boiler-control-appdaemon/README.md

Boiler Control - AppDaemon

AppDaemon script that optimizes when to power (heat up) the boiler with respect to the hourly (dynamic) electricity prices.

Configuration

Copy boilercontrol.py to your appdaemon config /apps folder.

In apps.yaml, activate the app by adding something like this:

  boiler_control:
    module: boilercontrol
    class: BoilerControl
    # Switch entity that turns on/off the boiler
    boiler_switch: switch.boiler_switch_0
    # Sensor entity which contains the current dynamic electricity prices. This sensor should have an attribute "raw_today", which contains a dictionary with the prices per hour
    price_sensor: sensor.nordpool
    # (Optional) sensor to add to home assistant which contains the output of the optimization script
    output_sensor: sensor.boiler_control_output

    # Minimal number of hours the boiler should be powered per day
    boiler_on_for_hours: 6
    # The algorithm splits the day up into equal size "periods", and tries to ensure the boiler gets at least one hour of power during each period. 
    # This variable controls how many periods of boiler activity each day should have
    boiler_reheat_periods_per_day: 4

You can use ApexCharts to display to output of the algorithm. Config:

type: custom:apexcharts-card
graph_span: 24h
header:
  title: Energy price today (€/kWh)
  show: true
span:
  start: day
now:
  show: true
  label: Now
series:
  - entity: sensor.nordpool
    float_precision: 3
    type: column
    data_generator: |
      return entity.attributes.raw_today.map((start, index) => {
        return [new Date(start["start"]).getTime() + 30 * 1000 * 60, entity.attributes.raw_today[index]["value"]];
      });
  - entity: sensor.boiler_control_output
    float_precision: 0
    name: Boiler controller
    type: line
    curve: stepline
    stroke_width: 2
    data_generator: |
      const val = entity.attributes.average_price
      return [[0,0], ...entity.attributes.merged_blocks.flatMap(b => {
        return [[new Date(b["start"]).getTime(), val], [new Date(b["end"]).getTime(), 0]]
      })]
yaxis:
  - min: 0
    decimals: 2