Anything available to control my system?

[kgschlosser]

In my Home I have 3 Rheem Furnaces. These furnaces are modulating with EC blowers and they are communicating (Comfort Control II). When Looking at the various communicating equipment that EWC makes there is no mention of them being able to work with Rheem furnaces. So my first question is since Comfort Control II uses the ClimateTalk protocol are they compatible?.

I have attached the layout of my house so you can see how things are arranged. The ground level is all handled by one furnace. The top level and the 2 bedrooms on the main floor are handled by the second. The remaining rooms on the main level are handled by the 3rd.

Red dotted boxes are registers, anything in pink is a return. All returns are at floor level and the registers on the ground floor are in the ceiling. The rest of the registers are in the floors.

I can get into the duct sizing but I don't think that information is needed. There are a total of 20 registers and 7 returns. All 3 furnaces are located in the utility room on the ground floor. All duct work is accessible. There is no central air conditioning in the traditional sense. Each furnace has 2 ducts connected to the return plenums that are 8" diameter. Those ducts have zone dampers in them and are connected to the outside wall of the house. When the "air conditioning" is turned on the dampers open pulling in air from outside on the shady side of the house.

There are 3 thermostats currently and they are marked on the diagrams. I would like to add thermostats to the bedrooms on the main floor and one in the media room on the ground floor. I want to leave the rest of the thermostats where they are.

I am running into a problem with heating the living and dining areas. This is a challenging spot because the ceilings are vaulted there and there are HUGE windows and sun comes in all day through those windows. The thermostat cannot be located on an outside wall and putting it in the kitchen is not an ideal place either. The only location that would be suitable is the wall where the stairs are. Problem is that spot gets direct sunlight for 90% of the day and this makes the thermostat think it is a lot hotter than it actually is. Right now it is located in the hallway and that also poses a problem because the hallway stays warmer for longer which causes a pretty large temperature swing in the living and dining areas, 5-8 degrees typically. IDK if there is any way to solve that problem.

I live at 8500 foot elevation in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. We have some pretty crazy weather at this elevation. Temps can swing as much as 80°F from day to night. My system is sized to be able to heat the home when it is -20°F outside without the furnaces having to run the entire time. The Home was built in 1969 and while I have updated most areas of the house like adding insulation to the walls I have not gotten to the room yet which is R19. The large windows suck with the cold but heavy insulated drapes help. Best I can get without having to take the outer shell off the house is R15 in the walls and R21 in the roof. I went oversized with the system which is not an issue because of it being variable output.

I had put some thought into this whole thing. If a furnace runs for 10 minutes at 100% output and it does that 3 times an hour that would be 20 minutes of use. My furnaces are rated for 60K BTU input each (98% EF rating). so at each one running for 30 minutes that would be 30K BTU each that is being used. That equates to roughly 30CF of NG used every hour for each furnace. If the furnaces could be set to run at the lowest output level which I want to say is 20K BTU and it never shuts off unless the space is getting to warm but it stays locked at that 20K BTU output the entire time this would save me money because less gas would be used. The house wouldn't have a bounce in temperature at all and it would be less wear and tear on the furnace. The blower would also cost less to run because DC motors get more efficient the slower they spin. Do your zone controllers allow be to do something like this? If the current setting is not able to maintain the temperature the thermostat would dial up the furnace to a higher output. I know that my furnaces are able to be set to any one of 100 steps from 20K BTU to 60K BTU. I would love to have a control system that would do this, IDK if anything exists. This is what is done in commercial buildings and why it is not done in homes is beyond me. It is a way more efficient way to heat. It falls in line with the old adage of it is easier to keep a sharp knife sharp than it is to sharpen a dull knife. It is easier to maintain a temperature than it is to heat a space from a lower temperature.

[Steven W.]

Please give me a call on this problem. Its just to much to type up.
730-446-3110 x461