digital home thermostats
 

Just had my gas furance get it's fall "checkup service" the service tech said i should buy a digital/programable thermostat, said i would save money over the "old school" dial version I currently have,as they aren't very accurate vs the digital ones. opinions? pro and cons of these? i know it a fairly cheap and easy remove/replace deal. is it really worth it? 1300SF 3 bdrm house, well insulated, gas heat, central air,

For the little amount more they cost I would recommend them. I have a 4 zone setup and its nice to be able to control everything automatically, especially when my mother use to come over on certain days to watch the kids while were working and jack the heat right up and forget to turn it down after wards. They are cheap and easy to install, well worth it. I put the Honeywell 7 day ones in a 4 zone setup.

to be honest, our house came with one, and we still use the 'hold' feature, which is no different that the 'set it and forget it' dials of the non-digital thermostats. this is in a 2100 sq ft 3/2/2 single story house. if it were 2 stories, i might use the zone feature. if i had a dial thermostat, i'd keep it.

They are nice because you can program to heat/cool the house during certain times of day. That is were the savings comes from. No more reliable than the Honeywell dial-mechanical type though.

They are worth every penny if you are not home all day.

What's the difference on how accurate it is.. Warm is warm and cool is cool. You set it where you are comfortable. As far as programming a T-stat, That is great if you and your wife and your family always have the SAME schedule. WE do not and it would be a pain in the butt to keep changing it week to week.

Agree 100%. The savings comes after you leave the house and the heat doesn't come on until it reaches the "away" setpoint. The same occurs when you got to bed

well I'm gone at least 10 hrs a day during the work week, i usually set it at 70 and forget it. the tech told me that the dial units aren't as sensitive to changes/ temp drop,rise, and cause your furnace to run longer than needed, but i would think being "too sensitive" would cause it to come "on" and "off" more often negating any savings? i don't want it coming on every 1 degree drop in temp,but, if it shuts off earlier it would be a benefit. sounds kinda like "spin" talk from the tech wanting to sell me more products

If you are the type of person that sets it and forgets it a digital programmable stat will not benefit you!

Shawn

Why do you have an annual check up? Gas isn't like oil - shouldn't need service or cleanings unless you have somebody come in to change your filters.

We have gas - 2 zones, 1st & 2nd floors (basement runs off the 1st floor zone) and have the programmable thermostats, but I always run it on manual - bump it to 68 when I get home, bump it back to 60 when we go to bed, and it stays there until I get home the next day. Dogs don't seem to mind the lower temp. ;)

2nd floor is almost always left at 63.

60? holy frozen nipples, batman!

I have a programmable t-stat and love it. Since here we fight the heat more than the cold I have it set to (AC) 80 when we're not home during the day and it automatically turns down to 72 an hour before we come home from work. In the "winter" it can drop to 60 degrees in the house when we get up in the morning so I have it set to 68 an hour before we get up to take the chill off. I don't mind the cold but she can't. Women are always cold. :)

I have a service contract with local company, 2 check ups a year, spring/fall , they come in an check freon in my A/C unit, recharge if needed, clean burners, check for leaks,check electricals functions for voltage drop, (I change filters myself) emergency 24hr service i get first priority on a call vs a non member, had a curcuit board blow on new years eve a few years ago, came home@ 3am to a 45 degree house, (single digit outside temp) made a call they came an fixed it by 9am same morning. both my furnace and A/C unit are 18 years old and they still run like new!

I do essentially the same thing, except I don't have a programmable thermostat (I like it cold at night, too. :) ) They're a convenience, I guess, but you can accomplish the same thing adjusting it by hand.

Love my programmable, it lets me program each day individually. On the set days during the week that my kids are with me, it is several degrees warmer and its nice to walk into the house to the warmer-than-it-really-is feeling when it is heating up. Noticed a difference on my gas bill too. Program it and forget it.

I have one as well. I think it helps. It has the whole day planned. It comes on for an hour in the morning when we wake up. It goes down while we are at work and turns up when we get home, then it goes down when we go to sleep. It also has a weekend setting My heat is water baseboard.

Senior Citizen Thermostat
 

I have one but if you have a "very senior" family member who has an old mecury dial thermostat, leave it alone. Switched my Mom's out to a programable thermo and she had a heck of a time with it.

They can be a fuel saver; both summer and winter. You just need to program it and then keep your hands off to save the most. Used to have a Honeywell, now we have a Lux

I lean this way. We have it set for a day temp and a night temp. The temps are very conservative so I can still use the "hold" feature. I wish I could go back to the old fashioned type. I have yet to see an electronic one thats easy to use.

This topic got me thinking on a question I had about these digital thermostats. How low can you set them for your away times? I have it set to 69, my wife might turn it up to 70-71, but when we are at work during the day I have it set to go down to 62. I read that it can use more gas to get back up to temp if you set it to low. How low do can do you guys go down and still realize a savings. If it makes an difference. I have a gas water baseboard heat system.

We have digital but not programmable. Two story house. We've found the digital holds a more constant temp which on a two story seems to help keep them from fighting each other.
In Winter we have to set the downstairs 1-2 degrees below the upstairs or the hotter air going up the foyer keeps the upstairs furnace from coming on. By morning the upstairs bedrooms and bath would be pretty cold.
With the old style it was a lot harder to balance it. Now with digital just pick a number 1-2 below the upstairs and it's fine.

Next ones will be programmable though.

Unfortunately, this system is pretty much one big loop. I don't know what it would take to get two zones. I was just wondering how low I can turn it down when we're not home.

Pont406, do some reaserch on the Honeywell website first before you go out an buy one that's digital.

I thought we needed a new Tstat but didn't..... capactor in the furnace fan unit was cooked. Found that out after I went out and got a new digital Tstat at Home Depot. We had the old round type that controlled the heating and a/c. There are two red wires on ours.... one for heat and one for a/c.

The idiots at Home Depot said this is the one to get.... NOT. There are not enough terminals on this RTH2300B1012 unit. If you need a Tstat for 2 red wires like mine, you'll need a RTH221 type unit.... but check yours first to make sure.

Ok, went back to Home Depot today. My digital Tstat does not work. They did give me credit for a different one but it's not digital. It's just a regular round head non programable Tstat set up for the 4 wires.... 2 red, green and yellow. Part number CT87N on the back of the package.

After hooking it up, the only way heat will work is if the 2 red wires have the jumper hooked up. The bad thing is the heat won't shut off unless you disconnect the jumper. No idea what is freeking wrong with it.... it's hooked up as per the directions. A friend said most of the Tstats you get from Home Depot are junk... and I'm starting to believe him. So I'm off to someplace else tomorrow for another one.

Oh, these guys at Home Depot haven't a clue as to how the Tstats they sell are hooked up, and had no clue there are heating and cooling setups that use 4 wires for the Tstat.

BTW... the RTH2300 - RTH221 type units are no good for 4 wires. The most expensive ones they sell tho are for 4 wires. Go figure. :rolleyes: LOL

Finally got my old mercury Tstat working. Plain red wire goes to white connection. Rh wire goes to Red and Rh connectors..... use jumper wire or connect Rh wire to both terminals.

So you know, this will be the same for a digital Tstat with heating and cooling. I assume heatpump will be different.

In attached photo for the mercury style Tstat, the R24v wire is jumped to the ON/Cool contact.