Honeywell Digital Thermostat

[Country Geek]

Or how 'bout when Google gets bored with home control, and assigns NEST to its burgeoning technology scrap heap, just like they did with their great web portal software?

This is a huge point not to be overlooked. Google is notorious for getting bored with a technology that everyone thought they were going to transform, and stopping all work on it (like Google Voice) or simply pulling support for it altogether. If it isn't search, mail, cloud, or Android, I wouldn't trust Google to stick with any technology and wouldn't consider it long term reliable.

I just put in a Geothermal system, with a gas furnace backup. When you go dual fuel, you drastically reduce your choice of thermostats. I thought I wanted a fully internet connected thermostat but my installer suggested I simply get a standalone non-connected one that you can add connectivity to later, and see if I still think I need connectivity after a while. After about a month and a half with the geothermal system and the non-connected thermostat, I realize he was right. I have one zone and and I simply set and forget. Turns out I wanted a programmable thermostat with remote access because I used to have an expensive, unreliable system that always needed fiddling. Now with an economical, reliable one, I just set it and forget it.

 

[JRobyn]

The title of this thread piqued my interest, since I am in the process of returning a Honeywell digital thermostat. Totally unlike something like the Nests, I needed a VERY basic two-wire heat-only thermostat to control the air door on a wood furnace, but wanted something with some precision. Also wanted a horizontal orientation so it would look ok next to the high-tech Rheem communicating thermo for the two-stage heat pump and variable fan system. The Honeywell TH1100DH seemed to be perfect. The box says "precise comfort control, +/- 1 degree of your set temperature".

When I replaced the simple White-Rodgers mechanical thermo with it last week, I first noticed that it did not cut off the circuit until THREE degrees ABOVE the setpoint. I contacted Honeywell "ECC Customer Care" and they told me that the thermo "can be off as much as 5 degrees for a stander thermometer. The thermostat is working properly and cannot be re-calibration." I subsequently confirmed that the thermo did not call for heat until it reached 3 degrees BELOW the setpoint. So it has a total hysteresis of 6 degrees. It's going back. And I told Honeywell "ECC Customer Care" that either their advertised accuracy on the box or their reply to me was crap.

- Jay

 

[3930dave]

The title of this thread piqued my interest, since I am in the process of returning a Honeywell digital thermostat. Totally unlike something like the Nests, I needed a VERY basic two-wire heat-only thermostat to control the air door on a wood furnace, but wanted something with some precision. Also wanted a horizontal orientation so it would look ok next to the high-tech Rheem communicating thermo for the two-stage heat pump and variable fan system. The Honeywell TH1100DH seemed to be perfect. The box says "precise comfort control, +/- 1 degree of your set temperature".

When I replaced the simple White-Rodgers mechanical thermo with it last week, I first noticed that it did not cut off the circuit until THREE degrees ABOVE the setpoint. I contacted Honeywell "ECC Customer Care" and they told me that the thermo "can be off as much as 5 degrees for a stander thermometer. The thermostat is working properly and cannot be re-calibration." I subsequently confirmed that the thermo did not call for heat until it reached 3 degrees BELOW the setpoint. So it has a total hysteresis of 6 degrees. It's going back. And I told Honeywell "ECC Customer Care" that either their advertised accuracy on the box or their reply to me was crap.

- Jay

I'm only a little surprised at how much their absolute reading can be off. Many consumers prefer a lower price point, over absolute accuracy.

I am somewhat surprised that the hysteresis could not be tightened up, via programming - perhaps their first-line support people were not aware of this option. In Production they may default these controls to Wide hysterisis for combustion furnaces, but you should be able to tighten that range down for applications like electric resistance heaters...

Progress ?

Rgds, D.

 

[aczlan]

I'm only a little surprised at how much their absolute reading can be off. Many consumers prefer a lower price point, over absolute accuracy.
I am somewhat surprised that the hysteresis could not be tightened up, via programming - perhaps their first-line support people were not aware of this option. In Production they may default these controls to Wide hysterisis for combustion furnaces, but you should be able to tighten that range down for applications like electric resistance heaters...

IIRC, my ancient programmable thermostat has an option to set the hysteresis and an option to set how far the temp has to dip before the backup heat comes on.

Aaron Z

 

[3930dave]

IIRC, my ancient programmable thermostat has an option to set the hysteresis and an option to set how far the temp has to dip before the backup heat comes on.

Aaron Z

It's just twiddling bits ('n bytes)..... it's not like it is hard to do, if you have a microcontroller sitting there already.

On J's honeywell stat, either the first-line phone person didn't have a clue, or that is a really badly designed stat.

Rgds, D.

 

[Country Geek]

That does seem odd I have a Honeywell programmable stat controlling my dual fuel geo heat pump system. I don't use the programming, it's set to hold at 70. I also have a Davis Vantage Vue weather system (see wireless weather station thread which reports that my indoor temp almost never varies off the set point and when it does only by 1 degree.

 

[3930dave]

Recent issues with Nest:

The Internet of Broken Things (or, Why am I so Cold?) | Hackaday

Getting just the process of an online field-update to be 100% reliable is non-trivial - that's one reason why I don't want this level of tech running my furnace, or any other critical service in my house.

Rgds, D.

 

[kcflhrc]

I have a Honeywell TH8320WF, WiFi thermostat controlling my dual fuel heat pump, propane backup. It works well, and to be able to control it from a phone app is very nice. I also opted for the outdoor sensor that gives a truer reading than than the sensor in the heat pump. I don't run any of the schedules. I just set it where I want it and set it on permanent hold.

 

[3930dave]

From the micro, to macro.

Long read, but gives a recent 30,000 ft perspective on the hacking of Infrastructure targets:

Russia'''s Cyberwar on Ukraine Is a Blueprint For What'''s to Come | WIRED

Probably deserves a cyber warfare thread of its own, but thought it might be of some interest to folks in this thread.

Rgds, D.