Honeywell Digital Thermostat

[3930dave]

When checking a house for a vacationing relative, I found the AC down.

Older Honeywell digital thermostat, LCD display, with a separate base mounted on the wall. You pull the whole thermostat out of the base mount, to get at the batteries on the back of the thermostat.

3xAA alkaline. Negative battery contact severely corroded by a leaking Duracell AA. On this Honeywell (and others, including newer ones I've seen), the control box runs entirely off the 3 AA's, they are not just Programming backup batteries.

Cleaned up the terminal, greased it, and popped in 3 new AA's. Good to go, after programming.

Labelled the door/cover with date batteries were changed. I'm going to recommend to the owner that they change the batteries once a year, in November.

Coming home to a hot, humid house is one thing. Having this happen (over the cost of 3 AA's, once a year) when it's -35 out is another.

Rgds, D.

 

[kco]

This is a good reminder. I likely have the same thermostat. We moved her 10 years ago and the batteries went out once. It took me a while to figure it out and I changed them. That's likely 5 to 7 years ago. I'm going to change them today. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[3930dave]

This is a good reminder. I likely have the same thermostat. We moved her 10 years ago and the batteries went out once. It took me a while to figure it out and I changed them. That's likely 5 to 7 years ago. I'm going to change them today. Thanks for the reminder.

You're most welcome kco.

Let's pretend this thread is part of my battle against Bells and Whistles being Added, at the Expense of Reliability, and we won't be far off the mark.

From an engineering standpoint I find the design borders on negligent, when used in geographies with below freezing temperatures.

Good quality AA's should last more than a year in these Honeywell's. If it was mine, for the AA's I'd take out after 1 year, I'd just cycle them through the TV etc. remotes.

Rgds, D.

 

[BobRip]

Some of these thermostats can run off of batteries and the 24 volt transformer. You probable have to add a wire to get a ground to run off the 24 volts transformer. Some people are too lazy to do that.

 

[deerseeker001]

i had a new furnace and central air installed a few years ago and them they were putting a new thermostat in.i seen it was digital one and it took batteries and had them take it out and install the round Honeywell.i am not coming home when its -20 to find out its because of a couple batteries.

 

[3930dave]

My own thermostat is olde school mechanical, for the reasons discussed.

A digital "brain", with primary power fed externally is the minimum I would use.

These Honeywell's running stand-alone on batteries are reasonably reliable, providing the alkaline batteries are in good shape.

For consumers being submerged in technology, it is easy to forget what our vulnerabilities and priorities really are.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Got a genuine thank you from the homeowner.

They then went on to say that they'd recently signed up to get an Internet capable free thermostat, from one of the local utilities. Guess that takes less effort than changing batteries.... :laughing:

The Bait is slightly reduced rates, the hook is the utility being able to load shed. I've made my opinions on this subject clear elsewhere, won't go back down that road today....

Some people get what Thoreau was on about, some never will.....

Rgds, D.

 

[Raspy]

Got a genuine thank you from the homeowner.

They then went on to say that they'd recently signed up to get an Internet capable free thermostat, from one of the local utilities. Guess that takes less effort than changing batteries.... :laughing:

Some people get what Thoreau was on about, some never will.....

Rgds, D.

There's a little more to it than that.

First, some people just like high tech. But Internet thermostats give people the chance to turn on the heat before they get to house in the mountains, or check to verify if they turned off the heat when they left, or verify that the system is working.

Many people don't like battery stats because they have to remember to change the batts, how to do it and when to do it. Some houses have over a dozen thermostats which would mean over 24 batteries changed each year. What a hassle. The best technology is invisible and if I can make people forget they even have a thermostat, I'm doing a better job than if I require them to service the system each year. I get calls every year from people that have no heat. My first request is that they change the batts and call back if that doesn't give them heat. Often it does.

But one thermostat I won't recommend is the Nest.

 

[3930dave]

12 Thermostats ? Electric Heat ? 30,000 square foot house ?

I understand a bit about telemetry in general, and some of the specifics of the problems associated with 'Net enabled thermostats. One of the weaknesses is the electric utilities themselves; widespread low level (but high tech, if that makes sense) technology implementations are not really in their DNA.

Yes, remote data gathering, and control, does have it's attractions. I have no issue with that, when it is done in a reliable fashion.

Part of my usual sarcasm is directed at "OK, so you added just a bit of complexity previously..... how did that work out ?". That's what some people don't get, or choose to ignore.

I've talked with people locally who went with early versions of electric load shedding. It was badly implemented and run.

Myself, I'm not interested in opening up a critical system like my furnace to worldwide external influence, just for the sake of a minor rate reduction.

But, I understand that I may in the minority, as modern consumers go.....

Rgds, D.

 

[Raspy]

It does seem ridiculous to have so many stats. I'm in the radiant heat business and that delivery system lends itself to a lot of stats, so people want them. I don't like high numbers like that because it makes the homeowner program them all or just forget about it and leave them all set without programs.

The Nest system is designed to gather info, through the internet, about each house it is installed in and develop a database The stats notice if people are home and program themselves. This leads to another set of problems, but the thinking is that it can identify problems if the house responds differently than usual and they can notify the homeowner if the bill seems too high, etc. But a lot of it is based on engineers trying to solve problems they really don't understand. And control of the system becomes too complicated for the homeowner.

At least with the "simpler" internet stats, you can see the display on a smart phone and adjust it easily. Not only from miles away, but from upstairs. Still, it's not for me. Simpler is better.

In my house, which is nearing completion, there will be a solar only thermostat next to a programmable thermostat in each zone. Four zones total. The simple digital stats from Lux or Honeywell are reliable and interchangeable between locations if one fails. They'll run, if forgotten, for a number of years on their batteries.