I would like to be able to turn my furnace fan on or off from Home Assistant.
During the summer months I have to use the Honeywell app frequently for this, which I detest (being the home automation snob that I am) since I have access to other thermostat controls in Home Assistant. I would much rather just automate that.
Currently Home Assistant shows the fan state, but, as I understand it, setting the fan mode is not possible.
I have figured out a workaround, but I would still like better integration of the Honeywell Thermostat component.
For those interested my workaround involves IFTTT since Honeywell Total Connect thermostats work with IFTTT you have access to all the controls available.
First, connect your IFTTT account to Home Assistant:
Next, create an Applet in your IFTTT account:
The IF part of the Applet should be a Webhook service. The receiving trigger event could be something like Furnace_Fan_ON
The THEN part of the Applet should be a Honeywell Total Connect Comfort service. Select āSet Fan to On or Autoā
Then create another Applet in the same way for turning the fan to auto.
After all that, go to Home Assistant and create a Template Switch:
Here is my example configuration.yaml entry:
- platform: template
switches:
furnace_fan:
value_template: "{{ is_state_attr('climate.thermostat', 'fan_mode', 'on') }}"
turn_on:
service: ifttt.trigger
data: {"event":"Furnace_Fan_ON"}
turn_off:
service: ifttt.trigger
data: {"event":"Furnace_Fan_OFF"}
NOTE Since the fan_mode state doesnāt update instantly (it can be a few minutes from when you switch to when the switch status updates) you may want to change the switch to an assumed state in your customize.yaml file or by using the Customize section of the Configuration tool in the Home Assistant sidebar.
This ended up being a lot more templating than I have ever done before so I hope this example can help someone else save a few hours of hunting information down.
I know this post is old but with the update to 0.96 and the revamp of the Climate components you can now set the thermostat fan on/off in Home Assistant however the UI does not present a nice way to do it if can be done in the back end. Alternatively if can be done using the Simple Thermostat card https://github.com/nervetattoo/simple-thermostat
and changing the mode-type to fan. You do lose the ability to change between heat and cool modes but I am still searching for a better overall solution that has everything.
Thanks, I just hooked up the fan control on my Honeywell thermostat today. Before this, Iād connected it so that the fan runs whenever it calls for cooling (āYā instead of āGā wire.) This is because the same thermostat also controls my oil-fired hydronic heat, and I donāt want the fan running when that comes on. Another reason to avoid Honeywell!
At any rate, after reading the above I went looking and found that I can control the fan from the Climate ābadgeā in Lovelace. Iām not home right now to see if the fan is really coming on, but it shows up as an option and allows me to select "On, āAutoā or ādiffuseā (whatever that means.)
Thereās still a bug with the updated climate control and Honeywell thermostats. The āstateā is read from the current thermostat mode (heat, cool, off) and not the actual state of the system (heat on, cooling on, idle, fan.)
The previous control was the opposite. You could see in the history_graph when your heating or cooling system was actually running, and for how long. Now thereās no indication. Someone suggested reporting this bug but I really donāt know how.
Yeah I just noticed the diffuse fan mode too! I tried to run it and I just got an error saying that HA failed to call the service so I think it is for different HVAC systems that can close off different vents so better cool/heat parts of the house. I also noticed that my history graph isnāt working either, I will submit a bug report on it and hopefully it gets patched!
But I definitely agree honeywellās smart thermostats are extremely limited in functionality and it annoys me everyday! Also the fact that my thermostat only works on their out of date app that isnāt updated anymore and not the newer better app is frustrating! Also super annoying that if you make too many pull requests Honeywell shuts you down is annoying!
EDIT: Sorry for the rant just super annoyed with Honeywell at this point.
Thanks!!
And donāt feel bad about the rant. I pretty much share the same feelings toward Honeywell.
I think the 0.96.4 update fixed most of our problems! The diffuse fan mode is gone and the dual temps that didnāt used to be displayed and shouldnāt be are gone as well!
0.96.4 appears to be working well here. We havenāt needed heat or cooling the past few days, so I still donāt know if the shading under the line in the history graph works, but I can manipulate the fan controls from HA.
I had a bit of a scare last night after I did the update. None of my thermostats were found. I didnāt have time to look at it before I had to leave.
This morning I saw an error in the log indicating a failure to log on to the Honeywell server. My ID and password worked fine from my laptop and phone, so I just rebooted HASS.IO. That was probably overkill, but it did the trick.
And to add to the Honeywell rant, Iāve been trying to get their tech support to tell me how to configure my thermostat for separate heating and cooling systems. From what Iām reading, it canāt be done. The stupid thing is going to run the cooling fan when it calls for heat.
My first answer (two days later) was to ask me which wires were connected, and what all my settings were. I gave a complete run-down of the connections, and reminded the tech that MY question was, what SHOULD the settings be for my installation?
I got a second answer (two more days later) saying my connections were correct, and again asking me to send all my configuration settings.
Now, understand, IF this is ever going to work, itās going to be one, or maybe two settings that need to be configured. Pushing little buttons on the thermostat to scroll through and write down every single option is a tedious project.
I used to do tech support. This guy or gal is just stalling. Sending me on a wild goose chase just to get me out of his/her hair. Hoping Iāll give up, or at least take long enough that some other tech has to answer the question. Been there, done that.
That is really annoying! Iām sorry to hear that you are having such difficulty working with Honeywell! Might be time you just ditch it and get a different thermostat or make your own like Dr. Zzs did here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beSIUfOL7io
Probably not what you want to do but it will definitely solve your issues. That is unless you want a screen to see and change your thermostat.
I like Dr. Zzsā solution, and had I gotten into HA prior to spending $300 on Honeywell thermostats, I might have gone that direction, instead.
I should add that the Honeywell stats work fine. Most people seem to be OK with some big companyās servers being in between them and their home automatons (Alexa, etc.) For them, this is probably a good solution. Likewise, most people donāt want the raw data to report from on their own. Again, Honeywell is fine.
I totally understand why a company like Honeywell would want to keep tight control over their configuration and their customerās data. Trying to support a bunch of customers all doing their own thing, and integrating with other vendorās products, is a support nightmare.
That said, the spirit of HA seems to lean more toward local data, DIY, tinkering, etc. For folks here, consider your options carefully before buying a smart thermostat.
Yeah Iām on the same page if I didnāt get the thermostat before I found HA I wouldāve considered different options that work better with HA. I agree sometimes I donāt mind having a companies servers in between like for my Lutron lighting setup. Lutron is one of the best in the business and the lighting options and functionality is amazing! The difference between Honeywell and Lutron in my case is the amount of info and control HA has over both. HA can do a lot more with Lutron stuff even though they try and keep their system locked down.
I just noticed something new on my Honeywell thermostatsā Attributes list and that is current_humidity. Of my knowledge the model I have doesnāt have a humidistat or even humidity sensors so I was surprised to see this. I started watching it to see if it changes at all but it has been at a constant 128 so not accurate at all, also I have no idea what units that 128 would be in.
