Toddlers room too cold or too hot no balance

NickDNel

Hello, I have an issue where my electric baseboard heater in my toddlers room either heats the room very quickly to becoming sweltering or we have it off at night after heating it to 70ish degrees and it then falls quickly due to the external winter temperatures. It has a thermometer on the thermostat so I figured it would self regulate but it just builds far beyond what it's set to. I have spoke with maintenance in regards to this issue as I'm living in an apartment but after they have come in and adjusted it the issue is still the same. Is there anything I'm doing wrong or perhaps a solution to my problem that any of you more experienced folk can share. Any advice is greatly appreciated and thank you.

Ironman

Get a better thermostat.

EdTheHeaterMan

Some thermostats are not as accurate as others. There are many thermostats that have a heat anticipator built in. Electronic thermostats have a cycles per hour that accomplish the same thing. the idea is that you want the thermostat to anticipate how much over-run might happen when the heater shuts off. Electric heaters over-run less than steam boilers or cast iron radiator systems. so you need to match the heat anticipator to the equipment. If you have an electronic thermostat that is set for steam heat, that may be 1 cycle per hour, while electric baseboard should be set to 6 or 8 or more cycles per hour.

Check the thermostat (after you turn off the power at the circuit breaker) to see if there is a cycle per hour setting on the back side.

A picture of your thermostat will help

pecmsg

@EdTheHeaterMan
With electric baseboard aren't they built into the cabinet?

HVACNUT

Yes, knowing the model of the thermostat, and/or a pic would be nice. 

Mechanical line voltage thermostats with a bimetal helix can have a 4 or 5 degree swing when new, forget about an old one. 

If it's a wall mount thermostat in a gem box, Lux makes a digital line volt that can do 120 or 240 volt switching. 

If Maintenance has only been there once to adjust it, then they need another call. Be the squeaky wheel. 

EdTheHeaterMan

pecmsg said:

@EdTheHeaterMan
With electric baseboard aren't they built into the cabinet?

Depends on the model and the electrician.

Jamie Hall

Some electric baseboards do have a thermostat in the cabinet. Those are unbeievaby inaccurate and have a huge swing. It's no big deal to turn that all the way up to full hot, if there is one, and wire a good wall mounted thermostat like the one shown above into the circuit feeding the baseboard.

Zman

@NickDNel, is the T-stat on the heater itself? If so, it would be a good idea to move it to another location. More info about the location of the heater, windows, and t-stat would be helpful.

hot_rod

If it had the thermostat on the end cover, it is a line voltage, 120 or 240v
Adding a wall thermostat would require some wiring changes, a wall box added  with romex between the baseboard and heater location. Easier said than done

EdTheHeaterMan

hot_rod said:

If it had the thermostat on the end cover, it is a line voltage, 120 or 240v
Adding a wall thermostat would require some wiring changes, a wall box added  with romex between the baseboard and heater location. Easier said than done

This is nothing a competent electrician couldn't do. Too bad my customers were shocked when they found out that I was not a competent electrician.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Electric heat thermostats are notorius for wide swings in temperature.

I have the same model Honeywell thermostat that @EdTheHeaterMan posted above which are available at HD.

I have 5 of them in my Condo. The accuracy of control is hit or miss. Some work very well others have been replaced until I found one that works.

Honeywell does have some newer electronic thermostats that are better and cost more $$$

Zman

hot_rod said:

If it had the thermostat on the end cover, it is a line voltage, 120 or 240v
Adding a wall thermostat would require some wiring changes, a wall box added  with romex between the baseboard and heater location. Easier said than done

It looks like the OP is not responding but this is a good conversation to have. I have had good luck installing these at the heater and then sneaking a 24-volt wire under the baseboard to a better location. A WIFI model might be desirable in this application. https://www.amazon.com/Aube-RC840T-240-Switching-Electric-Transformer/dp/B0037MXM1C/ref=asc_df_B0037MXM1C/?tag=&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309750302298&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15682005273857979727&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1014485&hvtargid=pla-493093687843&mcid=307c7504ecb93bcca6e287ba069f3a7e&ref=&adgrpid=60862048959&gclid=CjwKCAiAsIGrBhAAEiwAEzMlCxs70ILWj1sxxzS3gpjOaxs0TyU696I9W3kxvSQRy2DZtEkUZZDCAxoC2zwQAvD_BwE&th=1

EBEBRATT-Ed

@Zman

Those look promising. Do you know how many amps the realy contacts are good for? Couldn't find it in the link.

Found it 22A marked on relay

Zman

@EBEBRATT-Ed I think it is rated to 22 amps. Most BB circuits don't exceed 16 amps on a 20 amp breaker.

NickDNel

@Zman @EdTheHeaterMan @EBEBRATT-Ed @HVACNUT @Jamie Hall @hot_rod This is the Thermostat and baseboard pictured below. The thermostat brand is "Robertshaw". The baseboard only starts heating the room once we turn the thermostat to the 65° degree setting, but even on that low setting it will Continue to heat the room until its nearly 80°. I have a digital thermometer which I purchased on amazon that alerts my phone when his room gets too hot or too cold and as of now im waking up 3 times a night to adjust it. Perhaps I'm just missing something. I'm originally from Florida and just moved up to PA recently so im not too familiar with baseboard heaters yet. I've not yet pulled the thermostat cover off to look for any cycle per hour information as I'm quite unfamiliar with this stuff. I appreciate all of your insightful comments though thank you all for your time and knowledge.

Zman

It looks like the heater is located on an exterior wall and under a window. Where is the thermostat located? Ideally, it would be a fair distance away from the heater and on an interior wall.
You may just have a bad thermostat.

pecmsg

Using extreme caution remove the cover and take a picture of the wiring in the t-stat. 

NickDNel

@Zmam Yes, it's on an interior wall about 8 feet from the window. The baseboard is under the window. I'd say the thermostat is roughly as far from the windows and baseboard as it can reasonably be in the room.

Jamie Hall

pecmsg said:

Using extreme caution remove the cover and take a picture of the wiring in the t-stat. 

please...

HVACNUT

NickDNel

@pecmsg flipping the breaker off to that room should suffice for safety right? Or do you mean also that there is a particular way to take it off as to not break it?

pecmsg

NickDNel said:

@pecmsg flipping the breaker off to that room should suffice for safety right? Or do you mean also that there is a particular way to take it off as to not break it?

If you know the breaker YES by all means shut it off. 

Ironman

NickDNel said:

@pecmsg flipping the breaker off to that room should suffice for safety right? Or do you mean also that there is a particular way to take it off as to not break it?

The breaker for the heater will not be the same one as the plugs and lights for the room. You should use a meter or voltage probe to confirm that the circuit is de-energized.

If you don’t understand electricity and circuitry, then you really should hire an electrician.

EdTheHeaterMan

The thermostat that @HVACNUT indicated will be more accurate because it is digital.
There are programable features that you may not need or want.

This Honeywell thermostat is digital and non programable, for about half the cost. If you are interested.

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Honeywell-Home-TH401-Digital-Non-Programmable-Line-Volt-Thermostat-for-Electric-Heating-120-240-VAC-SPST

There is also a thermostat that can be WiFi connected and you can monitor it on your smart phone

https://www.amazon.com/Mysa-Thermostat-Electric-Baseboard-Heaters/dp/B075VBP42M/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=thermoguide-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=7e3394ac6ac7e072e4c81eb5afb4474c&camp=1789&creative=9325