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Re:Building an open source Nest by parfe on Friday January 17, 2014 @11:17AM (#7076526)
Not large at all. One thermostat per room. With electric heat you have to put a thermostat in line between the circuit breakers and the heating element (radiant panels in my case). Centralizing the house on a single thermostat, like you would with forced air, would actually be incredibly difficult. It would also lose the benefit of fine control; one of the few positives of electric heat.
Re:Building an open source Nest by aconbere on Friday January 17, 2014 @02:48PM (#7077995)
Worth pointing out (and you touch on this above) that this is not a function of electric heat but a function specifically of the type of electric heat (radiant in this case). I have electric heat by way of a ducted electric heat pump which is not zoned and thus centralized. Zoned ducted and non-ducted electric heat pumps both offer localized control over heating.
Re:Building an open source Nest by URSpider94 on Saturday January 18, 2014 @05:03PM (#7082432)
for what its worth, people in the trades would not consider a heat pump "electric heat", even though of course the power does come from electricity.

electric heat refers specifically to heat generated by heating an element with current.

Re:Building an open source Nest by aconbere on Thursday January 30, 2014 @11:13AM (#7151409)
Fascinating! (coming back to this late). What would the consider an electric heat pump, or what would they call it?
Re:Building an open source Nest by jusben1369 on Friday January 17, 2014 @11:34AM (#7076641)
Got it. Thanks. Sorry for my ignorance.
Re:Building an open source Nest by kisielk on Friday January 17, 2014 @05:23PM (#7078864)
The same is also true for baseboard heaters, in general there is one thermostat per room.