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Help with selecting my new wifi thermostat

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Jerry_Z
Jerry_Z Member Posts: 1
in Thermostats and Controls

I am looking for a new smart Wi-Fi thermostat that I can use remotely when I am away from my home.

I live in a small 1200sqft ranch, one level, one zone, 1970’s house in Northeastern part of the country.

Currently my home setup has two separate thermostats: one for heating and one for central AC.

HEATING:  Weil-McLain Oil Burner with hot water baseboards.  This is a single zone system that is original to the house.  I have an old 7-day simple programmable thermostat for this.  It has no “yellow” wire and it runs on two AAA batteries.  Two wires going to the thermostat.

Central AC: Goodman Outside Unit installed couple of years ago.  Compressor is outside and Blower/evaporator is in my attic.  It is also single zone setup with air vents in ceiling.  It runs on a separate simple 7-day programmable thermostat that uses 2 AAA batteries.  This unit also has heat pump in it, but I do not intent to use it, so it does not need to be set up on my thermostat.  Only the cooling system.

I wonder if I could find a Wi-Fi smart thermostat that I could connect both systems to it instead of having two thermostats.

I like Honeywell due to the company reputation and simple no fee apps for Wi-Fi connection.  Would Honeywell RTH9600WF Smart Thermostat be able to do this task or do I need something else?  I am very handy with electrical projects so I don’t mind running any additional wires or redoing anything that would be needed. 

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Comments

  • jesmed1
    jesmed1 Member Posts: 1,518
    edited 3:26PM

    I love the two ecobee thermostats I installed on our two boilers a few years ago. Remote control via Internet through their website dashboard is free. And there's a free mobile app called beestat.io that is also very useful.

    I can't speak to running a separate AC unit, but I believe that is possible. You will need 24VAC from somewhere. I used a separate plug-in wall wart transformer in the basement, with the wires run up into the wall to the ecobees. You may also need some relay isolation. I am not the expert on that, so do your research. @EdTheHeaterMan here is a thermostat wiring guru, so maybe he can help you. I am just a very satisfied ecobee homeowner.

  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 7,444

    ecobee and Honeywell both make what you want

    why do you have to change the temperature settings so often?

  • ratio
    ratio Member Posts: 4,294

    I use the Honeywell 8000 series (one step down from the 9000 series), it's available as a direct-to-Wi-Fi version if you will never need a wireless remote sensor or a Redlink wireless version that will accept wireless sensors, but needs a Redlink gateway to get onto teh internetz. It should be able to run both your heating and cooling without anything extra, they are built with separate contacts for heating and cooling, including separate R terminals (red wires), that come with a factory jumper for normal use. Just remove the jumper & land the R & W from the boiler on the Rh & W terminals. The AC will connect to the Rc, Y, G, & C terminals, the last being the common from the air handler low voltage transformer, which is what feeds the thermostat. It's required for most wireless thermostats, the 8000 is one.

    You'll want the TH8321WF for the straight Wi-Fi version. The Redlink version is TH8110R, the gateway is IIRC THM600.

    I dislike the feel of the Ecobee screen, but YMMV.

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 12,671
    edited 4:39PM

    HEATING:  Weil-McLain Oil Burner with hot water baseboards.  This is a single zone system that is original to the house… 

    Central AC: Goodman Outside Unit installed couple of years ago.  Compressor is outside and Blower/evaporator is in my attic… 

    @Jerry_Z this is usually very simple. how close are the two thermostats to each other?

    You connect any of the thermostats that include a R and Rh. or Rc and Rh to the air handler. this way Rc may be labeled R on some smart thermostats.

    image.png

    Then test the AC system to see if it works with the new thermostat. After the test is successful then you add the wires to the boiler to the smart thermostat like this:

    image.png

    Once that part is done, you can test the boiler operation from the new smart thermostat. This will work 90% of the time. If this does not work for you, then an isolation or heat relay may be needed to get your boiler to operate.

    The setup instructions for the thermostat will tell you how to program the thermostat for 2-transformer (air handler & oil burner control) operation. This is usually in the installer setup menu of the thermostat.

    I have liked Nest, but they can be problematic for some folks. Just ask @pecmsg . You cannot go wrong with the Resideo (formerly Honeywell) line of smart thermostats. I have also worked on Ecobee thermostats successfully. Just be sure you get one that has both R terminals.

    R for cooling is the transformer that operates the thermostat on most brands of thermostats. R for heating is just a switch for the boiler when configured properly, and the two transformers do not cross-connect when properly wired.

    The Honeywell RTH9600WF may no longer be available. That may be a Big Box store model number. If available, that should be a perfect choice. There are many 9000-series thermostats to choose from.

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

    Alan (California Radiant) Forbes
  • HVACNUT
    HVACNUT Member Posts: 7,616

    Honeywell/Resideo has new models out. The RedLink models have more options. Ideally you're going to merge the thermostats into one so make sure there's a seperate Rc and Rh. A few months ago I was sent to a job to merge heat and cool thermostats with a customer supplied H/C WiFi thermostat. It was a Nest with only one R terminal.

    This morning I went to survey for 3 WiFi thermostats for a new client. Existing is Honeywell Pro 6000 looking. I pop one off and THERE'S NO WIRES! I check the second floor Wireless. Basement? Wireless. And the EIM's at the furnaces. "Ma'am, you need an electrician. Call us when we have wires."

    I'm not knowledgeable on the WiFi side. I assume there's no wireless WiFi thermostat because they'd be vulnerable to hackers? Maybe distance is a problem, like Bluetooth?

  • ratio
    ratio Member Posts: 4,294

    The radios use lots of juice when they transmit, wifi even more. Batteries wouldn't last very long.

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