Friday, November 20, 2009

Radi-Troll: Radiant Heat Controller

Radi-Troll: The Radiant Heat Controller

The average 2000 square foot, well insulated, new home uses around 900 gallons of oil/propane in a heating season (northern climate). By installing this simple device the average home could

save 300 gallons of fuel each year.

At $3.00 per gallon this could mean a savings of around

$900 per year!
That comes to about $6 per day saved, so you will have completely paid for your Radi-Troll in just 1 week.

They guarantee at least a 20% savings or you can return it for a refund.

10 Year warrantee against failure.

Don’t spend Thousands on expensive controller systems. Just use a Radi-Troll and a simple relay controller that you can get at Home Depot for $100.

Info:

There are two different models of Radi-Troll, the model you need depends on the type of controller you have:

Series 1 is for the standard Relay controller

Series 2 is designed for use with Zone Valve type controller
– They are not selling these on the site but you can request one by email. This
one cost $20 more because of some extra components required to make it work
with the zone valve.

Make sure you get the right one for your system, series 2 can be used on relay, but it is more expensive, series 1 cannot be used on zone valve.

Specs:

Designed for use with 24V AC systems.

Will work with all thermostats, including power tap type

Taps its power from the thermostat wire – NO Batteries needed!!

RoHS compliant – all circuit components are environmentally safe

Made in the USA

Hydronic Radiant heating systems that are installed without the thermo sensor in the floor are prone to overshooting the thermostat’s set temperature by 4-8 degrees. Installing the thermo sensor in the floor can be problematic, both during original installation and as a retrofit. The problems lie in where to put the sensor. You don’t want it too close to a hot outgoing line, and you cant have it too close to a cold return line either, or else the design temperature for the floor may not be accurate. Plus one major problem with the retrofit is that you now need to drill into the floor, at the right place, without hitting a pipe, then patch up the hole. The best use of this sensor comes when you also use an outdoor temperature sensor to adjust the desired floor temperature, which means buying an expensive controller board.

From the Site: “Our engineers studied the thermodynamic properties of the
radiant system and concluded that a simple “smart” control of the on/off cycle
of the system would be a better solution. The Radiant Controller or “Radi-Troll” is designed to be placed between the thermostat and the control board. A 5 minute installation that only
requires the use of a Phillips head screw driver. No drilling, no expensive components,
no holes in the outside of your home, no mess. Our tests have shown that once
the Radi-Troll is installed the system ran 40 – 60 % less each day, depending on the layout of radiant runs, depth in the floor, and a few other factors. The fact that the system was running for less time meant that there was not only 40-60% fuel savings, but there was also 40-60% less electricity being used to move that water around. By using a thermostat designed for a +/-1 degree temperature swing, a system with a Radi-Troll installed maintained that same range, no more overshoot. So instead of setting your system for 65 and expecting it to shoot up to 70, the system can now be set, for example, to 68 and it will range from 67-69

at all times, which equates to greater comfort.”


I have one in my house, it works great. Last year I saved 30% over the year before. If you have a hydronic Radiant Heating System, or if you plan to put one in, you should check this out.

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