Just a note to those considering buying a programmable thermostat and
deciding on the make to buy.

I've just bought the Sunvic one from B&Q. At 30 quid, it is much cheaper
than a Drayton Digistat 3. Rather than programming with the normal 3 on/off
times per day, you can set up a heating profile with 24 dots representing
the hours and have complete freedom to set the dots (i.e. up to 12 periods
per day, if you are weird). You then set each day to the profile previously
set up. (There are 6 factory suggested programmes too). You can set each day
separately, or set 5/2 or 7 days all at the same time as you wish. You can
set both the 'on' and 'off' temperatures. It has logic to pre-empt the onset
of an 'on' period (but no external temperature sensor).

It displays the the time, call for heat, the day, the temperature and the 24
dot profile at all times. Although slightly bigger than the standard light
switch size, it only sticks out of the wall by a relatively small amount and
looks very classy. Much less intrusive than other makes. It also has 6
buttons, making programming much easier than those with fewer buttons. It
even has a electroluminescent backlight and manual override (both programme
advance and temperature adjust).

In use, it keeps temperature well within 1 degree at all times. Very highly
recommended and much better than the Drayton Digistat 3, IMHO.

Christian.

"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
t...
Just a note to those considering buying a programmable thermostat and
deciding on the make to buy.

I've just bought the Sunvic one from B&Q. At 30 quid, it is much cheaper
than a Drayton Digistat 3. Rather than programming with the normal 3
on/off
times per day, you can set up a heating profile with 24 dots representing
the hours and have complete freedom to set the dots (i.e. up to 12 periods
per day, if you are weird).



Not quite sure what you mean by "24 dots representing the hours". Hopefully
this doesn't mean that the on/off times have to be in whole hours?

Can you, for example, switch on at 06:50 and off at 09:35?

Roger

Not quite sure what you mean by "24 dots representing the hours".
Hopefully this doesn't mean that the on/off times have to be in
whole hours?

Your hope is misplaced. But then, I've always wanted programmers to be much
more granular. I hated scrolling through the minutes. I mean who wants to
turn on at 16:18 instead of 16:17? Obviously, if you want finer granularity
than an hour, you'll be disappointed. At the end of the day, provided you
have reasonable insulation and draught proofing, keeping a place warm for
half an hour longer than you wanted won't cost much. It was heating it up to
temperature in the first place that costed you.

Christian.

"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
t...
Not quite sure what you mean by "24 dots representing the hours".
Hopefully this doesn't mean that the on/off times have to be in
whole hours?

Your hope is misplaced. But then, I've always wanted programmers to be
much
more granular. I hated scrolling through the minutes. I mean who wants to
turn on at 16:18 instead of 16:17? Obviously, if you want finer
granularity
than an hour, you'll be disappointed. At the end of the day, provided you
have reasonable insulation and draught proofing, keeping a place warm for
half an hour longer than you wanted won't cost much. It was heating it up
to
temperature in the first place that costed you.

Christian.




I agree that a granularity of one minute isn't required - but programming to
the nearest quarter hour (like the old mechanical devices with removeable
pegs) would be nice.

Roger

I agree that a granularity of one minute isn't required - but programming
to the nearest quarter hour (like the old mechanical devices with
removeable pegs) would be nice.

Whilst I can see that hourly setting takes the other extreme, I am quite
willing to give up quarter hour granuality in exchange for the immediate
display of today's complete programme at all times. You can tell at a glance
whether the heating's going to turn off during the day and that the
programme looks sensible. I suspect many central heating programmers are set
to weird timings, but no-one ever notices.

But then, everyone has their own priorities.

Christian.