Controlling Heating/Cooling on a Complex Schedule?

Controlio asks: "I've just replaced my furnace, air conditioner, and humidifier last week, in a house that I am rebuilding almost completely from the studs. With the outrageous cost of heating oil, I looked at saving some money by installing a programmable thermostat. However, my work schedule is too complex for most programmable thermostats. The one benefit I have is knowing my schedule a month or two in advance. So, the most practical option seems to have some sort of computer-controlled system that can accept calendar-based setpoints. This would also allow me the opportunity to VNC to the computer from work and change the schedule, in case of last-minute scheduling changes. The ideal solution would be able to control the heat and air conditioner, plus have the ability to do humidity setpoints (though it's not required). Also a system that could control two furnaces would be beneficial, since I plan on installing a heater in my garage this year. Does anyone know any hardware and software combination available to accomplish this?"

Comments

Hunter Thermostat + Hacking?

[extremescholar]

I recently replaced the thermostat in my house with a programmable. The thermostat that I purhcased (the Hunter Fan model 44760) http://www.hunterfan.com/prodSum.php?pid=20&pType= thermo&sType=4 had an ethernet port on the back of it. IIRC, it mentioned somethings about future development, and I haven't tried it, but you might check it out. A little hacking and you might come up with something.

Insulation?

[PastaAnta]

Now, I am just curious.

How much insulation did you use for your roof, walls and floors?

Here in Denmark the houses are normally rather well insulated and made with brick walls or concrete walls. Therefore the time-constant is often so high, that changing the temperature hour by hour normally doesnt make any sense at all. In our house we have floor heating with tubes in the concrete floor and it takes several hours to change the temperature. Its good for keeping the feet warm in a cold winters day :-)