Remote Hayward Thermostat

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AndyBSN

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Jul 16, 2018
14
Freeport, IL
I bought a H250FDN heater last season for our new above ground pool. I have not hooked it up yet, but I'm going to be doing so shortly.

I would like to put a remote thermostat in the house so I don't have to go all the way to the pool to start the heater or change the temp. If I am reading the manual correctly, this is possible; I would just have to run a decent gauge two wire thermostat wire to the house? Am I correct?

Also, will any conventional heating thermostat work for this? I would like to get a WiFi thermostat if possible.
 
You are on the right path. Let’s seperate the two problems.

The heater can be remotely controlled using the firemans switch. That is the way pool automation controls heaters. It is just a 2 wire low voltage line that when connected the heater fires and when open the heater is off. You can run the firemans switch line into your house and control it by any SPST switch. This can include a WIFI connected switch.

Changing the temperature setting in your pool gets more complicated. Now you need a thermistor in your pool plumbing to read pool water temperature connected to a control panel where you can set a desired temperature and the control panel connected to the heater firemans switch. That is what a pool automation controller does. I don’t know of any simple low cost ones.

So if you want to control the heater on/off from inside the house and temperature changes from the heater controls then that is easy.
 
Thanks. That makes sense. Pool automation systems are so expensive for what they do. I've hot wired a beverage cooler with a thermistor controlled switch for not much money seems like a similar setup would not be too difficult to develop.

The wifi switch is a good idea though. Only issue is most Wifi switches, like Alexa type switches, use 120v line voltage and the heater thermostat is 24v.... I'm not sure if I can have the wifi part run on 120v but have the switch itself be a separate voltage.
 
Most Wifi switches that are designed to control lights are designed to steal 120V power from the light circuit to power themselves. You need an appliance switch where the WiFi side is separately powered and controls a SPST relay.
 
There are a couple of ways you could go about what you're wanting to do.

As for setting a remote thermostat, you could get a hydronic thermostat with remote sensor and put the floor sensor in the pool water and use that to operate the heater. The issue with that is that someone could switch it to air temp control. I haven't researched it a lot, so I don't know if the control can be 'locked' to one input.

If you want to use a WiFi switch instead. I think that's the best way to go. Just get a WiFi relay switch or a WiFi garage/gate opener.

What you're looking for is a switch that uses separate contacts for power and output. Most WiFi switches just switch one leg of the incoming power so you'd have to use a separate relay to switch the heater fireman's switch. That's acceptable, it just adds another device to the circuit. The caveat with switching the fireman's switch is that it will always have to be on (or bypassed) for the heater to operate.

Below are a few devices that would work for you.

Shelly 1 Wireless Relay switch.
Sonoff 4 ch WiFi Relay

NOTE: I've never used the Shelly 1 device, but it looks very interesting and has good reviews.
 
Thanks. Forgot to check in on this post. Sonoff DC wifi switch is what I ended up going with. Super cheap around $10.

I was going to run a 14ga wire to the house for this but I think I'll just put an outdoor wifi access point by the pool. ( We have bad WiFi at the pool). The wifi access point will give me more options in the future anyway...security camera etc...

If anyone in the future is interested in how this went, DM me and I will let you know.
 
Bama Rambler said:
There are a couple of ways you could go about what you're wanting to do.

As for setting a remote thermostat, you could get a hydronic thermostat with remote sensor and put the floor sensor in the pool water and use that to operate the heater. The issue with that is that someone could switch it to air temp control. I haven't researched it a lot, so I don't know if the control can be 'locked' to one input.

If you want to use a WiFi switch instead. I think that's the best way to go. Just get a WiFi relay switch or a WiFi garage/gate opener.

What you're looking for is a switch that uses separate contacts for power and output. Most WiFi switches just switch one leg of the incoming power so you'd have to use a separate relay to switch the heater fireman's switch. That's acceptable, it just adds another device to the circuit. The caveat with switching the fireman's switch is that it will always have to be on (or bypassed) for the heater to operate.

Below are a few devices that would work for you.

Shelly 1 Wireless Relay switch.
Sonoff 4 ch WiFi Relay

NOTE: I've never used the Shelly 1 device, but it looks very interesting and has good reviews.
Click to expand...
So how exactly do you do this. Which thermostat is used?
 
AndyBSN said:
Thanks. Forgot to check in on this post. Sonoff DC wifi switch is what I ended up going with. Super cheap around $10.

I was going to run a 14ga wire to the house for this but I think I'll just put an outdoor wifi access point by the pool. ( We have bad WiFi at the pool). The wifi access point will give me more options in the future anyway...security camera etc...

If anyone in the future is interested in how this went, DM me and I will let you know.
Click to expand...
Really interested in how you did this. Want to do the same
 
I ended up going with a Thermomart brand, it's basically the Sonoff unit with a few modifications to power itself off a 5v usb power supply. The kit also includes a temperature probe which has a short cable and while you can buy an extension through Thermomart, you can save a few dollars and buy the Sonoff temperature probe extension cable. You'll need to purchase a waterproof electrical box separately that's large enough for the unit since it's not waterproof. I replaced the 1/4" drain plug on my heater water inlet pipe with the 1/4" screw in temperature probe, no drilling required and no leaks!

Amazon.com: Wi-Fi Gas Heater Pool Spa Hot tub programmable Thermostat/Timer Remote/Receiver & Control Temperature : Industrial & Scientific

Amazon.com: Wi-Fi Gas Heater Pool Spa Hot tub programmable Thermostat/Timer Remote/Receiver & Control Temperature : Industrial & Scientific
www.amazon.com

You can reference these instructions for how to hook it up to the heater remote terminals

pg.29 has the remote heater terminals on your unit
 

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toolerb50 said:
I ended up going with a Thermomart brand, it's basically the Sonoff unit with a few modifications to power itself off a 5v usb power supply. The kit also includes a temperature probe which has a short cable and while you can buy an extension through Thermomart, you can save a few dollars and buy the Sonoff temperature probe extension cable. You'll need to purchase a waterproof electrical box separately that's large enough for the unit since it's not waterproof. I replaced the 1/4" drain plug on my heater water inlet pipe with the 1/4" screw in temperature probe, no drilling required and no leaks!

Amazon.com: Wi-Fi Gas Heater Pool Spa Hot tub programmable Thermostat/Timer Remote/Receiver & Control Temperature : Industrial & Scientific

Amazon.com: Wi-Fi Gas Heater Pool Spa Hot tub programmable Thermostat/Timer Remote/Receiver & Control Temperature : Industrial & Scientific
www.amazon.com

You can reference these instructions for how to hook it up to the heater remote terminals

pg.29 has the remote heater terminals on your unit
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. Just ordered the stuff and printed your info.
 
To ensure this post never dies, the haywards typically have a 2 or 3 wire option. With 2 wires the heater is set at its max temp and the device sending the on or off signal must measure the water temp. With the 3 wire option the device sending the on or off can select spa or pool temp just as you would at the heater's control panel.

I used the 3 wire option with my diy sonoff relays. The common leg of the relay gets the 12v signal from the heater and depending if it switches on and sends it back to spa or pool (you'll need 2 relays) that mode is selected on the heaters display, just as if you can selected it there. Then the heater heats to that preset temp until the relay removes the signal.

It seems that every year they change the connections at the heater so you'll need to find your year/model instructions for your heater. When I opened my heater there was a plastic bag inside with a wiring harness for the remote connection clearly labeled and I just had to plug it into my heater's control board and then connect the clearly labeled (pool, common, spa) wires to my relays.
 
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