Based on a number of excellent suggestions I got in previous thread, I have decided to convert all my smart home devices over to ZigBee. I have about 50 switches and sensors on-order at the moment.

One thing I can’t seem to find is a controller for my pellet stove. My stove is installed in my workshop, and during the winter, I usually have to run out to the shop in the morning, turn the stove on, then wait for a hour or two for it to warm up.

I’m thinking that I’ll most likely need to build a controller for the stove. I had some issues with the mainboard in the stove last year, so I’m fairly familiar with how it works. There area few sensors and relays.

  • An on/off sensor for the lid.
  • A safety sensor for the hopper (makes sure flames aren’t feeding back into the hopper).
  • A pressure sensor to detect if the door is open.
  • An external temperature probe.
  • An internal temperature probe.
  • A relay for the igniter.
  • A relay for the motor that rotates the hopper.
  • A relay for the induction fan.
  • A relay for the fan that blows warm air out from the stove.
  • A potentiometer that switches the stove on and controls the temperature set point.

I have built a number of custom PCBs in the past, and I’m confident that I could build a replacement for the mainboard that includes a ZigBee radio. This requires a significant amount of design work for the PCB, programming for the microcontroller, etc. I’m also just now learning about how the ZigBee protocol works, so there would be a fair amount of research involved.

My other idea was to build a PCB that essentially acts as a programmable potentiometer, replace the pellet stove’s pot with this PCB, and leave the mainboard as-is.

Has anyone here tried integrating a pellet stove into your home automation? How did you do it?

  • limelight79@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Mine is a 3-position switch, labeled “Auto/Off”, “High/Low”, and “Manual”. High/Low and Auto/Off operate as I described above, using an external thermostat - or, in my case, a Shelly 1. :)

    Also, that means I didn’t really need to touch the board or anything to do that - I just had to connect the wires from the relay on the Shelly to the terminal for a thermostat on the stove.

    A level sensor in the hopper would be nice. Hey…I could use a SaltSentry or OpenGarage device to measure the distance… HMMM.