Best system configuration for my home

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Wale Odukomaiya

Hello,

My home is a 3 bedroom, 1500 sq. ft. townhome in Denver, Colorado. The first floor is an entryway, hallway, two bedrooms and a full bathroom. Upstairs is the main floor, with the living room, kitchen, guest half bathroom, and master suite with a full bathroom. I have a Google Nest thermostat located upstairs, with three remote sensors (one upstairs in master bedroom, one in each bedroom downstairs). My AC/furnace is located in the attic, above the second level. I have a major problem where currently in the winter, it is is often 10-15 degrees colder downstairs than up. If I set the thermostat to use the temperature at one of the downstairs remote sensors instead of the thermostat itself upstairs, then upstairs overheats by 10-15 degrees. I think I can solve this problem with Flair smart vents, but I would like guidance on the best configuration. From what I am reading on the Flair website, I would need to install smart vents on each of the upstairs registers. Is this correct? That would be 6 smart vents (not counting registers that are in bathrooms or closets). Would I also need a puck upstairs and one downstairs? It appears Flair can communicate with Google Nest thermostat, but not Nest remote sensors. So would I just need a Flair puck downstairs then? Is there a more cost-effective way to solve my problem with less than 6 smart vents?

Thanks,

-Wale

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    Flair Customer Support
    • Edited

    Hi Wale Odukomaiya,

    Your assessment is correct: we need to get Smart Vents upstairs to close and redirect airflow downstairs to get it warmer there.

    Here's what you'll need:

    Upstairs: 1 Puck plus (x) Smart Vents for each room with vents (excepting small bathrooms and closets), where x is the number of vents in the room

    Downstairs: 1 Puck in each room so that Flair knows when it's too cold and signals the Smart Vents upstairs to close

    Regarding integrating with your Nest, the way Flair controls a Nest is by comparing your average home temperature to the average home set point and then adjusting the Nest up or down as necessary.

    You may not need this additional control, as you might benefit from just having the Vents closing at the right time.

    Here's a good article to read on how Flair works with a smart thermostat:

    Set Point Control

    All the best,

    Finn

     

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    Robert Drinovac

    Wale,

    Just want to preface this by saying that I don't work for Flair, but I am a user and can be of some assistance here. As far as I know, you are correct about Nest remote sensors not working with Flair at this time - The Google Nest API documentation still has no mention of remote sensors. This isn't Flair's doing, rather, Google's new API doesn't have support for the Nest remote sensors (it may or may not at some point). In your situation, you are correct in assuming that you will need smart vents in the upstairs area to stop your upstairs from overheating while the downstairs area is attempting to reach your the desired temp. Using a single puck upstairs for all vents could work, but it depends on how far away the vents will be from the puck. However, in your situation, I do not recommend this. For accurate closing (closing when you know for sure the desired temp has been reached upstairs) of the Flair vents, you will need to have a temperature sensor located in each room where Flair vents are located. As you already know, the Nest remote sensors will not be able to feed temperature measurements to Flair, but you have some other options. You can either:

    1. Get a Flair puck to use in each room where Flair vents are located
    2. Switch over to a Honeywell thermostat + remote sensors or Ecobee thermostat + remote sensors
    3. Use your Nest thermostat as a temp sensor for the closest room containing Flair vents and use Flair Pucks for the remaining rooms that have Flair vents.

    Essentially, you need to set your thermostat to heat to a desired temp based on downstairs temp obtained by remote sensor(s) (the amount of sensors you use downstairs is up to you) and have Flair close the upstairs vents using temp readings for each room containing Flair Vents. The option you go with will depend on what you deem to be the most cost-effective in both time and money.

    The cost of 6 Flair vents will always be the same regardless of the option you choose.

    If you choose to use Flair pucks in each room that have Flair vents then option 1 will cost:

    • 6 Flair vents + 3 Pucks (this is assuming you will be using 2 Flair vents in 3 separate rooms)

    If you choose to go with option 2 then your cost will be:

    • 6 Flair vents + 1 Puck (this is a conservative estimate as you may need more than 1 depending on how far your Flair Puck is from the vents) + Honeywell WiFi thermostat + remote sensors (1 remote sensor minimum for the downstairs + 2 remote sensors for upstairs if using 1 Flair Puck or 1 remote sensor for upstairs if using 2 Flair Pucks)

             OR

    • 6 Flair vents + 1 Puck (this is a conservative estimate as you may need more than 1 depending on how far your Flair Puck is from the vents) + Ecobee thermostat + remote sensors (1 remote sensor minimum for the downstairs + 2 remote sensors for upstairs if using 1 Flair Puck or 1 remote sensor for upstairs if using 2 Flair Pucks)

    If you choose to go with Option 3:

    • 6 Flair vents + 2 Flair Pucks (Nest thermostat will be used to provide temp readings for 1 of the 3 rooms containing Flair vents)

    While option 3 seems cost-efficient it will not be as accurate as option 1 if, for example, your Nest thermostat is being used to provide temp readings for a room with Flair vents that is located off and away from the area where the Nest thermostat is located.

     

    If I were in your shoes, I would go with option 1 as it will provide the most accurate temp readings for determining when to close vents short of having to spend money on a new thermostat + remote sensors. The most ideal scenario would involve installing ductless mini splits downstairs and having the Nest thermostat heat based on the upstairs temp. This way your mini splits will heat/continue to heat the downstairs separate from the upstairs while not overheating the upstairs. However, you will find that installing ductless mini splits will cost you several thousands of dollars while Flair vents will be able to help for a fraction of the cost.

    Hope I was able to be of some assistance.  

     

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