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Having a new furnace installed which requires replacing the existing analog (manual) wiring
since the two-stage furnace with air conditioner requires 5 wires instead of the traditional 4.
Electing to go with a programmable wireless which can be moved to the most efficient location
in the house. The transmitter and the receiver control unit are relatively expensive so I was
wondering if anyone has experience with them. The brand is Honeywell.
A model number would be helpful. Honeywells T8665/W8665 is a popular choice for contractors. Unless you have changed the layout of your house or moved the return air registers the thermostat is probably already in the best location for the system.
They are ok, but just like every thing else, the more bells and whisels you have, the more things that can, and will go wrong. Then theres the battery thing to deal with. With convience always comes a extra price. Most of Honeywells products are pretty good, as long as you stay away from the Lowes, Home Depot or Wal mart versions, I have seen some of these that are not up to par with the versions that are available to contractors, but some are the same product.
The thermostat is in the wrong location in my opinion. It was located on a hallway
wall just across from the overhead air return. Ended up with a lot of short cycle
furnace operations. Need to move it and with the hassle of installing new wiring
I thought I would go wireless. The Honeywell systems are sold by the heating
contractor so it should be a quality unit. The battery operation was one of my
concerns but, on the other hand, you have one less device coupled into the house
wiring.
As far as Lowe's, WM or any of the big box type stores, always be sure to check
for model numbers and suffix letters on anything you buy there. Wal-Mart has a
lot of outdated or merchandise made especially for them.
Short cycling can be cause by a few things and incorrect T-stat placement is one of them. However since your house is old enough to need a furnace replacement I imagine the t-stat has been in this location for some time. It is the most common location because it it sensing the return air temperature from the whole house before it enters the system for re-cool or re-heat. One thing that is common to short cycling senarios is that people often "close-off" rooms that they are not using and close the vents to "save" on cooling and heating. Unless the house has a zone system, this upsets the balance of air flow the rest of the rooms and can cause hot and cold spots which can in turn affect the return air temperature at the stat and that causes short cycling ro overrun and that cost $$$. After the new system is installed, you should make sure the contractor performs an air balance for each room and register , corrects the flow if required to match the size of the room cooling or heating load, and check the total CFM against what is returning to the unit.
Bought the 8665A system but learned the W8665A was not exactly what my two stage
furnace really needed. The furnace runs @70% on a 105K Ruud two stage. The 105K
is overbuilt for my approximately 1400 sq ft house so the 70% should give me plenty of
heat plus the blower and burners are running well less than design so they should last
a LONG time. I wanted the 105K in case the weather turns much colder in the future.
I will probably go to a hard-wired TS next season when the proper location can be
determined.
As info the wireless Honeywell system, if you choose the correct one, works great and
is simple to program. For instance, I have my 'sleep' set to 62 @ 10pm and wake set
to 68 @6am. Since I am retired, the 'leave' and 'return' times are left as 68. Resettable
for each day if you want. Very versatile. One note of caution--buy the thermostat with
batteries, not 24v powered. My furnace installer had one which was hard-wired with no
battery backup. I think the program may drop out when the ac power fails. My unit
is battery powered at the TS and retains all settings. The receiver is powered off the
furnace 24v.
