Putting thermostats on my electric oil radiators

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Nashville Kat

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2009
1,501
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Jacksonville, Florida
I've used these 110 oil filled radiators for a lot of heating the last 10 years or so- the only thing I really didn't like when it got really cold in Indiana was that I was always fidgeting with them on and off and three levels of juice 500, 900, 1500 watts, and there I was burning propane in the winter.

Here in Jacksonville the house I moved into last spring has no heating system, but I think that five of these will keep the whole house warm- it gets down to the low 30's a couple of months in the winter at most.

The 110 radiators have enclosed elements and so are very safe- I try to run them into their own dedicated circuit when I can and then those are the ones I may crank- I usually have them on low- almost never turn up to 1500.

And they have a crude temperature control- but not calibrated. When I was flooded out of Indiana, several came through working again except for the temp cut-off- so I started figuring ways to plug them into thermstat outlets and such. I bought one a few months ago- programmable and expensive at 35 or more and it sits on the outlet. It works well, but hard to see and set .

But I also had some baseboard line thermostats after the flood I had wired in for 240v. I wondered if they'd work for 100 and sure enough thet say 110/ 240 right on them- so I've attached them to cords, and they are much cheaper- under 20- easier to see and use:

http://www.drillspot.com/products/572233/honeywell_yct410b1000_u_electric_baseboard_thermostat

I just splice them into a shorter extension cord- with one on every radiator I can set them with the heater turned on otherwise and so the adjustment is minimal and the heating is uniform. The thermostat itself needs to be put into a conduit box as well really, but I guess you coud dangle them on the spliced wires.
So far they're working out great- highly recommend.

You can use heavier guage wiring if you want, and attach a conduit box and plug as an extended outlet and move it around the room, but the therostats are 4 wires and don't have a separate ground connect for NM. The heaters sometimes recommend not using an extension cord, but since I'm seldom above 900 or 1000 watts on any of them, and because the cord of the unit itself is the same normal cord guage, I think I'll be fine using a short length- the beauty of it is that in less than exrtreme temps the radiator heats up and then the thermostat cuts it off gain, so that it's NOT running all the time.

Beats a gas explosion anyway I guess! Ha.zpt
 
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