On Saturday, December 6, 2014 2:01:24 AM UTC-5, micky wrote:
On Fri, 05 Dec 2014 23:52:18 -0500, wrote:
Any suggestions? Thanks
The thermostat you envision does exist - made/sold by "smart home".
see it at
http://www.smarthome.com/wireless-th...-receiver.html
This one looks pretty good and it's only 200 dollars, not 700.
1) I was shopping for a furnace, and they all pretty much insisted I
buy a new fancy thermostat with the furnace, even though I have a 7-day
setback Heat/AC stat that works just fine. Were they bluffing?
Maybe. One factor is they probably prefer using a new thermostat that
they know versus a customer's old one. They may have past experiences
of customers having problems, callbacks, etc where it turns out it was
the old thermostat.
One key issue is if you're getting a two stage furnace, which, IMO,
most people should. With a two stage, it fires at full capacity or
about 2/3's capacity. Most of the time, when it's just maintaining,
it fires at the 2/3's. These can be set up two different ways. One
is to set it so the furnace always comes on at low stage. Then, if it's
still running X mins later, it will switch itself to high stage. The
X mins may be settable to like 3 mins or 8 mins, etc.
The other way to set it up is with a two stage thermostat. That is the
better way. In that case, the thermostat makes the call whether to use
low stage or high stage. The thermostat, unlike the furnace, knows right
away if the temp needs to be raised just one degree or 5 degrees. The
benefit is you get more heat faster when you need it, instead of waiting
8 mins firing on low.
So, if they are including a dual stage thermostat with a dual stage
furnace and setting it up to use it, then there is a good reason for
the new thermostat. One problem though. The two stage thermostat needs
an extra wire. If that isn't there, in your wall, almost all installers
are going to set it up in the timed mode, ie where a two stage thermostat
isn't going to matter.
Just
trying to squeeze more money out of me? None of them offered a remote
control thermostat.
Today if I were getting a new thermostat, I'd want a wifi one. That way,
if you're going on a trip, maybe not sure when you're coming back, you
can connect via smartphone on the way back and have the house at temp
when you arrive. It's also good if you're not sure you turned back the
temp when you left, want to check the house temp to make sure the system
is working, etc. Plus you can use your smartphone as a remote while in
the house. It's not exactly what the OP wants though, because everyone
who wants to fiddle with it needs a smartphone, not a shared remote on the
table.
So if I bought this, could I use it with my brand new furnace/AC.
Surely t he answer is yes.
Yes.
Or would I get stuck replacing it soon after I buy it, because I bought
a furnace that had its own assigned stat?
There are probably some furnaces now that require their own brand
specific thermostat. But most don't and you don't have to buy the
system that needs the special one.
2) Also, from the Details, what does this mean: "When more than one
transmitter is used, the receiver will only accept commands
from the transmitter that was last used (button pressed). All other set
points and modes from other transmitters are ignored. If the transmitter
with Unit ID Number 1 has a schedule and is in Program On mode, the
receiver will revert back to following the programmed schedule when a
time period change occurs, even if the transmitter with Unit ID Number 1
is not the current commanding transmitter."
IDK, it's poorly worded and seems to contradict itself. It sounds like
whichever remote sent it the last command is what it does. But that last
command could be from a remote that has a time program set in it, in which
case, even if that remote is not the one last used, it will become the last
one used when the time arrives and it issues a new command.
I"m not going to get more than one transmitter, but it sounds like there
is no point to having more than one!! The first 4 lines have to be a
mistake, right?
See above.