4 Zone Hot Water System Thermostat Recommendation

MikeC_3

Hi again -

Since my previous inquiry regarding a recommendation for a thermostat for the one pipe steam system at my mother's was successfully resolved via this forum, I figured that I would ask if I could do better than what I currently have in my own building.

I have a four zone hot water system. My building consists of my owner's two zone duplex along with two, one floor rental apartments above on the third and fourth floors.

In my unit, I have two early generation Nest thermostats. It was evident early on that the learning feature of these stats wasn't exactly compatible with the system, so I dumbed them down to basic programmable with a constant temperature of 68 degrees for the majority of the day and then a slight setback to 65 degrees overnight. That seems to work well. Since the house is southern facing and the thermostats in my apartment are located in the warmer front rooms, I am able to use sensors for reading the temperature in the cooler back ones.

The remaining two zones (the rentals above) have Lux 7 day programmable thermostats located in the middle of the apartments. I do notice that the boiler is cycling more than I deem necessary. My two stats aren't the ones calling for heat as far as I can see in the Nest app. The return pipes on the boiler are constantly hot for these two units above.

What would your recommendation be for thermostats that would be more efficient for these two apartments? Or, should I leave the Lux and just program them differently?

I do appreciate the advice that this forum provides.

Thanks again!

Jamie Hall

I'd try reprogramming the Lux thermostats differently for starters (try for longer, but fewer, cycles). However I would also contemplate why it is that those two apartments seem to need more heat, or at least more heat more often. There may be something else at play here.

MikeC_3

I assume that the tenants have either changed the battery and reset the program inadvertently or they have attempted to reprogram them themselves without understanding the nuances. That said, they are pretty conscientious.

If the setup I have is sufficient, I'll investigate the settings.

EdTheHeaterMan

I was never a fan of LUX thermostats. They seem to be made with lower cost components. That said, you may find that there are some adjustments that will allow for cycles per hour on your LUX that may reduce the shore cycling that you seem to be experiencing. If you can not find an easy way to correct the problem, you can look into

Resideo (formerly Honeywell) thermostats that have the cycle per hour option to select for longer run times