Want to control thermostat from basement apartment

[deanbrew]

I have a somewhat unusual situation, I think. I have a finished basement apartment in my house that I want to rent as a vacation rental. Until I can go the whole nine yards and install either a separate HVAC system for the basement apartment or a damper zoning system, I want people staying in the basement to be able to adjust the temperature of the HVAC system, basically overriding the temperature set on the main level thermostat.

I also want to be able to monitor and adjust the temperature of the whole house remotely from my phone or computer via a wifi connection, because we will be away much of the time until we move to the house on a permanent basis.

I haven't found anything that seems to do what I want. I am finding several options for wifi thermostats with remote sensors (Ecobee and Nest, and probably others), but you can't change the temperature up and down with the remote sensor. I have also found a non-wifi thermostat system (Venstar T1800 with T1119RF Add-A-Thermostat) that does exactly what I want, but it doesn't have wifi remote control. Basically, I could install the T1800 where the current thermostat is, and install the T1119 in the basement. Whichever thermostat is adjusted last controls the entire system. But the Venstar thermostat doesn't have remote wifi capability.

Does anyone know of a wifi thermostat that has a second remote thermostat that can be adjusted up and down? Or any alternatives that I'm not thinking about?

 

[Jadnashua]

The Nest app would let you adjust the temperature from the app. Using one of the remote sensors allows you to determine which area needs the heating/cooling.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[WorthFlorida]

Honeywell just came out with their T9 Model that uses remote sensors and from the Marketing BS it may do what you need. I received an email from Honeywell about 2-3 weeks ago about this new model from Honeywell but I haven't read into it that much. It seems you can prioritize which remote sensor the thermostat will adjust too plus it has motion sensing if the room is occupied or not to determine if the thermostat should respond.

It is wifi and Honeywell will allow multiple user access to make remote adjustments to override the program. I have the RTH9580WF and you can make program changes from the app or laptop but not system type programming, only temperature and time. It works extremely well.

https://www.honeywellhome.com/en/products/thermostat
https://t9.honeywellhome.com/

 

[Stuff]

It's bulky but I think Honeywell's Redlink may satisfy the OP's needs: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060ASUVK/ref=psdc_2054378011_t1_B001O4F8Y4
The EIM gets installed at the hvac system, Internet gateway at your router, thermostat battery powered so can go anywhere.
https://forwardthinking.honeywellhome.com/related_links/accessories/total_connect/50-1253.pdf