Ecobee with Whole House Dehumidifier Issues with Default Algorithms
AnsweredI installed 12 smart vents along with my Ecobee 3. I have Ecobee remote sensors in all my rooms along with one Puck. I have a central AC and heating as well as a dedicated whole-home dehumidifier ducted into my supply vents.
I let my Ecobee control the schedules and setpoints. I am having an issue with the default Flair algorithm when it comes to my dehumidifier which is integrated with my Ecobee. The dehumidifier is set to maintain 48% on the Ecobee and there is a setting that will run the dehumidifier until it gets to 46%.
From what I can tell, Flair is not aware I have a dehumidifier connected to my Ecobee on the accessory port. Here is the issue.
Flair's algorithm does a good job distributing air when cooling or heating is called for. The problem is when the Ecobee calls for Dehumidification. The by-product of my dehumidifier is that it generates "heat" while dehumidifying.
On a hot day when the AC is primarily utilized, some rooms will cool faster than others. My temperature set point is between 72 to 75 F. Some rooms will be 72-73 while others are at 75. After running the AC a while, the Ecobee shuts the AC off because the average of all the rooms is in the range.
Now since I'm in a humid climate the temps stay in the right range, but the humidity creeps up fast causing the Ecobee to turn on the dehumidifier which adds excess heat to the house until the average temperature rises to the point it triggers the AC on.
From the time the AC is running, shuts off, and the dehumidifier is triggered, the Flair will close vents to the coldest rooms and keep the vents in the hottest rooms open because it thinks it is still in "cooling" mode. In reality since the dehumidifier is running the rooms that have vents closed should actually be the ones taking the excess heat from the dehumidifier rather than sending the excess heat into the hottest rooms.
Does Flair have any recommendations for this kind of setup? Do I need to let Flair control the schedule?
Would it be possible to add dehumidification support to the Flair/Ecobee integration on the product roadmap?
The way I see it, if a user turns on Dehumidication, then Flair will manage as if it was in heating mode temporarily so that it distributes the excess heat evenly.
I'd be happy to beta test.
Please advise if anyone can help.
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Official comment
Hi Joey,
Thanks for writing in about this. I see you also wrote in to our Support Team asking the same question. Basically, you'll remove your ecobee integration and use it as a non-integrated thermostat. That way Flair will use the vent temperatures to determine whether the system is heating or cooling, and open/close smart vents accordingly. I'm going to close this post so that you can respond to the Support ticket.
All the best,
Sonny
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