I want a programable thermostat, what do I get??
 

Hey everyone,

I have a simple single zone forced hot air heating system with a mechanical
thermostat. I believe it is low voltage. I have no AC.

I want to get a programable thermostat but don't understand the lingo.
On this site:
http://www.honeywell-thermostat.com/...hermostat.html
they talk about single stage, two stage, multi-stage etc.

What's a good thermostat to buy?

Jeff

John wrote:
I have a simple single zone forced hot air heating system with a
mechanical thermostat. I believe it is low voltage. I have no AC.

I want to get a programable thermostat but don't understand the lingo.

No problem - it sounds like you have the most common of systems - single
stage heat only. In this case you can use any number of programmable
thermostats. For your application consider the new Honeywell RTH7400 /
7500, available at most HD/Lowes/Menards, etc.

http://content.honeywell.com/yourhom...ts/RTH7400.asp

I'd get one of the new adaptive types. With regular programmables, you
set the time for the temp setting to change. How long it takes the
system to get the room temp to that point varies depending on the
current temp, the outside temp, whether heating or cooling, etc. So,
if you want it to be 70 at 7AM, you have to set it earlier, like
6:15AM.

You set the adaptive ones for the actual temp you want at the given
time. So, in this example, you'd simply set it for 7AM. The
thermostat then calculates when to raise the setting based on the
recent history of system performance.

On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 08:01:38 -0500, "John" wrote:
Hey everyone,

I have a simple single zone forced hot air heating system with a mechanical
thermostat. I believe it is low voltage. I have no AC.

I want to get a programable thermostat but don't understand the lingo.
On this site:
http://www.honeywell-thermostat.com/...hermostat.html
they talk about single stage, two stage, multi-stage etc.

What's a good thermostat to buy?
Jeff

Almost 5 years ago, I bought a cheapo Robertshaw 9600 programmable
thermostat. It was dirt cheap and has performed perfectly and I love
it. Therefore, I think that the cheaper thermostats will do fine
and the others have 'sucker' written all over them.

If I were to shop for another, some things I might change:

1. Slightly larger LCD display.

2. 7 day programmable instead of 5/2 .

That's all I can think of. I love it and it has saved lots of
money or made my home so much more comfortable than it was before.

PJ