kmk@ihlpm.UUCP (Krakman) (11/29/85)
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Does anyone know anything about digital thermostats as opposed to the
conventional types? Are they more accurate? Does it really save very
much to have a timer that turns the temperature down after you go
to sleep and then back up again before you wake up?
The two digital thermostats I've seen advertised are made by Jade Controls
and White-Rodgers and are in the $100-$200 price range. (The first one
advertises an accuracy of +/-.5 degrees F at room temperature!)
Thanks
Ken Krakman
ihnp4!ihlpm!kmkron@brl-sem.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (11/30/85)
> (The first one > advertises an accuracy of +/-.5 degrees F at room temperature!) If your thermostat isn't at room temperature, take it off the wall and install it inside the house. -Ron
epm0@bunny.UUCP (Erik Mintz) (11/30/85)
... > Are they more accurate? Does it really save very > much to have a timer that turns the temperature down after you go > to sleep and then back up again before you wake up? ... > advertises an accuracy of +/-.5 degrees F at room temperature!) I find it convenient, as well as energy efficient, to have the thermostat automatically turn down the temperature when I am either asleep, or out of the house. However, you don't need digital to do this. The standard method invovles two temperature settings, and a clock to switch between them. The clock is a rotating disk, with slots for little tabs. You insert a tab at the time you wish the temperature to change, and when the disk rotates to that time, the thermostat switches from one setting to the other. The only advantage to the digital versions that I have seen is that some allow an arbitrary temp setting at each time. That sounds neat, but I'm not sure how useful it is. I find two settings sufficient. As for accuracy, who cares about 1/2 degrees? -- Erik Mintz ARPA or CSnet : epm0%gte-labs.csnet@csnet-relay UUCP: ...harvard!bunny!epm0
berger@Clio.Uiuc.ARPA (12/02/85)
I bought a digital thermostat on sale at K Mart for $ 40. I miss the manual override I had with my electromechanical thermostat (the $ 60 model had an override), but the thermostat is extremely accurate. I enjoy waking up to a warm house, and I no longer leave the heat turned up all weekend by accident. ihnp4!uiucuxc!clio!berger
larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) (12/03/85)
> Does anyone know anything about digital thermostats as opposed to the > conventional types? Are they more accurate? The digital thermostats (I assume you are referring to those which are fully solid-state, and not the older bimetallic spring-clock hybrids) on the market are generally accurate to +/- 0.5 deg F (just like below). This is really good enough, since greater accuracy accomplishes nothing. Thermostats are generally adjusted to a comfort level (after various tries), so the absolute temperature reading is not that important with less than 1.0 degree resolution anyhow. The night setback temperatures would have the same accuracy as the daytime setting. > Does it really save very much to have a timer that turns the temperature > down after you go to sleep and then back up again before you wake up? Absolutely! We have had two digital setback thermostats in our house (hot water baseboard heat with two zones) for over five years now, and after some calculation and making adjustments for changing fuel cost, we feel we have saved AT LEAST 20% annually in energy cost for our home. We normally use a 10 degree nighttime setback - which means its often pretty cold when getting up to use the john :-) - but it is well worth it! > The two digital thermostats I've seen advertised are made by Jade Controls > and White-Rodgers and are in the $100-$200 price range. Since a reliable thermostat is a pretty important part of your home, I would suggest that you avoid any mail-order products and spend a few more dollars to buy a name-brand unit (like White-Rodgers, Honeywell, etc.) from a local plumbing/heating supply firm. === Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York === === UUCP {decvax,dual,rocksanne,rocksvax,watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry === === VOICE 716/741-9185 {rice,shell}!baylor!/ === === FAX 716/741-9635 {AT&T 3510D} ihnp4!/ === === === === "Have you hugged your cat today?" ===
dave@rocksvax.FUN (Dave Sewhuk) (12/04/85)
I bought a Hunter unit for $60. Seems real nice so far. It also collects
statistics of number of hours the heat ran today, yesterday, this week and
last week. After 150 hours of on time it will tell you to change the air
filter. You can program weekdays for 4 intervals (i.e. morning warm-up and
evening warmup). The weekend days are broken down into 2 intervals.
The override feature works nice, the unit remains overridden until a
programmed interval comes up. The only bad programming mode is setting
the weekdays You have to key in all the information when you re-program.
It would have been nice to have it tell you the current setting and hit
NEXT to go to the next segment. As near as I can tell that is the only wart
I have found.
Dave
arpa: Sewhuk.HENR@Xerox.ARPA
uucp: {ihnp4,rochester,amd,sunybcs}!rocksvax!dave
ns: "Sewhuk:HENR801C:Xerox".ns@Xerox.ARPAjohn@hp-pcd.UUCP (john) (12/09/85)
<<<< < Does anyone know anything about digital thermostats as opposed to the < conventional types? < I recently bought one from Sears at about $70. You can set four temp changes for weekdays and four for weekends. The federal energy tax credits run out soon so you better hurry. John Eaton !hplabs!hp-pcd!john