I just purchased a Honeywell digital thermostat.
The thermostat seems to cycle the furnace on and off much more
frequently than my old thermostat. I called Honeywell and they said
this was normal operation to insure that the ambient temperature
stayed in a narrow range. I would seem to think that such frequent
cycling would cause much more wear and tear on the equipment (I have a
hot water gas system). This concerns me and I was wondering if anyone
knows of a brand that doen't cycle the system as often as the
Honeywell. I can live with a higher variation of temperature for the
sake of the life of my heating system.

Thanks to all.

john

On 12 Mar 2004 17:30:22 -0800, john wrote:
I just purchased a Honeywell digital thermostat.
The thermostat seems to cycle the furnace on and off much more
frequently than my old thermostat. I called Honeywell and they said
this was normal operation to insure that the ambient temperature
stayed in a narrow range. I would seem to think that such frequent
cycling would cause much more wear and tear on the equipment (I have a
hot water gas system). This concerns me and I was wondering if anyone
knows of a brand that doen't cycle the system as often as the
Honeywell. I can live with a higher variation of temperature for the
sake of the life of my heating system.

What model? I have a Honeywell CT3500

If you read the directions, you may find that the Honeywell is adjustable
for cycles per hour, although, it does not say that in so many words (that
is what the numbers represent for different types of heat). For example
#1 is for gravity/steam, but I found that #3 maintains a more even
temperature with my steam heat. I think the default is #6 (for scorched
air), which may be too often for a hydronic (hot water) system.

But instead of a mechanical anticipator it also electronically anticipates
how long it needs to run to maintain temperature, so it may take some
cycles for it to learn how long it needs to run.

Decreasing cycles per hour may not make any difference in milder weather
when it runs less often anyway, but could result in wider temperature
swings in extremely cold weather if your home loses too much heat between
set cycles. Depending upon the heating system, wider temperature swings
may also be less efficient.

--
David Efflandt - All spam ignored http://www.de-srv.com/

"john" wrote in message
....
I would seem to think that such frequent
cycling would cause much more wear and tear on the equipment (I have a
hot water gas system). This concerns me and I was wondering if anyone
knows of a brand that doen't cycle the system as often as the
Honeywell. I can live with a higher variation of temperature for the
sake of the life of my heating system.

You can always go to one of the Crapola round Honeywell models that had a
big variation, but why? Really?

Just what is going to wear out from the cycling? The burner is either off
or on and will burn the same amount of time if the temperature fluctuates
one degree or five. . It is simple a gas valve that opens and closes to do
that. OK, that may war a bit more and instead of 20 years it may wear out
in 18 years.

The hot water is circulated in the system by a pump and motor. Again, the
amount of time running is going to be the same overall. Starting more
frequently may put a tad more wear and instead of 25 years the circulator
may die in 24 years. I have two. One lasted 20 years, the other is still
working after 23 years.

I have two thermostats that keep my zones within a degree. Very
comfortable. Nope, I'd never go back to the old ones with big fluctuations.
Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

"john" wrote in message
om...
I just purchased a Honeywell digital thermostat.
The thermostat seems to cycle the furnace on and off much more
frequently than my old thermostat. I called Honeywell and they said
this was normal operation to insure that the ambient temperature
stayed in a narrow range. I would seem to think that such frequent
cycling would cause much more wear and tear on the equipment (I have a
hot water gas system). This concerns me and I was wondering if anyone
knows of a brand that doen't cycle the system as often as the
Honeywell. I can live with a higher variation of temperature for the
sake of the life of my heating system.

Thanks to all.

john

The Honeywell rep is telling the truth. The Honeywell thermstats cycle in a
1 degree range to keep the house more comfortable. The "wear" from startup
of a gas system is essentially nil. The "wear" from startup of an A/C
compressor is higher, but you can virtually eliminate that "wear" by adding
hard-start kit to the compressor.

Most or all of the Honeywell digital thermostats can be adjusted to allow
for a wider cycling range, if you are really concerned.. Usually it's
controlled by cycle rate adjustment screws on the back of the thermostat.
Check the owners manual for more information.

Look to your adjustable anticipator, im sure it has one . If not
JUNK it .. but it should have a 1-10 setting . It may have come at
#4 as mine did I put it at # 2 . or whatever till you are
happy...

Hi You, hope you are having a nice day

On 12-Mar-04 At About 22:37:46, You Asked wrote to All
Subject: Digital Thermostat

YA From: "You Asked"

YA "john" wrote in message
YA om...

YA The "wear" from startup of an A/C compressor is higher, but you
YA can virtually eliminate that "wear" by adding hard-start kit to the
YA compressor.

This statement is not quite true. any time a compressor starts there is wear
on the windings and the hard start will not change this in any way. it does
help it start under high pressure conditions but does not in any way keep the
windings from expanding during startup.


-= HvacTech2 =-


... "Ever stop to think and then forget to start again?" - s.w.

___ TagDude 0.92á+[DM]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++
spam protection measure, Please remove the 33 to send e-mail

"HvacTech2" wrote in message
...


Hi You, hope you are having a nice day

On 12-Mar-04 At About 22:37:46, You Asked wrote to All
Subject: Digital Thermostat

YA From: "You Asked"

YA "john" wrote in message
YA om...

YA The "wear" from startup of an A/C compressor is higher, but you
YA can virtually eliminate that "wear" by adding hard-start kit to the
YA compressor.

This statement is not quite true. any time a compressor starts there is
wear
on the windings and the hard start will not change this in any way. it
does
help it start under high pressure conditions but does not in any way keep
the
windings from expanding during startup.


-= HvacTech2 =-


Also, lets not forget that nothing is going to stop the rings, and pistons
and such from wear, short of shutting the unit off forever.
Personal experence shows that when you add the hard start, you are asking
for a failure. If the compressor has gotten to the point that a normal cap
will not start and keep it running, you have the wear already on the
windings, and arm that are telling an experenced tech its time to do
something other than keep putting a bandaide on the problem.

Repeated start and stops will indeed increase wear, and add to the overall
cost of ownership....however, depending on the OPs particular stat from
Honeywell, it may well simply be the initiall learning period of the Smart
Recovery learning its program, since they use a fuzzy logic controller that
will vary the start and stop times a bit and this will go away after the
program as learned and will gradually change as the needs change.
Of course, he may also have the cycle per hour setting incorrect, and as we
all know in the trade, hydronic systems can be a bitch to set up with
digital stats from time to time.


.. "Ever stop to think and then forget to start again?" - s.w.

___ TagDude 0.92á+[DM]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++
spam protection measure, Please remove the 33 to send e-mail

I just purchased a Honeywell digital thermostat.
The thermostat seems to cycle the furnace on and off much more
frequently than my old thermostat. I called Honeywell and they said
this was normal operation to insure that the ambient temperature
stayed in a narrow range. I would seem to think that such frequent
cycling would cause much more wear and tear on the equipment (I have a
hot water gas system). This concerns me and I was wondering if anyone
knows of a brand that doen't cycle the system as often as the
Honeywell. I can live with a higher variation of temperature for the
sake of the life of my heating system.

Thanks to all.

john


Honeywell told you right! You typically want a 1 degree differential on a
forced air, and Hot water system---between 2 & 3 degrees on a steam system!
However if you don't like the Honeywell T-stat, pick up a Robertshaw 9400--It
has a nice easy to change differential, that is homeowner friendly!

"john" wrote in message
Quite frequently the furnace will go off immediately after firing up
with an accompanying odor of gas. My HVAC professional said that this
was due to the fact that it was a "flash" start with virtually no burn
time and that a small amount gas remained in the air but was harmless.
Nevertheless, I don't like it. I will be looking at the 9400 and
asking questions on how it functions before I purchase.

Are you sure it is the thermostat? Could be the differential on the heater
is not set right. In a hot water system, the thermostat tells the heater
that the room needs heat. That starts the circulator pump moving the
already heated water through the system.

OK, the water is circulating but it is cooling off as it gives its heat up
to the room. So, the sensor in the heater tells the burner to start. It
will burn until the water is heated up enough and then shut off. Then the
cycle is repeated as the water temperature goes down. This can happen a few
times during a heating cycle. If this is not adjusted properly the burner
will cycle too often or not often enough. You may have problems other than
the T stat.
Ed

Thanks to all who replied. I think I will go out and purchase the
Robertshaw as suggested. The frequent on and off cycling of the
furnace is annoying as well as wearing.

Make sure your contractor checks it out before you spend money that you don't
have too! Replacing the T-stat is a typical homeowner fix to all HVAC woes! 98%
of the time nothing is wrong with the stat! But since I can't see your system
from here, I can only evalutate based on what's told here! Some hot water
systems are set to maintain 180 degree water all the time, and may cycle a bit
in order to do this! I make my living doin this--If I had a dollar every time
the homeowner thought the problem was the t-stat, I would be a rich man! Best
of luck!

"Kdbcarwile" wrote in message
...
Thanks to all who replied. I think I will go out and purchase the
Robertshaw as suggested. The frequent on and off cycling of the
furnace is annoying as well as wearing.

Make sure your contractor checks it out before you spend money that you
don't
have too! Replacing the T-stat is a typical homeowner fix to all HVAC
woes! 98%
of the time nothing is wrong with the stat! But since I can't see your
system
from here, I can only evalutate based on what's told here! Some hot water
systems are set to maintain 180 degree water all the time, and may cycle a
bit
in order to do this! I make my living doin this--If I had a dollar every
time
the homeowner thought the problem was the t-stat, I would be a rich man!
Best
of luck!

Umm..you SHOULD have several dollars every time you have gone out and the
thermostat was replaced to fix a problem that wasnt.