Water heating control - blueprint not working correctly

Configuration Blueprints
1

Can sameone help me with this blueprint - for water heating control?

Won’t trigger when water temperature is under min_temp

blueprint:
  name: Water Heating Control
  description: Control your hot water with options for person home, if temp is below a specific value, set temp, and heating between specific times.
  domain: automation
  input:
    heating:
      name: Water Heater Device
      description: The water heater device to use.
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: switch
    temp_sensor:
      name: Temperature Sensor
      description: Temperature Sensor to check.
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: sensor
          device_class: temperature
    person1:
      name: Person 1
      description: The first person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person2:
      name: Person 2
      description: The second person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person3:
      name: Person 3
      description: The third person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person4:
      name: Person 4
      description: The forth person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person5:
      name: Person 5
      description: The fifth person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person6:
      name: Person 6
      description: The sixth person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    min_temp:
      name: Minimum Temp
      description: If temperature is below this value and someone is home, It turns heating on.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: input_number
    set_temp:
      name: Temperature Target
      description: If the heating turns on, It heats to this target temperature.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: input_number
    time_after:
      name: Time After
      description: After this time the water heating turns on, so water is warm in the morning
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: input_datetime
    time_before:
      name: Time Before
      description: After this time the water heating turns off, This to prevent the water heating is on in the middle of the night
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: input_datetime

variables:
  set_temp: !input set_temp

trigger:
  - platform: homeassistant
    event: start
  - platform: event
    event_type: automation_reloaded
  - platform: time_pattern
    minutes: /10

action:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: !input 'temp_sensor'
            below: !input min_temp
          - condition: time
            before: !input 'time_before'
            after: !input 'time_after'
          - condition: or
            conditions:
              - condition: state
                entity_id: !input 'person1'
                state: home
              - condition: state
                entity_id: !input 'person2'
                state: home
              - condition: state
                entity_id: !input 'person3'
                state: home
              - condition: state
                entity_id: !input 'person4'
                state: home
              - condition: state
                entity_id: !input 'person5'
                state: home
              - condition: state
                entity_id: !input 'person6'
                state: home
        sequence:
          - service: switch.turn_on
            data:
              entity_id: !input 'heating'

    default:
      - service: switch.turn_off
        data:
          entity_id: !input 'heating'

mode: single
2

Do you assign 6 persons to it? And the time is correct? Aka, show you implementation and values :slight_smile:

Btw, the power of HA is that you can fire automations of all kinds of events. Just doing it by time is pretty stupid way to automate imho.

3

Yes. I assigned all 6 persons, but only one person must be home to automation to start, For test I set settings like this:

13.08.2021_11.57.32_REC

Automation works but not as should.But I don’t know whay won’t start when temperature is below 25°C.

4

True. If you open the automation debug trace I think you should be able to see why it does not work aka which condition stays false.

5

I see only this in logbook.

13.08.2021_12.07.20_REC
13.08.2021_12.07.20_REC693×206 10.4 KB

Where I can see that?

If you open the automation debug trace I think you should be able to see why it does not work aka which condition stays false.

6

It’s the clock with the arrow next to the automation. Or when you edit it, you have “Show trace” at the top. See Troubleshooting Automations - Home Assistant

Although from your log I see it did turn on the heater, so what’s not working then?

7

It bothers me that has been triggered by time pattern not minimal temperature. And not work so long as to reach max temperature

8

Ah, okay. But that’s how the blueprint is designed, it only has a time trigger. If you don’t like that, don’t use it. I think polling (aka, have a periodic time trigger) is bad practice as well. You can just remake this blueprint (or just as a plan automation for that matter), that uses the persons and the temperature as trigger as well.

9

Somewhere in blueprint I must put when set_temp is reached turn off water heater, and do not turn on water heater until water temperature is beow min_temp.

10

But why use a blueprint? Do you have more water heaters?

And yeah, you can make a better automation or blueprint. Just remove the time-patern as a trigger and replace it with all the things that will actually effect when you want to switch. Aka, the state of the persons, the actual temperature and the set temperature.

11

Here is my latest version of blueprint, I am testing it now:

I have another question, it is possible to add in blueprint add person option, so if anyone have different number of persons can use this blueprint?

blueprint:
  name: Water Heating Control
  description: Control your hot water with options for person home, if temp is below a specific value, set temp, and heating between specific times.
  domain: automation
  input:
    heating:
      name: Water Heater Device
      description: The water heater device to use.
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: switch
    temp_sensor:
      name: Temperature Sensor
      description: Temperature Sensor to check.
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: sensor
          device_class: temperature
    person1:
      name: Person 1
      description: The first person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person2:
      name: Person 2
      description: The second person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person3:
      name: Person 3
      description: The third person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person4:
      name: Person 4
      description: The forth person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person5:
      name: Person 5
      description: The fifth person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person6:
      name: Person 6
      description: The sixth person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    min_temp:
      name: Minimum Temp
      description: If temperature is below this value and someone is home, It turns heating on.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: input_number
    set_temp:
      name: Temperature Target
      description: If the heating turns on, It heats to this target temperature.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: input_number
    time_after:
      name: Time After
      description: After this time the water heating turns on, so water is warm in the morning
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: input_datetime
    time_before:
      name: Time Before
      description: After this time the water heating turns off, This to prevent the water heating is on in the middle of the night
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: input_datetime

variables:
  set_temp: !input set_temp
  min_temp: !input min_temp

trigger:
  - platform: homeassistant
    event: start
  - platform: event
    event_type: automation_reloaded
  - platform: numeric_state
    entity_id: !input 'temp_sensor'
    below: !input min_temp
  - platform: numeric_state
    entity_id: !input 'temp_sensor'
    above: !input set_temp

action:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: !input 'temp_sensor'
            below: !input min_temp
          - condition: time
            before: !input 'time_before'
            after: !input 'time_after'
          - condition: or
            conditions:
              - condition: state
                entity_id: !input 'person1'
                state: home
              - condition: state
                entity_id: !input 'person2'
                state: home
              - condition: state
                entity_id: !input 'person3'
                state: home
              - condition: state
                entity_id: !input 'person4'
                state: home
              - condition: state
                entity_id: !input 'person5'
                state: home
              - condition: state
                entity_id: !input 'person6'
                state: home
        sequence:
          - service: switch.turn_on
            data:
              entity_id: !input 'heating'
      - conditions:
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: !input 'temp_sensor'
            above: !input set_temp
        sequence:
          - service: switch.turn_off
            data:
              entity_id: !input 'heating'

mode: single
12

But again, why the blueprint? Especially because in the application of the Blueprint you have it set to run almost all day making the time restriction inputs useless.

As for the function, you also want to add the state of all persons to the mix. Otherwise it will not heat the water when you return home or stop the heating the moment you leave (but only stop once the temperature is reached).

13

I want that, because of that I didn’t add persons in off choice.

Why? If wather temp is below minimum It will start heat when first person come home.

It is possible to replace this with add person? How?

    person1:
      name: Person 1
      description: The first person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person2:
      name: Person 2
      description: The second person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person3:
      name: Person 3
      description: The third person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person4:
      name: Person 4
      description: The forth person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person5:
      name: Person 5
      description: The fifth person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
    person6:
      name: Person 6
      description: The sixth person that has to be home.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: person
14

One last try or I will just leave this topic:
WHY the Blueprint?

15

I have more then one water heater in multiple locations, with different persons :slight_smile:

Sorry If I taking your time, I am new in blueprint and I wanna know if it is possible.

16

Okay, thank you for clearing that up. Now I know I’m not wasting my time on Blueprints when a simple automation would do :slight_smile:

No, because persons are not a trigger now. So it will only trigger the moment the temperature goes to low. But if nobody was home at that very moment it will not turn on the heater. Because the persons are not a trigger nothing will retrigger the automation to turn on the heater again

So same goes for off, a person leaving will not trigger the automation. Only when the set point is reached the automation will trigger and stop the heating.

But in this case, I would say it’s easier to put all people in a group and use that in the blueprint. That way it does not matter if you want to use it on 2 or on 200 persons. See Group - Home Assistant

Think it would look like:

blueprint:
  name: Water Heating Control
  description: Control your hot water with options for person home, if temp is below a specific value, set temp, and heating between specific times.
  domain: automation
  input:
    heating:
      name: Water Heater Device
      description: The water heater device to use.
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: switch
    temp_sensor:
      name: Temperature Sensor
      description: Temperature Sensor to check.
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: sensor
          device_class: temperature
    persons:
      name: All persons
      description: Group of all persons who need to controll this BP. (Set 'all: false' for the group.)
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: group
    min_temp:
      name: Minimum Temp
      description: If temperature is below this value and someone is home, It turns heating on.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: input_number
    set_temp:
      name: Temperature Target
      description: If the heating turns on, It heats to this target temperature.
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: input_number
    time_after:
      name: Time After
      description: After this time the water heating turns on, so water is warm in the morning
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: input_datetime
    time_before:
      name: Time Before
      description: After this time the water heating turns off, This to prevent the water heating is on in the middle of the night
      default: []
      selector:
        entity:
          domain: input_datetime

variables:
  set_temp: !input set_temp
  min_temp: !input min_temp

trigger:
  - platform: homeassistant
    event: start
  - platform: event
    event_type: automation_reloaded
  - platform: numeric_state
    entity_id: !input 'temp_sensor'
    below: !input min_temp
  - platform: numeric_state
    entity_id: !input 'temp_sensor'
    above: !input set_temp
  - platform: state
    entity_id: !input 'persons'

action:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: !input 'temp_sensor'
            below: !input min_temp
          - condition: time
            before: !input 'time_before'
            after: !input 'time_after'
          - condition: state
            entity_id: !input 'persons'
            state: home
        sequence:
          - service: switch.turn_on
            data:
              entity_id: !input 'heating'
      - conditions:
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: !input 'temp_sensor'
            above: !input set_temp
        sequence:
          - service: switch.turn_off
            data:
              entity_id: !input 'heating'

mode: single

Couple of notes on that:

  • I think you should add hysteresis to the temperature. Otherwise it will turn on and off quite often.
  • You should also add time as a trigger (both time_before and time_after). Because otherwise you have the same as with the persons aka it will not start heating in the morning nor will it stop right away in the night.
  • If you want to be able to use the BP for situations you want it 24h a day, OR the current time-condition with a template condition checking that both input times are the same. That way if you set them both the same it will render true all day.
1 Like
17

Thx @septillion.