Thermostat location

[frozen]

Just curious at to what the general consensus is for thermostat location. I've got an old boiler baseboard hot water system. Thermostat is currently in the living room/family room. The problem that I think I'm running in to is that with the lights and TV (42" flat screen) and everyone in the room, there is a lot of additional heat in the room. Would I be better off moving it away from these heat sources?

I recently picked up a cen tech infrared thermometer from Harbor Freight and have been playing with it non-stop trying to figure out all my cold spots, etc. The bedrooms run about 5-8 degrees cooler than the living room. Turn the TV and lights off in the living room, and everything equals out. Just makes for a cold climb into bed at night.

[Dana]

You've answered your own question. Putting the thermostat near a heat source, or having heat sources in some rooms, not others will always unbalance the system leading to hot & cold rooms.

If you want a warm climb into bed, get an electric blanket (or a lazy dog. :-) ) Moving the thermostat to a different location will likely make the living/family rooms extra-warm when fully occupied.

The alternative is to micro-zone the system, which can lead to short cycling and lower efficiency with old massive boilers unless you swap out the fin-tube baseboard for something with much higher water volume, or use a buffer tank as a hydraulic separator, plumbing it primary/secondary. (It becomes a real hydronic design problem.)