Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.

SIMPLE STEAM HEAT THERMOSTAT

HEAT92bcQrl
HEAT92bcQrl Member Posts: 3
in Thermostats and Controls
I'm new to steam heat. It's an old Wiel-McLain boiler, one pipe system, converted to natural gas. The thermostat is an old 2 wire manual Honeywell with a mercury switch. It's old and hard to read the temperature and setting. What is a good simple modern alternative that works with an older systems. Low voltage DC non-programable desired.

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,696
    Well, there's nothing that works as well as the one you have. Like NOTHING. However, your local friendly big box has any number of inexpensive battery powered programmable thermostats which will work well enough -- Honeywell Home, Emerson, even Bosch all in stock at prices from reasonable to OMG. You will have to set them for steam heat -- they come set for forced air -- but that's not hard. They won't work as well as what you have, but they are programmable and easier to read.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    HEAT92bcQrlmattmia2
  • HEAT92bcQrl
    HEAT92bcQrl Member Posts: 3
    Jamie, thanks so much. I will look into your recommendations. Will these digital type thermostats need to be set for the proper anticipation or is that all automatic? Gee, if newer isn't better maybe I should just keep the old one and learn to live with the awkward calibrations. The best advantage with a newer one would be I could possibly keep track of the system having trouble remotely when I'm away in winter.
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,696
    The newer ones don't have anticipation. Rather they are set for a certain number of cycles per hour -- one in the case of steam and some hot water applications. You set that up in the initial programming of the thermostat. It doesn't work as well as a properly set anticipator, but it's not too bad.

    If you want to keep track of things remotely -- presumably wi-fi -- you are not looking at a battery operated thermostat. The wi-fi takes a surprising amount of power, and you will need an external power supply for the thermostat. This may or not be all that simple to do...
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • HEAT92bcQrl
    HEAT92bcQrl Member Posts: 3
    Jamie thanks again. I appreciate the ins and outs on the subject with your expertise. I'll figure out what's best for this old house and come up with a solution. You're a big help
  • SteamingatMohawk
    SteamingatMohawk Member Posts: 1,025
    I replaced my round Honeywell thermostat with one of their wireless thermostats that also can have wifi capability. It is in a rental property and I do not live there. With the wifi gateway connected to a router, you can monitor and control the system remotely. It's a couple of hundred $$, but in my case it is worth every $.

    The thermostat is battery operated and can be place anywhere you want without having to run wires....a big plus for my situation.

    Message me if you want more details, that's the envelope toward the top of the screen.
  • Intplm.
    Intplm. Member Posts: 2,165
    Honeywell thermostats are still offered in the T87 round series. It sounds like you might have a t87 now.

    They have models in the t87 series that can offer selections for different applications, hot water heat, steam, warm air, etc. in one t-stat. (t87 series). There is a selector switch for your type of system inside the t-stat.

    They are also offered in larger numbers for easier visibility and can be the simpler non-programmable type.

Categories