We have a very old thermostat, I just checked HD because their e-ad had them "on sale"..how would I ever begin to know what to get? There must be 40 to select from. We have an old round one, which I think is very touchy because it goes and goes then stops and shortly kicks in again. And setting a degree is like the lotto.
We have an old dbl wide mobile home elec furnace with central Air. Also are they hard to install or do we need someone to install it?
Thanks....
How many settings do you need? There are 7-day programmable thermostats that allow you to program different temperature settings for each day of the week, and 5-2 thermostats that only allow two ...»
Also, do you expect to want to change the temperature in the middle of the night? If so, look for a backlit display.
On the other hand, you can probably ignore some of the advanced bells and whistles. If you don't have a home automation system, for example, you can probably skip the wifi-enabled options. Also, several are specifically designed for radiant heat, baseboards, etc.
Would I have that problem with a digital? This one goes on, then off and within a couple of minutes it goes on again. I get so tired of hearing it, and I am sure this is not the way it is supposed to be.
Also I am curious about a space heater. We have a radiant heater that does much more than the false wood stove we have. It is really hard to heat this old mobile home,so we have a space heater in the living room. And blankets! But nice new vinyl windows ..that don't do much on our bill but are quieter than the old ones. I don't understand why the radiant makes the room warmer than the "wood" stove , except for the fact the "warm air" coming frm the stove comes out the front bottom , from the floor level??? ( I am tempted to remove the wood stove look, because it makes me mad, but hubs loves the look!) Are we driving our elec bill high because of the age/insulation of the home, or from our heat sources? (76 dbl wide)
After that, you can reassess your heating needs, because they could be significantly lower.
The dead band allows for a cyclic temp swing with the the dead band being the height of the wave cycle. A bigger dead band would mean the furnace runs longer at each interval. With a 2 degree ...»
This is not as much of a concern with electric heat as there are no condensation issues...with gas appliances a certain min run time is needed to drive moisture out. In those cases a wider dead band is better.
From a cost stand point have you thought about installing pellet stove? Electric heat is very costly and a pellet stove uses a renewable resource.
Steve you need to be careful with those energy audits that the utility company provides for free or discount. It is really not a true energy audit but a energy evaluation. The difference being is the audit takes into consideration of everything that the house needs, and comes up with a ...»
While a energy evaluation is simply a sales tool to sell the product or products that the audit company sells. IN addition the power company, gas company etc does not do the evaluation. They have contracted with outside vendors who provide these services. As an example, the gas company would hire a HVAC contractor to come in and do the evaluation. Their only reason to be there is to sell you something, you may not need or want. While most of these guys look at the heating system. Ones with natural draft type of system is going to be flagged as something the owner needs to be replaced. Same with the cooling, If its an older unit, even though it works fine, they want to replace with a higher seer system.
They are not doing a complete energy audit. Not at least at that time. They are required now in many states to do this in order for the buyer to get the rebates offered. But they do not do the complete audit until the sale is made. No sale, not true audit.
My pet peeve with this program, at least in NJ is that I cannot be part of the energy star program unless I am set up as a qualified contractor with BPI and the State. While I do work for other contractors, I choose not to be part of a scam that makes people think that a BPI energy evaluation is truly a BPI audit. They use the BPI name as a sales trick. When I approached them and asked why can I not do true audits and guide the client through the rebate program, help them hire a contractor and do a quality evaluation on their work. They said no one has asked to do it that way so they did not set the program up that way. The biggest issue is that why I do not get involved with them is the money. The rebates that are given from the state are signed over to the contractor. With many in the range of 5 grand, and some as high as 10 grand the max. It takes the state two to three months to get paid back. A small contractor such as myself cannot bankroll that much money considering a good contractor may do a complete system every two days. So in two months will be waiting for $150,000 from the state in rebates that pay for the equipment and labor that one would need to lay out to pay the bills.
Kevin, That dead band, is called a heat anticipater control. Its purpose is to prevent overheating of the room. These are found on many of the older round mechanical units. And are built in in the new computerized units. The reason for this control is to prevent overheating of a room. It sort of fools the thermostat into thinking that the room is really warmer then it is. If you turn it down to the lower numbers it then causes the room temps to go beyond the thermostat reading as it takes some time for the thermostat to see the room temps. It is set based upon the volt amp reading found on the gas valve or heating system control circuit. You are correct saying that if you set it up higher the heating system will cycle on and off as this control, which is really a tiny heater, warms up and shuts off the system, then cools down quickly and turns it back on. The manufacturer of the heating appliance as part of the install instructions provides the correct setting in which to use. With replacement units such as what Bernice would be using has instructions based upon the type of heat she has to where to set it.