Block Heater, remote control

[GPintheMitten]

too bad im 300 feet away

guess ill have to stick with my timer

Or get a 200 foot extension cord.

 

[bja105]

I'm 60 miles from the house where my tractor is, our farm. I have a WiFi thermostat (Honeywell) that lets me check or change the house setpoint from anywhere. I was having problems with the gas regulator at the gas well freezing. Not wanting to risk freezing pipes, I wired an electric heater to an outlet powered through a 24v contactor, energized by G from the thermostat. If I want to turn on power to that outlet, I turn the fan setting to On from my iPad or computer. The same outlet could be used for the tractor block heater.

If that made sense to you, you can handle it. If it sounded Greek, use that WebMo mentioned earlier. Either one uses existing WiFi. Honeywell's high end (expensive) systems come with a dedicated router, and can include a web cam and remote control door locks by Schlage.

I think most any home automation system can have a set of 'Dry Contacts' that can be used to control a contactor or relay, and turn on a block heater.

 

[Pipestone Kid]

I have one similar to the amazon link, but I got it at ACE Hdwe. I am about 300 feet away and it works fine.

 

[Balerguy2]

All of you have contributed hugely..................... THANK YOU!

I screwed up failing to put in my 200+ feet to our tin (steel) Machine Shed. My "g" or "n" frequency router won't cut it. My phone is a Galaxy S1 which I "rooted" and replaced on it a newer Android Operating System kernel................. I downloaded "WeMo" but it won't load and execute. I see now "WeMo" needs at least an S2................ so my phone is just too old. But, this 4 year old GSM model plays most "apps" and works great as a phone through ATT < $9 bucks a month No Contract.

I would guess the X-10 will get the nod (Thanks hunter29) ! Not so elegant but maybe do the job.

Thank you everyone for all the help!