It’s an automation template to control your heating/cooling. It has every feature you can think of to create a really smart climate control
I need to look into this again. I had it installed at the beginning of the winter and found it wonky. Heating during peak hours and not doing a thing when we pay .02$/kWh
In Ontario! The new optional Ultra-Low Overnight price plan provides:
Ultra-low overnight rate of 2.4 cents per kWh: everyday 11 p.m.-7 a.m.
Mid-peak rates of 10.2 cents per kWh: weekdays 7 a.m.-4 p.m. and 9 p.m.-11 p.m.
On-peak rates of 24.0 cents per kWh: weekdays 4 p.m.-9 p.m.
Weekend off-peak rates of 7.4 cents per kWh: weekends and statutory holidays 7 a.m.-11 p.m.
I definitely take advantage. I have solar panels that generate a moderate amount of energy, heat pump, and electric (heat pump) furnace and hot water tank plus two electric cars. Home Assistant has been such a dream to maximize the low energy and self-generated energy.
I have debated adding some batteries, but the amount of energy we use, especially at -30 c, it’s cost prohibitive.
As a point of view, you don’t need (and probably shouldn’t buy) a battery that satisfies your peak usage. That would be a waste and would be over buying. Instead, a smaller battery that meets your energy needs on 80% of days is probably a better investment. However, only charging your cars at night probably saves a good part of your energy costs. If you’re interested, here is a YouTube channel that talks about energy usage with solar panels, heat pump, EV, and batteries.
I’ve been wondering about thermal storage for heat pumps but we don’t have time of use metering yet. I see a few options online but contractors aren’t familiar and it’s not even clear whether they are really available
My parents house when I was a kid had resistive heat, but they added thermal storage when our utility started doing time of use and it made a huge difference in the bills. However I don’t know the overall payback period
Whoooooa awesome! I just started adding a ton of independent scripts for a new ZigBee thermostat and it was getting messy fast.
Can’t wait to tinker with this next weekend!
Update. After installing and basic setup, I woke up to a toasty house and the heater running practically alllll night.
PG&E is going to ream me with a hot poker this month. Oopsie!
Note to others: set reminders to do periodic testing. Don’t just go to sleep like me. Haha!
Hmm I might need this. Will look into.
I use this extensively.
I whish you could control many thermostats with many external termometers… But I need to run many copies of this automation, one for each room of my house!
Works very well.
Very nice! I’ll have to take a look at this.
So far, I’ve only done some things with variable heating targets, boosting if one room falls behind, and minor adjustments on presence detection.