120vac to 24 vac HVAC step down solution
First, a brief description of my dilemma. In an effort to reduce heating/electric bills (going green!), I am in the process of replacing two mechanical line voltage fan coil thermostats in my condo with digital programmable thermostats. The building was built in the 70’s so the heating/cooling is hydronic (I think, after doing research) with a 2-pipe system. In April, the hot water starts flowing through the pipes and causes the switch connected to the pipe to switch the thermostat to “COOL” mode and vice versa. Many hours of research produced the major obstacle of finding a programmable, line voltage (120 vac) thermostat that wouldn’t break the bank. I have found (obvious to you, I am sure) that Home Depot, Menards, Sears, etc do not stock these. So I turned to the Internet and contractor supply channels. After finding one that fits all criteria and ordering, it is on back order and won’t be shipping for over a month. In addition, they weren’t cheap :-/. Ugh.
So, instead of trying to find a digital, programmable thermostat that can handle an input of 120vac, I instead want to place a 120vac to 24 vac step down transformer (where a “normal” HVAC system takes care of this) in between the house line voltage and a 24 vac thermostat. My thinking is this would afford me a much wider array of consumer programmable thermostats that I could purchase from the aforementioned retailers. I would expect these transformers would be inexpensive and found something on Radioshack.com that does this.
Question: Am I on the right track and if so, what kind of product would I be looking for and where would I find it?
Thanks a ton and I look forward to your response.
JP
Chicago, IL