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/