I want to replace the thermostat for the baseboard heaters in my apartment with simple smart relays/switches. I would be using a temperature sensor in the given baseboard’s vicinity to control whether the heater is on or not.
The problem, however, is that I’ve got no neutral at the baseboard heater and I live in an apartment. I’m in North America and we have split-phase systems where a hot and a neutral will give you 120VAC but 2 legs of hot will give you 240V. I have 2 hot legs at my baseboard heater.
So my question is thus: Can I connect any 240VAC-rated smart switch in this baseboard heater’s thermostat compartment or would I really have to pull wires to the heater from some nearby electrical outlet?
As well, are there any standalone devices that are made for this purpose?
Wiring diagram in the amazon pictures. Doesn’t look like a neutral is used for 240. You just need to be sure the rated thermostat wattage is above your heater(s). Also popular is the Sinopé brand
Another alternative is using at Aube Technologies RC840T-240 in conjunction with a normal Nest/Ecobee . I may go this route, as the Mysa’s are not rated high enough for my system. There are some youtube videos of how to install it. As you are in an apartment, the mysa or others like it might be best.
edit: sorry, didn’t realize you wanted to put in the compartment and do not have a thermostat. In that case, the Aube might?? fit, then just run some wire out of it to a nest.
I think if I were to go with a solution that requires wires sticking out, I’ll go with something like the Shelly Plus 1 UL with a NEMA 5-15P breakout cable attached to the Line and Neutral terminals that are used to power the Shelly.
The contactor solution + Zigbee solution, I think, is something that I think I’ll explore as a last resort, but with something like the RC840T-240 in place of the contactor as there’s less chance of shorts due to contact with the metal frame. Most contactors I’ve seen have an exposed frame
The reason for such a specific solution is cost. I’d like to keep it as low as possible as right now I’m testing solutions with one heater, then will scale across the rest later on
Ohh man. Each heater is individual and not controlled by a central thermostat? That must be a pain to set them all, I understand why you want a cheap solution.
In the end I’ll be going with the relay plus contactor method:
A DPST contactor will be connected between the L1/2 lines and the baseboard heater
I will get a TP Link smart outlet => This will only be for testing purposes. The real relay will be based on the Shelly Plus 1 UL as it can be configured to default to disconnecting the power to the contactor should the power go out while I’m not at home
The coil terminal for the contactor will be connected to the TP Link smart outlet with NEMA 5-15P breakout cable
This should be the most cost effective and relatively safe solution
It doesn’t seem to be in stock or even intentionally promoted on the site anymore, but I got the Mini R3 which is rated for up to 16 amps which none of my baseboard heaters exceed.
I’ve had these running for almost a year now with no issues whatsoever. They’ve been really reliable
