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How to monitor the status of your appliances using current sensors - Monitoring your furnace |
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Written by Squiddy
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Sunday, 26 October 2008 13:32 |
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Page 3 of 4 Please only use this as a guide. I am not an electrician and you should always check with your local regulations regarding making these kinds of modifications to your home. Only follow this guide if you feel comfortable around electricity. 220VAC can definitely hurt you so be careful. When wiring inside your furnace, you need to make sure you are using wire that is rated for the heat. My furnace specified on the door that any replacement wiring must be rated to 105 degrees C.
Materials Required:
* Mamac CT-800 Current Sensing Switche
* Enough single pair (300V or 600V AND 105 degree C rated) wire to go from the furnace to your automation panel
* Butt splices, tie wraps, marrettes
The furnace control board and AC wiring is all under the bottom panel in my furnace.
Note the warning message on the inside of the furnace door.
I initially ran the main hot wire coming in to the furnace, through the CT-800 and tried it but that told me when the furnace fan was running. I only wanted to know when the heat is on so that I could have a runtime counter going that would keep track of how much we use the furnace. To accomplish this, I am monitoring the hot wire running up to the exhaust fan. Testing it, I found that the exhaust fan comes on 5 seconds before the gas comes on and then goes off when the flame goes out.
Furnace just kicked on and contacts are "Closed".
Furnace flame has shut off and fan is running. Contacts are "Open".
While I was working on the furnace, I decided to run three more belden pairs so that I could control it from the Elk. From my touch screen, I can turn the heat on, the fan on, or switch the control back to the regular thermostat on the wall.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 08 April 2009 13:47 |
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