OT: Home Thermostat reccomendations

[josephr]

Just moved into a new place that has a heat-pump which is just fine for my condo unit, but the thermostat is old-school mercury float which keeps turning the HP unit off and on...Its time for something digital.

Doesn't need to be WiFi enabled as I'm not going to be adjusting it from the office --- really just want something where I can set a range of 66-73 and then thermostat do the thinking...cool if it needs to cool, heat if it needs to heat...Suggestions?

[thirdgenbird]

We have an ecobee and love it. Overkill for your minimum requirement, but I got it because it monitors the occupied room. If the thermostat is set to 70 and I'm in the basement, it makes sure that is 70. If I'm upstairs, it makes sure it's 70 up there and let's the basement get colder. You can also program and schedule different settings. At night, we have it programed to only monitor our bedroom.

I rarely use the wifi, but it is kind of nice. At the very least, it pings my phone if the house exceeds a temp or humidity threshold.

[45K10]

We have these in our house they work, programmable and cheap
http://www.target.com/p/honeywell-1-week-programmable-thermostat/-/A-15023948?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&CPNG=PLA_Home%2BImprovement%2BShopping&adgroup=SC_Home%2BImprovement&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=c&location=9001919&gclid=Cj0KEQiAu9q2BRDq3MDbvOL1yaYBEiQAD6qoBobACHey AqNnmA_utCRL87kGR016bvSE0Fdwo3R7L7YaAuuV8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

Sorry didn't read your post close enough, this a good thermostat but it will not switch between heating and cooling

[tlittlefield]

I own a condo as well, with central air/force hot air heat and this is what I have. It is all you will need and works flawlessly. You can get it at Home Depot for $25. Check with you local energy company they might have a rebate system in place. When I bought mine my gas company had one and the thermostat cost me nothing after the rebate.


Honeywell
Model # RTH2300B
Internet # 203539496
Store SKU # 514261
5-2 Day Programmable Thermostat with Backlight

The 5-2 programmable means that you have one set of temp parameters that you set for Mon-Fri and another for the weekend.

[cdn_bacon]

I own a condo as well, with central air/force hot air heat and this is what I have. It is all you will need and works flawlessly. You can get it at Home Depot for $25. Check with you local energy company they might have a rebate system in place. When I bought mine my gas company had one and the thermostat cost me nothing after the rebate.


Honeywell
Model # RTH2300B
Internet # 203539496
Store SKU # 514261
5-2 Day Programmable Thermostat with Backlight

The 5-2 programmable means that you have one set of temp parameters that you set for Mon-Fri and another for the weekend.

Honeywell has a ton. Check LOWES or HD. touch screen ones aren't very costly nowadays ( oh BTW before you remove your old one, take a photo of the wiring. Def a DIY project. As far as I remember you will have to jump two pins together. your old thermo will let you know.

[559Rando]

You should be able to find a nice digital for little money. I second taking a pic of the wiring before you replace it. In fact, pull the unit off (with wires in tact) and photograph it before you go to the home improvement store. That should help ensure you get the right thing.

One of the benefits of the Nest (besides the nice aesthetics, WiFi, etc.) is how easy it is to install. ;-)

[Gsinill]

I got 2 Nests and love them.
Even though you might not need all the features, check whether your energy providers offer some incentives and/or rebates.
I got the 2nd one basically free due to 3 rebates, one from Home Depot where we bought it and 1 each from our electricity and gas providers.
Don't think this was specific to the Nest but had to do with intelligent features (like auto away etc.) that the Nest and others provide.

Forgot to mention: one concern with Nest is that they are now owned by Google and it's just another way for them to capture information like when you leave the house etc.
Really not too happy about this but given what Google already knows about me and how much I like the Nest features, I decided to bite the bullet...

[rwsaunders]

I installed two Nest (V2) units a few months ago as a part of an energy rebate program that my local utility provider offered. They units were extremely simple to install and program and many of the features appeal to me, such as the remote management app and energy use reports. The jury is out if the units are actually saving money and quite frankly, I'm not sure that it would be easy to measure and validate.

I might also install one of their CO/smoke detection sensors and a camera as the components are integrated within the same app. I'm not sure what purpose the detector would serve though, as it's not connected to an emergency management service. The camera also requires a monthly storage fee if you're going to actually use the device to record events.

For that matter, the Honeywell units that the Nests replaced worked very well and I understand that their newer models include the capability to be remotely managed as well.

[guido]

I've had this for 9 years and it just does a great job...

Honeywell TH6110D1021 FocusPro Programmable Digital Thermostat

This is the current model: Honeywell RTH2310B 5-2 Day Programmable Thermostat

This thing kills at a fraction of the cost of the nest.

[dzxc]

Honeywell
Model # RTH2300B
Internet # 203539496
Store SKU # 514261
5-2 Day Programmable Thermostat with Backlight

The 5-2 programmable means that you have one set of temp parameters that you set for Mon-Fri and another for the weekend.

This Honeywell one is great. Avoid Nest.

[old fat man]

Very pleased with this one: https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&es_th=1&ie=UTF-8#q=honeywell+thermostat+wifi&tbm=shop&spd=17245919466457901813

If you are replacing an old school mercury unit, you may not have a third wire (brings power to the unit) so that will limit you options. We were in that scenario. There was a third wire available but it did not have power. We had to re-wire it on the furnace to draw power for the thermostat.

We go away on weekends and being able to monitor the temp (make sure it doesn't get below X) as well as turn it back up on our way home has been a real treat this winter.

The unit is very easy to program online, much easier than on the unit itself.

[eippo1]

Hah, I just went through a bit of this. I got a wifi one because of the rebate, but then realized that I really didn't want to rewire my 1938 2-wire furnace, but I did want programmable.

So I returned the wifi one and got the Lux touchscreen unit:

http://luxproducts.com/TX9600TS.html

It will easily swap with a 2-wire and have the ability to do cooling and 2 zones if you upgrade your hvac in the future. Seems to get great reviews on Amazon and Consumer Reports. I'll let you know how installation goes after I do it this weekend.

[MerckxMad]

We have an ecobee and love it. Overkill for your minimum requirement, but I got it because it monitors the occupied room. If the thermostat is set to 70 and I'm in the basement, it makes sure that is 70. If I'm upstairs, it makes sure it's 70 up there and let's the basement get colder. You can also program and schedule different settings. At night, we have it programed to only monitor our bedroom.

I rarely use the wifi, but it is kind of nice. At the very least, it pings my phone if the house exceeds a temp or humidity threshold.

+1 on the Ecobee. The sensors are the schizzle. They detect if you are occupying a room and the thermostat adjusts accordingly. Wasn't looking for remote control via phone, but it's very useful when out of the house or your schedule fluctuates.