[UnorthodoxCreat]

Below is a drawing of my setup to the best of my abilities. I have a gas fired boiler for hot water baseboard on the first floor of my rancher and the finished portion of my basement. As the setup is now, the first floor thermostat is tied directly into the boiler and works fine. The basement thermostat only activates the circulator for the basement, it doesn't turn the furnace on. How can I change my setup so the basement thermostat also turns on the boiler like upstairs does? Right now I don't really get heat on the basement circuit unless upstairs has gotten cold for some reason and causes the boiler to run for awhile. Once upstairs gets up to temperature, the basement will stop heating. If it makes any difference, there is a slight chance I would like to add a 3rd zone in the future. We have a nice sunroom on the back of the house that has no heat and I've considered adding it in the future. The way the basement is setup, it would be very easy to run the piping for. I can provide additional pictures of any parts of the setup you might want to see.

 

[surferdude2]

It requires a zone control at the boiler that is designed for multiple zones. From the picture, it looks like you just have a basic hook-up with a relay controlling the boiler as opposed to a multi-zone controller.

Installing another relay and thermostat would make the system a bit of a kludge and I wouldn't recommend that. It's something I would probably do to my own but not recommend to others.

To do it right, you will have to get the installation upgraded by someone in the trade unless you are familiar with this kind of work. There is no quick and easy way to get what you want now other than going upstairs and turning that system on so you can tag along with it.

 

[beenthere]

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Taco-SR...ping&msclkid=9b9889d9913f13ec3558d7c875703774

with something like above link.

You would connect all circulators to it. And then wire its end switch to the TT terminals of your boiler/where the current first floor thermostat is wired to.

 

[Chris616]

Here’s another approach that might provide an acceptable solution at lower cost and less effort. I’ve been experimenting with a similar arrangement in my house to address a different issue.

If the required circulator run time for the basement zone is similar to the upstairs zone, you could rewire the basement circulator to run at the same time as the upstairs circulator. Essentially then, the upstairs thermostat is controlling the heating for the basement and the basement thermostat is unused. This won’t provide the same level of control over the basement temperature, but you may be able to effect some cruder control by modifying basement circulator speed (if possible) or disabling some of the baseboard heaters.

Chris

 

[beenthere]

Here’s another approach that might provide an acceptable solution at lower cost and less effort. I’ve been experimenting with a similar arrangement in my house to address a different issue.

If the required circulator run time for the basement zone is similar to the upstairs zone, you could rewire the basement circulator to run at the same time as the upstairs circulator. Essentially then, the upstairs thermostat is controlling the heating for the basement and the basement thermostat is unused. This won’t provide the same level of control over the basement temperature, but you may be able to effect some cruder control by modifying basement circulator speed (if possible) or disabling some of the baseboard heaters.

Chris

Basement and above grade levels always have different heating needs. And often the above levels won't need heat often enough when it's 50°F or above outside, leaving the basement very cool, and damp.


Plus, that method doesn't address when the OP puts heat in the sun room.

 

[Chris616]

Basement and above grade levels always have different heating needs.

That depends on the climate and the basement configuration. The basement living space in our house is comfortably controlled by the thermostat on another floor.

The OP might consider it a worthwhile experiment, since the rewiring would be relatively simple and cost next to nothing. It might be an acceptable solution until, as you mention, he wants to include a third zone.

Chris

 

[beenthere]

That depends on the climate and the basement configuration. The basement living space in our house is comfortably controlled by the thermostat on another floor.

The OP might consider it a worthwhile experiment, since the rewiring would be relatively simple and cost next to nothing. It might be an acceptable solution until, as you mention, he wants to include a third zone.

Chris

If that would work in his place. Then he wouldn't have posted here, as his basement would be warm. Since his basement thermostat keeps the circ running as long as the basement is cool. His basement would have warmed up during the first floor heat call.

 

[Chris616]

Yes, I see your point. If the basement thermostat is set at constant temperature (as opposed to someone boosting it up only when they want to use the basement finished room) then the downstairs circulator would continue to run until its thermostat was satisfied and would circulate hot water every time that the upstairs thermostat fires the boiler. So in that scenario the basement pump is already running every time that the upstairs pump runs (plus a lot more). If the room doesn’t get to the thermostat set point, then the basement thermostat needs to be able to fire the boiler more often on its own.

Chris