Thermostat upgrade Question

CKNJ

I am looking to upgrade the thermostat on my 1 pipe steam system. I think I have narrowed down to 2 options and would like opinions. I am opting for a heat only thermostat since it will only control the heat and I keep the heat at the same temp so no need for setback type thermostat.

Option 1 is a White Rodgers Mechanical thermostat. Adjustable Anticipator and mechanical switch.
Option 2 is a Honeywell Pro1000. Electronic control to +/- 1 degree and can be set to 1 cph for steam.

Anyone have experience with either of these 2 or is there another option I have missed?

JUGHNE

I use the Pro 5000, large display option. Use the common wire if possible, otherwise it is dependent upon a battery.

It is nice to not have a battery to depend upon. The 5000 is supposed to give you at least 30 day warning.

Jamie Hall

What do you have now?

There's something to be said for both of your choices, but honestly if what you have now is one of the round Honeywell T87's, they're really hard to beat if they're set up carefully.

The White Rodgers has the adjustable anticipator. If you take the time to fiddle with that -- and it does take some fiddling -- it can produce astonishingly tight control of the temperature (at least in the room it is in...).

The Honeywell, on the other hand, is easier to set up, and does use an all electronic switch. Which may or may not be more reliable...

ratio

Either one will work admirably. If I were going for Mostest Reliability, I'd go with the mechanical stat since there're fewer things to go wrong and they don't need batteries. It should be cheap enough to have a hot spare on hand as well. OTOH, I do admit to a slight preference to digital even knowing that they're only precise to ±2°.

CKNJ

Jamie,

the stat in here now is an old T87. I think the anticipator fried as it started acting up during this last cold spell. Boiler was running way too long and it only shut off when it hit the set temp something it never did before. When i took the cover off there was some blackening on the anticipator so I think this one has reached the end of the line.

Thanks everyone for input. Think I will go with the mechanical one. I don't mind playing with the settings to get it right.

Jamie Hall

Yeah... the anticipator fried. That's about the only thing that can go wrong with them -- but that can. Sorry about that. You'll like the White Rodgers, once you get it's anticipator set.