Heat your home with your wood stove, gas stove or fireplace more efficiently!

ThermGuard™ increases the efficiency of your wood or gas stove by turning on your furnace fan periodically during the day and night. This action circulates the warm air throughout your home and heats your home more evenly. Very effective as a furnace fan timer! No more worries about freezing pipes in your hot-water heated home! ThermGuard™ works with hot-water heated homes by periodically turning on the boiler and circulating a small amount of hot water through your system. It never gives your pipes a chance to freeze! You save money on your heating bill!

Key Benefits

Simple Installation. Typically takes less than 5 minutes.

One-button programming.

Works with all low-voltage thermostats (not millivolt).

Permits lower temperatures in unused rooms in your home.

Eliminates anti-freeze and heat tape on hot-water heating pipes in crawl spaces and other unheated areas of your home.

No batteries required. Great for vacation homes.

Great for manufactured homes with wood stoves.

Applications:


Wood or Gas Stoves with a Forced-Air Furnace

With an alternate heat source such as a wood or gas stove supplying heat to the home, the thermostat typically does not turn on the furnace. This is the reason alternate heat sources are used. What can happen is that the alternate heat source heats one area of the home while the other areas get cold. ThermGuard circulates the warm air throughout the home using the fan on your furnace. The warm air is drawn into the heating system through the return and spread throughout the home. This heats the house more evenly and can also prevent freezing in rooms where the doors are kept closed such as spare bedrooms.

Wood or Gas Stoves with Hot-Water Heat

With an alternate heat source such as a wood or gas stove supplying heat to the home, the thermostat typically does not turn on the boiler. That is the reason alternate heat sources are used. The problem occurs when the alternate heat source is used and some areas of the home are closed off to the heat (such as spare bedrooms), or some of the heating pipes are run through walls exposed to conditions in which might cause them to freeze on cold days with wind. ThermGuard circulates hot water when your thermostat does not. This hot water circulation will keep the pipes from freezing.

Wood or Gas Stoves in a Manufactured Home

Many manufactured homes have their plumbing run beneath the home. The furnace must run periodically to keep the area with the pipes warm. If an alternate heat source is such as a wood stove is used, the furnace typically will not cycle. This can cause the pipes to freeze. ThermGuard circulates and can be programmed to run the furnace for a short period regardless of the thermostat reading. This cycle will keep the pipes from freezing.

Vacation Homes with Hot-Water Heat

Many vacation homes are vacant for long periods of time during the winter. In order to keep the pipes from freezing, most people keep their thermostats set at an “away” temperature. Some “away” temperatures are fairly high (60°or so), while others are kept lower (50° degrees). Homes with their temperatures kept in the 60° range could be wasting energy. Using ThermGuard, the thermostat could be set to a lower temperature. The thermostat would control the temperature of the inner walls of the home and keep the household hot and cold water lines from freezing. ThermGuard would periodically circulate water through the heating system and keep the heating pipes (which typically reach to the extremities of the house) from freezing. Since heating pipes typically reach to the extremities of the home, having the thermostat set to the 50° range runs the risk of freezing their heating pipes on extremely cold days. You may be saving money on the heating bill, but the risk is there. ThermGuard will work to keep the extremities from freezing by periodically circulating hot water through the heating system. Many vacation homes have heated garages. When the homeowner is away, there is little need for heat in the garage. ThermGuard will circulate hot water through the garage heating pipes on a regular basis to keep them from freezing while the thermostat can be set to a very low temperature.

Heated Garage using Hot-Water Heat

Many homes have heated garages. When the homeowner is away, there is little need for heat in the garage. ThermGuard will circulate hot water through the garage heating pipes on a regular basis to keep them from freezing and the thermostat can be set to off or a very low temperature.

How does ThermGuard increase the efficiency of my wood stove, gas stove or fireplace insert in my home with a furnace?

By turning on your furnace fan periodically during the day and night, ThermGuard circulates the warm air from the room with the stove to other parts of the house. Your home gets heated more evenly and you don't have one room too hot while the others are too cool. By circulating the warm air into rooms that may be closed off from the main area, such as unused bedrooms, you prevent freezing conditions that may exist on bitter cold days.

How does ThermGuard prevent my radiant or baseboard heating pipes from freezing?

By circulating a small amount of hot water periodically during the day and night, ThermGuard never gives your heating pipes a change to freeze. ThermGuard acts as a timer to turn on your heating system regardless of what temperature the thermostat reads. This is particularly useful when an alternative heat source is used in your home such as a wood or gas stove/fireplace insert or you have rooms in your home that you close off from your standard heat source.

How does ThermGuard help lower my heating bill?

In homes with furnaces, ThermGuard will heat your home more evenly with your alternative heat source and thus lower your heating bill when more of the heat comes from your stove. ThermGuard can also help to lower your heating bill by allowing the temperature in unused rooms of your home to be reduced. For homes with hot-water heat and an alternative heat source, the thermostat can be turned very low or off altogether and ThermGuard will circulate hot water through your heating pipes periodically to keep them from freezing while the stove warms the home. When a home is vacant for a period, such as a vacation home, the thermostat can be set to a much lower point since ThermGuard will keep the heating pipes from freezing. The internal temperature of the home just needs to be high enough to keep the internal hot and cold water pipes from freezing.

Is ThermGuard difficult to install?

ThermGuard simple attaches to the existing thermostat connection points. There are two wires which are connected to the same wires running to your thermostat. In most cases, this involves loosening two screws on your thermostat, inserting ThermGuard’s wires and tightening the screws. It typically takes less than 5 minutes.

Is ThermGuard difficult to program?

ThermGuard uses a very simple single button programming method. The button is held down for 3 seconds to enter into programming mode. The button is then pressed for the number of hours to wait before turning on your fan or heating system. Once the hours are entered, the button is pressed to indicate the number of minutes to run. ThermGuard uses two LEDs to indicate when to enter hours or when to enter minutes.

I have more than one temperature zone in my hot-water heated home, how many ThermGuard units do I need?

One ThermGuard unit should be used for each zone which has heating pipes which extend to the outside walls of your home. Certainly, one should be used for any heating pipes that run through garages or attics.

Should I turn off my ThermGuard during the summer months?

In a home with a furnace, ThermGuard can be switched off. In a home with hot-water heat, the interval and duration should be adjusted to run your heating system for a couple of minutes each day. This will prevent your valves and pumps from seizing, keep your seals from drying out and also prevent air bubbles from accumulating in zones. Air bubbles can cause your pumps to malfunction when your system switches on for the winter.

Do I have to install ThermGuard under my thermostat?

No, ThermGuard can be installed in the mechanical room of your home where the lines are run from the 24V transformer to your thermostat.

Will ThermGuard work with my thermostat?

ThermGuard will work with most thermostats including standard mercury switch thermostats and newer programmable thermostats.

Will ThermGuard work with my heating system?

ThermGuard will work with all types of low-voltage (24VAC) furnace and hot-water heating systems. ThermGuard supports hot-water heating systems that have zone controllers such as Taco or Eire. It will also work with systems that have the zone valves controlled directly by the thermostat.