Thermostat Recommendations

SamWJ

First post, so please accept my apologies if I'm doing so inappropriately...

We moved before the summer and have just turned on our steam system.

We have a White-Rogers 1F90-371 thermostat, but I'd like to upgrade to something more sophisticated that just 5+1+1 scheduling.

Really we have totally different needs every day of the week (some days everyone's out; some days my mother-in-law babysits for us at home, etc.) so it needs to be programmable for each day separately.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

Sam

Fred

I'm assuming, because you posted on "Strictly Steam" that you have a steam boiler. Most of us don't like to see set-backs used with steam heat, basically because most boilers are a bit, to a lot over-sized and set backs cause the boiler to run for extended periods of time, causing a lot of short cycling (boiler shuts down multiple times during each heating cycle due to pressure building in the system). If you do use set backs, we typically suggest to try to limit them to about 3 degrees. What many of us have found is the time it takes for the temps to recover pretty much makes any savings you think you will get from the actual set-back will be minimal to none. Reconsider your plan.

Jamie Hall

The Honewell VisionPro series has a number of models with seven day/four cycle per day programming, and they seem to work well.

However, as @Fred said, big setbacks and steam systems do not play well together. A three degree setback for a few hours -- some might say up to five degrees -- is at least fuel neutral, and may actually save some (obviously if you had one whole day which could be set back, you would save even with more setback!); much more than that and the system just takes too long to get the house back up to temperature.

The place I take care of uses a three degree night time setback, and that has worked well over the years.

SamWJ

Truthfully, I have no idea. I'm going to sound as clueless as I am here: if it's steam radiators does that mean a steam boiler?

I guess I should close the door as I see myself out here...

Fred

It could be steam, it could be a hot water system. If you can post a picture of a radiator and a picture of the boiler, with the piping around it, that will tell us what you have.

Leon82

Take a picture of it and attach it to upload it.

SamWJ

I just checked - it is a steam system.

First - thank you so much for your responses!

Here's the situation: I'd like it to go down from 68-63 starting at 7.45 (we're out of the house at 8.15), and then program to go back to 68 at 2.45 (my wife comes home at 3.15).

But twice a week my mother-in-law will be there babysitting, so it should stay at 68 the whole time.

Do you think this is worth it?

Thanks so much.

Fred

You can try it with the thermostat you have now, before spending money on a new one. see how the boiler behaves and if 30 minutes is enough to raise the house temp up 5 degrees. I suspect it will take an hour to an hour and a half. Also, watch the boiler and see how many times during a heating cycle the boiler shuts down for a minute or two and then kicks back on for a few minutes and then shuts down again (short cycling on pressure) before the thermostat is satisfied.

Jamie Hall

Five degrees may be a bit much; it may just take too long to recover. I imagine that three degrees, though -- 68 to 65 -- may work well.

SamWJ

Amazing. Thank you all so, so much!

Steam

I would recommend an Ecobee thermostat. I have one on my steam system and it works great. It also has an extra sensor to record temperatures in another room.

Suppose you already installed your thermostat in one location, and don't like the location. You can use one of the stand alone sensors as the thermostat. This way you don't have to fish more wire through your walls.

If your thermostat is 2 wires, you will need to make a c wire. This can be done by a 110v to 24v transformer and an Isolation relay.

The 24v xfmr will provide power to the iso relay, and the two thermostat wires from the boiler will go on the input side of the iso relay. Then on the iso relay output you will have the R,W, & C wires that will go to the ecobee.

MarkS

If you're looking at the Honeywell Wi-Fi thermostats, a word of caution. The newer models with color displays cannot be set for 2 cycles per hour (cph). A number of us here find our systems perform better at 2 cph versus 1.

Roddy

I don't use any setbacks on my single pipe steam system ---- tried them, and it wasn't worth it in a number of ways, including financial.
I think a two cycle per hour setting would be a great idea for me too. My thermostat doesn't offer that setting. What thermostat(s) offer the 2/hour cycle setting?

Fred

Just about any digital thermostat that say "Compatible with Hot water heating systems" as one of the options. I have a Honeywell 7000 series Thermostat and it offers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 cycles per hour options.

Hap_Hazzard

Recovering from a setback at 2:45 in the afternoon isn't as bad as first thing in the morning, because daylight tends to warm the house and the outside temperature moderates and heat-loss is reduced. But by that same token, you're not going to save much by dropping the thermostat to a setting lower than the indoor temperature.

MarkS

Roddy said:

What thermostat(s) offer the 2/hour cycle setting?

Well, I can only speak from my own experience. Honeywell VisionPro 8000 (non-WiFi) or Honeywell RTH8580 which is essentially a VisionPro 8000 with WiFi capability.

SWEI

Be aware that Honeywell is replacing the FocusPRO and most of the VisionPRO line with the new T Series stats. The T6 manual shows a steam setting:but I've yet to see the specifics on CPH for each of those options. A single base plate fits every stat in the series from a non-programmable single stage all the way up to the Lyric WiFi models.

ChrisJ

SWEI said:

Be aware that Honeywell is replacing the VisionPro and FocusPro with the new T Series stats. The T6 manual shows a steam setting:but I've yet to see the specifics on CPH for each of those options. A single base plate fits every stat in the series from a non-programmable single stage all the way up to the Lyric WiFi models.

I'm considering buying a TH8320R1003 or perhaps a non-redlink compatable one soon. Looks like it offers anything from 1 to 12CPH.

You're saying that version of the VisionPro that just came out is going away soon?

http://www.supplyhouse.com/Honeywell-TH8320R1003-VisionPRO-8000-w-RedLINK-Technology-Programmable-3H-2C-Touchscreen-Thermostat

SWEI

The first video listed on the page linked to above explains it. I did notice that Redlink was not mentioned, and that they don't list any of the TH8000 Series in their replacement guide.

ChrisJ

@SWEI I watched the video, and read a few of the PDFs.

It looks like the T series is replacing only FocusPro? Their PDF's also only list 6000 series and lower as what's being replaced.

Nothing mentioned about VisionPro or the 8000 or 9000 series?