Greetings, this is my first post. I read a lot during my learning and build process.
I have 2 Climatemaster Tranquility systems - one with 4 zones and one with 3 zones. Functionally they are great, even down to the -7 temps last night. They worked like a charm.
We are NEVER upstairs. I make a point to go upstairs once a week to check everything, run some water, flush some toilets, etc.
My current heat tstat settings are:
Sys1Z1 - Main Floor Living Area - Occupied-67/Unoccupied-65
Sys1Z2 - Main Floor Sleeping Area - O65/U63
Sys1Z3 - Basement Main (ICF) Area - 55 All time (Temperature has yet to drop below 62)
Sys1Z4 - Basement Gym (ICF) Area - 55 All time (Temperature has yet to drop below 62)
Sys2Z1 - Upstairs Front Bedrooms - 56 All time
Sys2Z2 - Upstairs Rear Bedrooms - 56 All time
Sys2Z3 - Upstairs Game Room - 56 All time
After all the setup, my questions are rather rudimentary...
1. With geo systems common knowledge is to "set it and forget it". I'm kind of subscribing to this methodology by maintaining only a 2 degree setback for S1Z1 & S1Z2. I have my system setup to maintain stage 1 as long as the differential is less than 2 degrees. My thinking is I am getting reduced run-time with the setback yet I'm not wasting that savings by running full bore to recover. S1Z2 takes no time at all to recover. S1Z2 typically takes 30-60 minutes depending on the outside temp. (The last few nights have been extremely abnormal - the gas backups kicked on for the first time in 18 months.) Is my logic correct?
2. Since I keep the upstairs setback all the time am I better served leaving the upstairs bedroom doors cracked or even open to let first floor heat rise so Sys2 never kicks on or am I wasting first floor energy by doing that? My standard practice has been to keep the doors close winter and open in summer. During the winter the average weekly combined run-time between the three upstairs zones is about 45-50 hours.
Thanks for any feedback
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