Can anyone explain seven day programmable thermostats?

Katgoddess

Please be kind, as I don't have a clue about this sort of thing.

I keep hearing about Seven day programmable thermostats on the forum, and I think it sounds great for my family as OH works shifts, and I work part time, so it would be great to be able to control individual days.

We have a combi boiler in the cupboard under the stairs and it has a manual timer, and a manual thermostat. It doesn't even have a temperature gauge, just goes from low to high!

I've been looking at the honeywell site, and I can't tell the difference between the different models other than hd displays and wireless. Don't think I need anything too fancy. They also have DIY installation ones as well? Do the thermostat just get wired in somehow and overrides the other dials?

We are going to get our boiler serviced soon. Would it be worth getting this done by the engineer? I want to sound like I know what I'm talking about when I talk to him about it.

Thanks

gas4you

7 day programmable room stats are a room thermostat and timer all in one box. You can set different on/off times every day if you wish, or copy one day to all days, or any combination of both.

The on/off is controlled by temperature, so you set the off period for a low temp, eg 6c, so that this makes sure the heating won't come on. If you never want your property to go cold, then the off period could be set for around 12c.

The Honeywell CM927 is, at present, the best and easiest to use.

bengasman

You can't tell the difference from the outside. The specs are fairly similar, apart from the higher versatility on a 7 day timer.


Honeywell 927 is good, and the Siemens rev24 is also very good. The Siemens has more flexibility to optimise the settings for people like yourself who work shifts. It is also more accurate, and the wireless models have the best signal of all the units I have installed over the years.

Slothy

Are there any issues replacing an old (manual) room thermostat with one of these programmable ones? My old room thermostat has 3 wires leading to it, I think these programmables use only 2?

macman

Should be a straight swap, wiring instructions are always included with the programmer.
Another vote for the Honeywell 927, very pleased with mine.

samtheman1k

Programmable thermostats allow you to set the desired temperature based on the time, so typically, you'd have it set low during the day (so it is effectively off), high in the evening when you are in, and medium at night, just to keep the chill off. If you swap a normal thermostat, the only thing you need to be aware of is that you need to set the boiler's timer to permanently on, and let the new programmable thermostat control the timing.

Slothy

Thanks for the replies, I'll give it a go. I was surprised to see the Siemens Rev24 takes AA batteries despite being a wall-wired programmer. In my old house I had a honeywell 7-day programmer that I think was mains powered?

macman

That is so that in the event of a power cut they will retain the programming and you don't have to reset them.

samtheman1k

And they use very little power, so will last a few years on AAs.