than the built in thermostat on the heater.

Very simple. I did it in about 10 minutes with an electric baseboard heater
thermostat, a plastic switchbox and an extension cord. No relay required.
I snipped off the female end of the extension cord, wired the black and
white directly to the thermostat. At the other end, I wired a make plug,
and a short cord coming out of the plug to a female plug. The thermostat,
which is rated for 20 amps, simply breaks the black wire circuit, switching
on and off whatever is plugged into it.

 

[JoeSP]

"JoeSP" <olegp@telus.net> wrote in message
news:am%wf.76156$OU5.9434@clgrps13...

"Jono" <jono@dont-spam-me.com> wrote in message
news:MCywf.295$be7.94@fe04.lga...
Sorry for the cross post, I think this may be the correct group to post
this. Would it be possible to connect a home thermostat to a small
portable electric heater? I am trying to control the temp in another
project inside an insulated box, and was trying to get more precise temp
control than the built in thermostat on the heater.


Very simple. I did it in about 10 minutes with an electric baseboard
heater thermostat, a plastic switchbox and an extension cord. No relay
required. I snipped off the female end of the extension cord, wired the
black and white directly to the thermostat. At the other end, I wired a
male plug, and a short cord coming out of it to a female plug. The
thermostat, which is rated for 20 amps, simply breaks the black wire
circuit, switching on and off whatever is plugged into it.