I have been trying to get an automation that will turn on a vent fan when the temperature is outside is cooler than the temperature in the garage. I live in a very hot region of the US where the temperatures can reach 100+ during the day. This heats up my garage in the 90s. I would like to have the vent start bring in outside cooler air when the sun goes down and the outside temperature drops below the garage temp by 3 degrees. I am using HASS.OS v 5.10.42 installed on my NUC.
This is what I have come up with so far to turn on the vent.
alias: Garage Vent On Summer
description: When the Garage is 3 degrees hotter than the outside temp the vent turns on
trigger:
- platform: template
value_template: >-
"{{ state_attr('sensor.garage_temperature1', 'temperature')|float > (
states('sensor.thermostat_outdoor_temperature')|float -3 ) }}"
condition:
- condition: template
value_template: ''' '''
action:
- service: switch.turn_on
target:
entity_id: switch.garage_vent
mode: single
This is what I have come up with to turn it off when outside temp gets 3 degrees warmer than the garage.
alias: 'Garage Vent Off '
description: >-
Will turn the garage vent off when the outside temperature is three degrees
warmer than the garage
trigger:
- platform: template
value_template: >-
"{{ state_attr('sensor.thermostat_outdoor_temperature',
'temperature')|float < ( states('sensor.garage_temperature1')|float -3 )
}}"
condition:
- condition: template
value_template: ''' '''
action:
- service: switch.turn_off
target:
entity_id: switch.garage_vent
mode: single
Any pointers would be greatly appreciated! I think something like this could be used for controlling window fans based on the outside and inside temperatures.
There appears to be a difference in how the two automations get the garage and outdoor temperatures.
In the first automation (to turn on the vent):
It uses state_attr() to get the temperature attribute of sensor.garage_temperature1.
It uses states() to get the state value of sensor.thermostat_outdoor_temperature.
In the second automation (to turn off the vent), it does the opposite:
It uses state_attr() to get the temperature attribute of sensor.thermostat_outdoor_temperature.
It uses states() to get the state value of sensor.garage_temperature1.
Check the two sensors (in Developer Tools > States) and determine which one reports its temperature in its state value and which one reports it in its temperature attribute. Use the correct function, states() or state_attr()`, accordingly and consistently in the two automations.
Oh, Thank you so much for your quick response! Such a simple mistake, just shows how beyond my skill set trying to figure something like this out. Everything I do as far as coding is based on others examples. I try my best to modify them for my needs and most of the time it works, but this is an example where my lack of education and training was a decrement! Spending several hours trying to get this to work, I have decided that there may be more variables, conditions, etc. involved than my simple approach! I had difficulty defining what I was wanting the vent to do, which is a must before designing a template. I think I want it the vent to turn on when there is a three-degree differential outside being cooler than the garage and to turn off when it is less than 3 degrees cooler. But figuring out how to write the automation code is another thing! lol Last night I must have put in hundreds of combinations of the following:
was for or if it was needed (again just what I got from an example I was trying to modify).
None of them seem to have the desired effect. But I learned something about how to use the “state” in setting up a template! Hopefully someone will write a blueprint to for all the rest of us with minimal coding skills, but a passion for HA and home automation!
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