Advice on replacing old manual thermostat with digital programmable type.

elsmandino

Hi there,

My old manual turn-dial thermostat has given up the ghost and I was thinking of buying a digital programmable version as a replacement - I have read that this not only gives you much better flexibility but also can help reduce energy bills.

Anyway, I would be really grateful for any recommendations/advice as to what to look out for.

Having done a bit of research, I think I need the following:

* 5/2 or 5/1/1 programmability
* Frost protection (though at the moment I cannot see that this would actually be necessary if you keep the hearing at a minimum temperature at all times).
* The ability to "learn" so it eventually learns how long to turn the heating on in advance to have it at a particular temperature at a particular time

Any help would be much appreciated - especially with the particularly cold winter that we are supposedly expecting this year.

Thanks

anotherbaldrick

Good Luck ! In our new build we have got the wireless 7day fully programmable frost protection digital themostats with manual auto options in all rooms and they are a soddin nightmare. The wife cannot even start to understand how they operate and if I am not at home she freezes. I am pretty well lost with them as well, the instructions badly translated from Mandarin do not make sense . I am thinking of having them all ripped out and going to the Horstmann units , digital but with a simple control dial.

Biggles

I've long been a big fan of WarmWorld's Dataterms (http://www.warmworld.co.uk/), who were one of the first in the market for 7-day programmable, optimising heating controllers.

They must have saved me a fortune over the last decade or two.

I just installed it in place of my existing thermostat, very simple.

anotherbaldrick

Biggles wrote: »

I've long been a big fan of WarmWorld's Dataterms (http://www.warmworld.co.uk/), who were one of the first in the market for 7-day programmable, optimising heating controllers.

They must have saved me a fortune over the last decade or two.

I just installed it in place of my existing thermostat, very simple.

Why doesn't that web site give you a clue what the unit actually is ? seems they just want people to involve them before they let on.

tired_dad

yeah, most annoying. Is this a scam?

bob_a_builder

Well they do have a product page - under the 'product menu' (cunning eh ?) which gives a few clues - LINK

Brochure LINK

Biggles

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Why doesn't that web site give you a clue what the unit actually is?

Well, (whilst I don't like the look of their current website either) it does say in large red letters, "Heating Control Systems From Warmworld". Just below the menu option "Products".

And no, tired dad, it's not a scam, they've been operating for maybe 20 years and must have been one of the first in the market with these optimisers.

SuzieSue

I asked a similar question a little while ago and bought the Salus RT500 which I am very happy with:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4210497

benjus

I have this one: http://www.e-tradecounter.co.uk/p-869-programastat-7-day-frost-protection-room-thermostat.aspx

Works very well, although it doesn't have the "learning" function that you mentioned.

macman

elsmandino wrote: »

Hi there,

My old manual turn-dial thermostat has given up the ghost and I was thinking of buying a digital programmable version as a replacement - I have read that this not only gives you much better flexibility but also can help reduce energy bills.

Anyway, I would be really grateful for any recommendations/advice as to what to look out for.

Having done a bit of research, I think I need the following:

* 5/2 or 5/1/1 programmability
* Frost protection (though at the moment I cannot see that this would actually be necessary if you keep the hearing at a minimum temperature at all times).
* The ability to "learn" so it eventually learns how long to turn the heating on in advance to have it at a particular temperature at a particular time

Any help would be much appreciated - especially with the particularly cold winter that we are supposedly expecting this year.

Thanks

Impossible to recommend a programmer unless we know if you have a combi or a conventional boiler. The former will require a single channel programmer only. If so I'd go for one of the Honeywells. Something like this, which I have in an older version:
http://www.honeywelluk.com/products/Programmable-Thermostats/Wired-Programmable-Thermostats/CM907-7-Day-Programmable-Thermostat/
Almost all modern programmers have a frost 'stat and some sort of optimiser function to get the heating to a certain temp by a certain time. However, these are not foolproof, and will get caught out if the temp changes quickly from day to day (basically, they remember how long the heating cycle took the day before, and adjust the start up time accordingly). To overcome that, you'd need weather compensation (an external sensor).
PS: if you are hoping to economise, stop leaving the heating on 24/7, it's not necessary.

elsmandino

Many thanks for your replies.

I in fact have a conventional boiler set up and that CM907, as recommended, looks like exactly what I am after.

One other quick query if I may - for an extra £35 or so, you can get the wireless version of that model - CM927.

I assumed that wireless thermostats were purely for convenience but there seems to be a lot on the net that suggests that they reduce energy bills instead - i.e. with a fixed thermostat, the various rooms in your house may not be particularly accurate as the temperature sensing is being carried out at a fixed point (my current thermostat is half way up my wall in our hallway, which I hope is the best place to have it).

The argument for supposed savings with the wireless version is that if you are spending time in the livingroom, you put the thermostat in there and it will actually keep it at a more accurate 18 degrees. However if you were to then to go to bed and the bedroom was better insulated (and assuming you wanted the bedroom also kept at 18 degrees), the heating would come on less as it would then take into account the fact that the bedroom was better insulated.

Hopefully you understand what I mean - my example is not as clear as I hoped when I first started writing it!

Ultimately, I would be grateful for your thoughts on whether you think there is any point in going for the wireless option or whether I should go for the CM907, which shall be in my corridor.

Thanks very much.