Help building a energy saver

[Sprites]

Hi, I have a heating device that doesn't have an energy saver, so I had an idea of building an external energy saver for the device. My idea for making this work is to create a device that acts as a middle man between the heating device and the electrical outlet, and opens and closes the circuit based on a thermometer setting. So in basic, when the room has reached the desired temperature the energy saving device will close the circuit turning the heating device off, and when the temperature in the room drops -2 or 3 degrees below the desired temperature the device will open the circuit turning the heating device on.

Any help in getting a project like this started would be appreciated.

 

[gary350]

Thermostat already does that. Get a variac you can limit the power to the heater. The thermostate makes the temperature fluxuate up/down several degrees by lowering the power of the heater it will takes a lot longer for it to reach the off temperature so instead of having 100 on/off cycles per day you reduce it to 20 on/off cycles per day. Your over all power average drops.

If your looking for good energy saving you need R30 insulation in the ceiling and R20 in the walls. Most houses have no insulation in the floors because of moisture under the house it would cause a major mold problem unless you have a moisture barrior. Double glass in all windows. Aluminum windows are a heat/cold transfer device get rid of them. Wood windows are the best insulation. Make sure windows and doors have good seals air leaks can cause you a very high heat lose in the winter. If you don't have good seals on the windows fill all the cracks with toilet paper or paper towels.

I use to live in a house with low insulation, single pain glass and lots of air leaks. Heat ran all the time when it finally turned off it was back on again in 3 minutes. First thing I did was stuff all the cracks with paper right away I notice heat ran less. No good way to change single glass to double real fast so one by one I removed each piece of glass from each window had identical piece of glass cut for $5 then I glued the 2 pieces together with epoxy with a 3/8x3/8 wood piece along all 4 edges as a spacer between the 2 pieces of glass. I put the glass in the window and heat lose saved was about 46% just by putting in double glass. That was 40 years ago now days you can buy double glass wood windows. I put in R50 insulation in the attic, double glass, sealed the cracks, heat bills dropped about 70%.

 

[Sprites]

Thank you gary350, I just need you to make me a little clearer on what you mean when you say "thermostat already does that". Are you referring to the variac? And if so what exactly is a variac?

 

[gary350]

Thermostate already does this.........when the room has reached the desired temperature the energy saving device will close the circuit turning the heating device off, and when the temperature in the room drops -2 or 3 degrees below the desired temperature the device will open the circuit turning the heating device on.

Variac is an AC transformer it lowers the voltage. Do an ebay search for Varic there are 100s of them for sale different amp and voltage ratings.

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[4pyros]

Hi, I have a heating device that doesn't have an energy saver, so I had an idea of building an external energy saver for the device. My idea for making this work is to create a device that acts as a middle man between the heating device and the electrical outlet, and opens and closes the circuit based on a thermometer setting. So in basic, when the room has reached the desired temperature the energy saving device will close the circuit turning the heating device off, and when the temperature in the room drops -2 or 3 degrees below the desired temperature the device will open the circuit turning the heating device on.

Any help in getting a project like this started would be appreciated.

You are describing a thermostat. Not an "energy saver"

 

[ronv]

Something like this?

Thermostat, Line Volt - Line Voltage Thermostats - HVACR and Appliance Controls - HVACR : Grainger Industrial Supply

 

[audioguru]

The only way to save energy is to turn off the heating and leave it turned off.

A thermostat turns the heating on and off and on and off so that the temperature is fairly constant. I don't think anybody has heating that gets hotter and hotter and hotter and hotter until you can't stand so much heat except a fire.