Hooking up a Kozy Heat Fireplace to a Smart Thermostat

I have the Chaska XL direct vent gas fireplace insert made by Kozy Heat. It currently is controlled between the SIT Proflame 2 Transmitter, which also serves as a thermostat for the fireplace, and the control board receiver. We use our normal furnace and this fireplace to help heat the house evenly, but turn down the temperature at night for both when we're asleep. I already have my furnace on a Honeywell Wifi Programmable Thermostat. The problem is that sometimes I forget to manually turn the fireplace down, so on those nights the fireplace will run all night to heat the entire house.

What I'm looking to do is put my fireplace on a smart thermostat, most likely the Nest, where I have the Nest plugged in, running underneath the fireplace and it grabbing the temperature from a wireless sensor across the room. I've had success with taking the main switch wires and connecting them to a basic bi-metallic strip thermostat, so my next step is to get a Nest and test it out.

I'm curious to see if there's anyone out there that has done a similar setup that could provide any advice or information that I should know as I move forward. I did find this link which talks about using a 24V AC Transformer to provide power to the nest via the RH and C connections, and know I'll have to do that, but am unaware of any other issues I may encounter as it seems this is not documented very well on the internet.

Thanks in advance for any information or helpful advice!

 

So what ? The thermostatic remote still controls it..... right ?

You want to install a nest thermostat under the firebox/inside the fireplace ?
The nest cannot force the fireplace to not run so you would need to disconnect the wireless remote system you are currently using to allow the nest to take over completely.

 

It could if I wanted it to, but that's not the ideal setup. I would either disable the remote thermostat or (more likely) put it into manual mode. The Nest thermostat would control when it would run based on the temperature in the room.


Yes, I'd have the Nest thermostat under the firebox directly connected to the control board, however it would be using the temperature of the Nest's wireless remote sensor from across the room. In my tests with the bi-metallic strip thermostat, when the temperature dropped below the mark it kicked on the fireplace as expected, and when it went above the mark it shut off the flames, but the control board allowed the blower to keep running until the hot air was blown out, so it did seem to work in my mind unless I'm missing something.

Here's a manual for a different fireplace model that has the same control board as mine which shows hooking up a wall thermostat directly to the control board (pages 30 and 31).

 

Ok..... here's the thing. Since that is not a 24vAC control system it will require a 24vAC transformer to run the nest and to operate a control relay. The nest uses electronic switching which won't activate the fireplace directly. The relay will be connected to the two wires that are used for a call for heat.

The easiest way to do it is to use what's called a fan center. It has a transformer and relay in one package and runs on 120vAC. I'll leave a link to one below for you to see what it looks like. It looks more complicated than it is. I can explain how to wire it if you choose to go that way.
Fan center

 

Thanks! I ended up going a much less expensive route ($12 vice $150+) and hooked up this WiFi switch via an old micro-USB phone charger. With this setup I leave the thermostat remote to do the work and just have the switch programmed to turn off/on with the programmed changes with the furnace.

 

Any chance you have pictures of how you did this. I really like the idea.