Can anyone help with pointers for automatable garage heaters? So far my searches aren’t finding anything. My requirements are:
- remotely preheat when I want to work out
- alert if it’s left on, or automatically turn off
I’m in the US, looking for 240v maybe 5,000w electric heater. The basic item is cheap and readily available at home centers or online. I even see variations with Bluetooth remote and/or controlled by app.
I’m looking for something locally automatable. Matter/Thread would be ideal but I’m fine with Zigbee or z-wave. But I’m not finding anything like that, and getting stuck on some vendors portal is not ok. Any leads?
Or something that can use an external thermostat - I actually have an extra Ecobee - that can be locally automatable. Any leads? Any search tips that might find such a thing?
I briefly thought of automating an outlet, however even if smart outlets are available for those loads, that wouldn’t work because all these heaters have a safety feature to run the fan until the unit is cool
@AA5B Surely a split system A/c would be more efficient?
Yes it would be more efficient but too expensive. I expect to use it for short bursts of heat - like get the garage warm for two hours to work out. I don’t need cooling and I don’t expect to use it frequently enough for the efficiency to make it worthwhile. The overall heat output is more important, to warm the space quickly.
A challenge factor is this garage is masonry so creating holes is more difficult, less desirable.
A standard garage heater has the power to heat the space quickly, means I don’t have to create holes in masonry, and is cheap to biy