Home Thermostat to control grow room temps?

jnyce1320

Well-Known Member
Im wondering if it is possible to hook up at home thermostat unit from lets say Home Depot and hook it up to my exhaust blower fan, set desired temp to activate blower?
 

HappySack

Well-Known Member
Not sure? seem the low volts on the thermo are not the same as a fan controller. I think that there are some easy DIY fan controllers out there.
 

airman

Well-Known Member
I just bought one for around $25 at home depot. The brand is Ritetemp and it is Model #6002A. I am sure there are better ones out there but it works, but only for heating OR cooling(not both)You have to get one that works for swamp coolers and baseboard heat. To my knowledge low voltage thermostats won't work with your application.
 

squirrelfooker

Active Member
Home depot and lowes carry high voltage 120v 15amp thermostats for inline booster fans, baseboard heaters, and some other uses. Those are the ones you want.

Low voltage thermostats like the ones you use for your central a/c system are only 24v AC and only about 3 amps. They will fail in a big poof of sparks if you put 120 to them. To use one of these you need a 120v to 24v AC transformer and a relay or contactor.
 

Hulk Nugs

Well-Known Member
I just bought one for around $25 at home depot. The brand is Ritetemp and it is Model #6002A. I am sure there are better ones out there but it works, but only for heating OR cooling(not both)You have to get one that works for swamp coolers and baseboard heat. To my knowledge low voltage thermostats won't work with your application.

how did you hook up that ritetemp to your heater ???
 

airman

Well-Known Member
how did you hook up that ritetemp to your heater ???

I am using it for my exhaust fans, but you can hook it up to a heater as well. Hook up the hot wire(black wire coming from electrical panel) to the red on the thermostat and the black wire from you heater to the black wire on the thermostat. Tie the commons(white wires) and grounds together and turn on the power.
 

jnyce1320

Well-Known Member
I am using it for my exhaust fans, but you can hook it up to a heater as well. Hook up the hot wire(black wire coming from electrical panel) to the red on the thermostat and the black wire from you heater to the black wire on the thermostat. Tie the commons(white wires) and grounds together and turn on the power.
electrical panel? im confused... how did u hook it up to your exhaust fan?
 

airman

Well-Known Member
electrical panel? im confused... how did u hook it up to your exhaust fan?

When I say electrical panel I mean the breaker box(fuse box for the whole houses power). I have 12/2 romex coming into my room which has 3 wires(black,white,ground). This is the power supply. Take the black wire(hot wire) and hook it to the red wire(power in) on the thermostat. The fan also uses three wires(black, white, and ground). Hook the white fan wire to the white romex wire and the fans ground wire to the romex ground wire. The remaining black wire from the fan hooks to the black wire on the themostat. Turn the thermostat to "cool" and you are in business.

I am not the greatest at explaining stuff so let me know if that still doesn't make sense and I'll do my best to help you understand. If I was more computer literate I would draw a diagram or something. Good luck.
 

alexoos

Active Member
I was going through this same problem about 6 months ago.. I finally caved and baught an environmental controller from ebay for 130$. After doing alot of research (and keep in mind im not an electrcian) i found out that a regular thermostat has a very low voltage which controls relays and not devices directly. In order to make your own controller you will need to setup a relay circuit that uses the low voltage control from the thermostat to control the 110V of the fan. The easiest and safest thing to do is just to buy one i think. I have been meaning to take apart the controller box to see whats inside and take some pictures... you know how it is.... Ill upload the pics in a day or two and hopefully you can build one safely by getting the same parts as whats being used in the one i purchased. Hope this helps!
 

Hulk Nugs

Well-Known Member
yea i bought one of those duct stats and it doesnt work for shit

no shit i was just going to get one ....why is it not working for you i read the reviews they said it was goood............what about the masterflow thats on the first page i was going to get one of those ...........i have the same problem man i need to controll the temp and humidity better i am fine actualy but every day i have to had turn on fans and humidifiers i should have gotten a digital humidifer that would been nice......but yea i was going to get the masterflow thermostat or the duct stat so what was the deal with the ductstat ??

i know theres a 300 one you can get but i dont have that much money ...controlls everything think its called a sential
 

AeroKing

Well-Known Member
If you're looking for a reliable, professional quality product, you want the Ranco ETC 111000(electronic temp controller), or if you want both heat and cool, the 211000.

You can wire it to an extension cord for plug-in convenience.
It has a remote thermister wire that you can run to the canopy to get an
accurate measurement.

They are line voltage controlled and can relay separate voltages if necessary. Ebay usually has them for cheap. They are a quality product.
 

Hulk Nugs

Well-Known Member
was checking out the ranco right now was wondering........how do you have it set up aeroking ??? do you have one i am guessing you do. so i could hook up my fans and a heater to that ??? how does your fans/heater hook up hard wire ?? or you were saying a extenction cord does it plug into the unit or hard wire?? and could i hard wire a powerstrip to it for more plugs ?? just if you could take a pic or two of how you setup yours that be sick ...thanks man :bigjoint:
 

airman

Well-Known Member
Hopefully noone else bought one of those ritemp thermostats. I found out the tolerance is about +/- 10 degrees. I guess you get what you pay for.
 
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