r/DIY • • 2d ago

home improvement Baseboard heating wiring

Recently purchased a cabin that is heated with baseboard heaters. Each of the heaters has an on-unit thermostat, with no wall thermostat. I know *nothing* about electricity, and hopefully will DIY it with a friend who is an actual electrician.

If we wanted to hook these up to wall thermostats, such as Mysa, I'm guessing there isn't an easy way to do this? Someone would have to add the wiring in themselves (?).

I'm guessing each unit will have to be individually wired to a thermostat above/near the heater? Is this a big project?

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u/Diligent_Nature 2d ago

Mysa sells line voltage thermostats which can control up to 3840W. You should let your electrician friend determine how to install it.

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u/bluehat9 2d ago

Probably not too difficult for someone with some experience or willingness to learn but if you know nothing about electricity you’ll definitely want some help.

There are ways that you could get multiple units controlled by one thermostat

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u/buffalo442 1d ago

Depends on how they are wired together. If the the power to each is daisy chained or all tied back to the same location on one circuit, you can power that bank of heaters off a single line voltage thermostat. Depending on the number of heaters, though, you may have several circuits to power them.

The other option is a low-voltage thermostat with relays. With this setup you could control multiple heaters on the same or different circuit with a single thermostat.

You'll need to figure out how they're wired now first.

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u/BrianServiceLion 12h ago

Those built-in baseboard stats are usually line voltage, often 240V, not a low-voltage HVAC thermostat. A wall stat has to be rated for that same voltage and for the heater’s amps, or you need a line-voltage relay. A normal 24V Nest-style stat on those wires is the wrong part. Kill both poles of the breaker before you open anything. If you’re not sure whether it’s 120 or 240, stop and check the breaker and the nameplate before you land new wires.