I live in the basement suite of a house my sister and I own together. I'm
single, she's got a family; thus why I'm the one stuck with the basement.
One of the problems of living in a basement suite in a house such as this
one with central forced-air heating, is I have no direct control over the
temperature in my living quarters. The thermostat responds to the heating
requirements of the upstairs only, while the basement is lucky to enjoy an
even, stable and comfortable temperature; being frequently tossed between
either too cool or too warm (e.g. depending on such factors as teenagers
leaving doors/windows wide open to the winter air as suits their unthinking
fancy).

Now the long term solution (other than moving out someday) will be to
replace the hot air ducts in the basement with my own thermostatically
controlled electric base heaters. However, in the mean time, I am
interested in finding out if there isn't a heat register on the market that
would be easier to adjust 'on the fly'?

What I've got now are standard heat registers where I have to stand on a
chair to reach the adjustment dial of each register. This is, of course,
highly inconvenient and not a very practical way of evening out my
temperature fluctuations. If only these vents could be actuated by a small
servo motor via remote switch placed within easy reach. Or better yet,
conceivably a system that could easily be linked directly to my home
computer, which then could control each vent in response to data from a
couple of thermostatic-sensor inputs processed by a simple-to-create
computer algorithm. ;-) But for now, I'll settle for anything that might
only be a tad better than the run-of-the-mill standard heat registers I've
got now.

Thanks in advance,
Ken

Ken Moiarty wrote:

... I am interested in finding out if there isn't a heat register
on the market that would be easier to adjust 'on the fly'?

How about automatic foundation vents, eg Leslie-Locke's $12 8"x16" AF1-B?
The louvers open on temp rise, but the bimetallic spring can be removed and
reversed to close on temp rise, and the soft knee temp can be adjusted by
turning the spring mounting screw. Or removed and replaced with Honeywell's
$50 6161B1000 24VAC 2-watt damper motor, with a room temp thermostat.

Nick

"In a hot-air system, warm air is distributed via a main duct or
"trunk" and a series of branches that lead to individual rooms or
zones. Where the branches meet the trunk, heat is controlled by dampers
which open or close to release or block heat from entry. These dampers
are usually motorized and run by thermostatic controls at each zone.
Individual registers may also be closed to block heat, but this is a
less efficient use of the energy and heat produced than thermostatic or
automatic controls."
is says at:
http://www.bobvila.com/ArticleLibrar...ForcedAir.html

pictures of dampers at:
http://www.zoneatrol.com/products.html

[...]
Honeywell's $50 6161B1000 24VAC 2-watt damper motor, with a room temp thermostat.

Thanks. This is what I am looking for.

Ken

http://www.bobvila.com/ArticleLibrar...ForcedAir.html

Thanks for the info. Though I had imagined such a system could be
designed, I didn't know it was actually commercially available. This
is an eye opener, and for my longer term plans, offers an alternative
to my idea of installing electric base heaters. The only drawback to
this alternative, however, appears that for it to work as designed, the
house's entire "trunk" would have to be retrofitted with these dampers.
Yes? A lot more labor (and mess to somehow temporarily live with)
than from the simple wiring in and installation of electric base
heaters idea. But on the other hand this would certainly give me a
good rationalization/excuse to just have a total
renovation/interior-redecoration of the basement done. g


Ken