I need some brainstorming here. First the background and then the question.
House is 20 years old. Designed as a solar house. In the winter the interior air is heated by the sun coming thru the south facing windows. A variable speed Grainger blower sucks the air down an airshaft from the vaulted ceilings thru an electric 12Kw 240Vac heater. The warmed air gets distributed thru ducts in the 12" think insulated concrete slab. The ducts leave the slab and go to floor registers in each room.
That's the way the house is heated and energy stored in the concrete slab. It works well and I'd change nothing. The electric heat is controlled by an Arduino based thermostat that also controls the blower speed and the AC.
What I'd like to do is to control the power going into the 12Kw resistance heater. So that during the day when the sun shines. The power going into the heater is based on how much power is being produced by the PV array/inverters and will add additional heat to the slab during the day. The PV system is grid tied. So less power would go back to the grid. Instead the slab would save the PV energy as heat to warm the house at night.
When the sun is shining on a winter day the house heat does not come on and the heat stored in the concrete slab will get us thru winter nights if the temp is no colder than about 30F. Below that the backup 12Kw heater will turn on as needed.
What I am looking for is the box to do the power control of the heater. Does anyone make something like this? Software can send whatever control signal is required by this unknown power control box.
Any ideas?
House is 20 years old. Designed as a solar house. In the winter the interior air is heated by the sun coming thru the south facing windows. A variable speed Grainger blower sucks the air down an airshaft from the vaulted ceilings thru an electric 12Kw 240Vac heater. The warmed air gets distributed thru ducts in the 12" think insulated concrete slab. The ducts leave the slab and go to floor registers in each room.
That's the way the house is heated and energy stored in the concrete slab. It works well and I'd change nothing. The electric heat is controlled by an Arduino based thermostat that also controls the blower speed and the AC.
What I'd like to do is to control the power going into the 12Kw resistance heater. So that during the day when the sun shines. The power going into the heater is based on how much power is being produced by the PV array/inverters and will add additional heat to the slab during the day. The PV system is grid tied. So less power would go back to the grid. Instead the slab would save the PV energy as heat to warm the house at night.
When the sun is shining on a winter day the house heat does not come on and the heat stored in the concrete slab will get us thru winter nights if the temp is no colder than about 30F. Below that the backup 12Kw heater will turn on as needed.
What I am looking for is the box to do the power control of the heater. Does anyone make something like this? Software can send whatever control signal is required by this unknown power control box.
Any ideas?