Thermostat setup

BillW@honeywell

a 10 degree setback at night may be doable, try it and find out. The T8000 is an older model & I don't remember if it had Adaptive Recovery or not, so set your "wake" period for about 1/2 hour before you actually are geting up, same with the "return" period. If you find that to be uncomfortable or using too uch fuel, try a 5 degree setback. Your house is a system, and to optimize your energy efficiency, you should minimize your heat loss in winter, and heat gain in summer. Insulation, weatherstripping, windows, housewrap,etc. all play a part, besides the heating/cooling system.

Dave_23

Programmable Thermostat Setup

For a steam heat system, using a Honeywell T8000 programmable thermostat, how many cycles per hour are recommended or practical? Is this a trial and error process or are there some rules of thumb or best practices? Thanks.

Ron Schroeder

David

It is usually set for one cycle for steam, the stat will probably learn from there.

Dave_23

one cycle

If the stat is set for one cycle, but on a cold day, two or more are needed, will the stat keep the heat off until an hour has passed since the prior cycle? Wouldn't this be somewhat uncomfortable? Or am I just not understanding how cph works?

Ron Schroeder

Usually

with steam you want longer cycles as it takes abit to make steam, an once the radiators get hot while for them to cool, if it doesn't work out try 2 but I bet one is fine.

BillW@honeywell

Your T8000...

IS compatible with a steam system, just make sure it is set to 1 cycle per hour. The cycles per hour settings replaced the old mechanical heat anticipators that you needed to set to prevent overshoot and undershoot on any heating system. As others said, steam systems have a long "flywheel" effect, meaning that they don't heat up instantly and shut down instantly like forced air does. Most likely, depending on your insulation and windows and how tight your house is otherwise, you'll only see 1 cycle per hour on a very cold day. Also, a deep setback is not recommended with steam, 3-5 degrees will save you some energy, but the most benefit will be from a system with properly working vents, correct piping, a well tuned burner and all the other necesseties of a steam system.

Dave_23

Setback

Thanks Bill. My family and I are out of the house for at least 10 hours each day (work + school) and if we're lucky get about 6 to 8 hours of sleep per night. Thus my interest in setback. My two piple steam system is in pretty good shape: Relatively new boiler, proper setup, proper piping, insulation of mains, excellent and plentiful main vents (Gorton #2). However, I'm sickened by the amount of money I have to send Michcon/DTE. I'd rather put in a better thermostat even if the payback takes 5 years! I was hoping to run at 62 degrees during away or sleep time, with 68 to 70 degrees while home. Thoughts?

Dave_23

T8500

Bill, I didn't mean to be misleading but I'm actually purchasing a T8500 (do it yourself version) I was under the impression that the 8500 and 800O are the same, except for the 8000's ability to handle remote sensors and a couple other related programming features. The 8500 does have adaptive recovery according to its literature. Any other highlights I should know about? Actually, I'm looking forward to installing it, even though my older style Mercury-switch T87 still works fine, but with no features of course.

Dan La Jeunesse

Weekend Home

This summer Linda and I purchased an older home in Michigan City, IN. Single pipe steam heat with a Weil McLain 6S19 boiler. Since this is a weekend home for the next few years I was thinking of setting up a digital thermostat with a low setback temp during the week.

Dan Holohan's and Bill Wolfe's comments about limiting the amount of temperature set back on a steam system have me questioning this thought. Any comments on where I should set the home temperature for those days when we're not there? My plan was to program the temperature settings low during the week and have them raise on Friday afternoon for a warm home on Friday evening when we arrived.

Thanks,

Dan