Anyone have experience with mounting a remote temperature sensor behind acoustic fabric. My gut says the fabric won't alter the temp readings, but no one seems to really be able to give me an answer.

Products are remote temp sensor for Lutron Touch Pro thermostat (Honeywell VisionPro 8000 equivalent) and Guilford of Maine fabric in 2" acoustic walls. I can keep the sensor right behind the fabric.

Have 8 of these going into a job and have tried talking to Lutron & Honeywell without receiving a concrete answer.

Assuming you are using the wireless Temp Sensors...

You may want to rethink hiding them - batteries and all.

If painting over the temp sensor doesn't affect the reading the fabric shouldn't.

Sounds like you should do a few trials with fabric samples and one covered sensor and another uncovered.

No, it's actually the wired sensors which are a Honeywell product so batteries aren't an issue.  Just concerned that maybe airflow might be restricted enough to cause an issue.

Contrary to what everyone believes, fabric does not breath. Painting a temp sensor's surface does not interfere with air flow. Putting the sensor behind fabric will prevent air from getting to it, thus giving you false / inaccurate readings.

Putting a speaker behind fabric is one thing. Putting a temp sensor behind fabric is something different altogether. I wouldn't do it.

P2P is right about air flow but that's not all there is to it. It will take longer to react to temperature changes, so may not respond rapidly enough for you. A sensor in the air will react much more rapidly than a sensor mounted to the wall and a painted sensor will react more slowly than an unpainted one. Do a mental experiment here: they say painting it won't affect it, right? Imagine forty layers of paint. Paint DOES affect it. The question is, does it react rapidly enough for you?

Lack of air flow through a fabric is not going to stop a sensor from working. It just slows it down. If the ambient temperature is not going to change rapidly anyway, this might work okay for you. It seems to me that the word "might" is exactly why Lutron and Honeywell won't give you a concrete answer.

Any chance of hiding the sensor in the room? Or even having the painter match the fabric in an inconspicuous place?

Can you try it at home?

I doubt the GOM will interfere enough to be noticeable, but it shouldn't take long to test.

Will it be visible behind the GOM?

Fixed seating? How about under a seat? Can multiple sensors be averaged?

Will the sensor need to be accessible, for replacement? Do they fail?

Thanks guys... I'll probably have to put up a test panel which is something the designer and client have been asking for any way (to see how the fabric track system works) so I can install one of the sensors in fabric and one on a separate thermostat not in the fabric to see what happens.

Still going to be difficult to tell if there is any difference aside from just spot checking the readings.

I have 8 of these going into the lower level of a home and all of them are slated to go behind fabric walls.  The fabric walls are really the only location to hide them... the walls that aren't covered in GOM fabric are covered with drapery panels, water features, living walls (plants) or art.

The house has radiant heat that will be controlled by a different set of tstats and sensors in the floor.  The Lutron tstats will control additional forced air heat and cooling which is all hydronic and driven from boiler & chillers sent through heat exchangers.

One problem is the recommended remote sensor from Honeywell is an ugly little box and not a disc sensor: [Link: customer.honeywell.com]

Is anyone aware of a small disc sensor that's 10K, Type 2 curve that might be a compatible replacement?

The fabric walls are 2" deep QuestTrac with assorted acoustic treatments behind them so the fabric can be easily removed if service is required.

The job has over 3000 sq ft of acoustic wall and ceiling treatment... I'm in the office right now working up materials.

Air may very well pass through the fabric - it all depends on the weave.

Moreover we are talking about heat - the air does not need to move to pass the heat.

The Lutron LR-TEMP-FLSH is 10k type 2 disc. Can't that be connected to the S1/S2 terminal of your t-stat?

Lutron tech support said the LR-TEMP-FLSH only works with the HVAC Controller and not the TouchPro.  It must have a different temperature cure?

I believe the Aprilaire Temps Sensors are 10k but not sure about the curve...

Ok, you got me interested so I started Googling:

10K Type II sensors seem to be fairly common: here's a whole product line which seems as though it should cover a wide variety of scenarios ([Link: workaci.com])

And here's a link to buy one of those "plastic disc" sensors:
[Link: energycontrol.com]

Though I wonder if, since it is going behind fabric, if using a metal sensor ([Link: energycontrol.com]) would provide quicker response? Thermal conductivity and all that. Instructions for the stainless steel wall-plate state: "Be sure that the sensor is not mounted on an outside wall, due to the extreme temperature changes from either drafts or heat transfer." Mounted to an interior wall, that responsiveness could be a good thing.

If mounted to an interior wall, a metal sensor will rapidlly transfer heat to the wall. That is, being connected to the wall will slow down its rise or fall in temperature.

I haven't been able to find anything with the proper curve to be compatible with the Lutron thermostat.  If you're interested, the link below is to the manual which shows the resistance curve on page 4.

[Link: customer.honeywell.com]

I checked out a few sensors on the links you provided and couldn't find anything that matches.