anyone had experiences wth them?

6/21/2006 10:45:59 AM

the programmable ones? i have one at my place. i tried using it based on my schedule, but i constantly found myself making slight changes to it. so basically i just keep it on HOLD and adjust the temperature manually

6/21/2006 10:47:08 AM

you mean a programmable thermostat?

i have a 5+2 (mon-fri, sat-sun) thermostat that allows 4 temps per day (morning, work, home, bed)

6/21/2006 10:47:29 AM

We have one in our house too, it works pretty well. Doesn't come one when we're all at work/school and is programmed to start again right before we come home. Has saved a lot of money, and it's nice not to come home to a sweltering/freezing house, but rather a perfect one.

6/21/2006 10:48:57 AM

yeah... each day is programmable, but it's set in the 5-2 format

I just installed one, was wondering what to expect in terms of savings..

[Edited on June 21, 2006 at 10:52 AM. Reason : and I agree the first night was warm with the "night" setting, I'll prolly want to adjust that lower]

6/21/2006 10:49:07 AM

I can ask my pops if you're interested, but I am sure it would be pretty different - what kind of house do you live in?

6/21/2006 10:51:24 AM

I live in a townhome

6/21/2006 10:53:03 AM

I'll ask him what kind of monthly bill difference it is in our house for ya and I guess you can..differentiate from there.

6/21/2006 11:03:14 AM

it depends on the efficiency of your ac, your insulation, and your temp differences.

basically, you don't want to turn it off completely during the day, just like a 3-5 degree difference will give you the best savings. otherwise the house will warm up too much and the AC will have to work harder and longer to bring it back to a comfortable level

i have mine set to 70 when i'm there and 75 when i'm not there and like 72 at night. i think i need to play around with it some more though.

6/21/2006 11:03:23 AM

my schedule is too irregular for me to keep comfortable with the program. I like to keep my place cool, so I usually just keep it on 70 the whole time. Power bills aren't unreasonable for where I live. What makes my place inefficient is living on a high floor of an all-glass building in a condo that faces south/southwest

6/21/2006 11:10:21 AM

I have a feeling it'll save a lit more on the gas bill than it will with the AC

6/21/2006 11:58:21 AM

Quote :

"basically, you don't want to turn it off completely during the day, just like a 3-5 degree difference will give you the best savings. otherwise the house will warm up too much and the AC will have to work harder and longer to bring it back to a comfortable level"

I've contemplated this before, and this implies some non-linear change in temperature and non-linear effects with the cooling system, and somehow I find this a bit hard to believe.

6/21/2006 1:42:39 PM

make sure not to cut the ac down too much when your at work..and when I say down I mean as in off, not cooler

because when you get home, if you cut your ac off while at work, your ac will work harder trying to catch up to the temp you want.

6/21/2006 1:47:20 PM

Quote :

"I've contemplated this before, and this implies some non-linear change in temperature and non-linear effects with the cooling system, and somehow I find this a bit hard to believe. "

it's more of a differential and comfort thing. lets say you leave for work at 7 and turn off the furnace. in the 9 hours you are gone, the temp rises 15 degrees. if you turn the ac back on at 5, you'll be hot for several hours until the house cools down again.

of course you could figure out the time you'll need to get back to 70 and have the ac turn on that many hours before you get home, however this will be dependant on outside temps since the inside temp will rise faster if it is hotter outside and take longer to cool down if it is hotter inside before you start cooling.

so for simplicity, efficiency, and comfort you should only drop the temp a few degrees so that it doesn't take long to cool back to comfort level and also so that it won't be so unbearable when you get home.

another thing you might consider is that an ac unit does not run constantly so if it takes say 3 hours to recool your house from being off after 5 hours, would the unit have been on for a total of 3 hours in that time with a slightly lower temp? i'm sure you could figure it out eventually, but it would be different for every house, for every inside temp, and for every outside temp

6/21/2006 2:51:06 PM

Quote :

" if you cut your ac off while at work, your ac will work harder trying to catch up to the temp you want. "

Not if you set it at a reasonable 80-85 when you get home. This doesn't apply to you fatties that can't stand it hotter than 70.

6/21/2006 3:02:14 PM

^

yeah, i like it rather warm, so i leave it at 76. cooler if i have company.

this has saved lots of $.

6/21/2006 3:25:36 PM

we didn't use our heat or anything all winter and finally turned the AC on to 80. It is comfortable and barely changed our bill. Just do that.

6/21/2006 7:05:35 PM

I've found that mid 70's is perfect now that it's 90 outside.

Sorta interested in the next power bill. Just as long as it's not as high as my gas bill during Jan and Feb then I'm good

6/21/2006 8:05:42 PM

we have one and the thing seems to have a mind of its own. at random times it will stop following hte program and say that all of the settings have changed to the same temperature, and not what I set it to. pressing the temporary setting and letting it sit like that for a few minutes then running the program seems to fix the problem.

6/21/2006 10:24:42 PM

what brands do you guys have? The only name brand I know of is Honeywell

6/21/2006 10:46:40 PM

dat b what mine is

6/21/2006 10:51:15 PM

hondaguy: maybe your batteries are getting low?

i have a honeywell also. it was super easy to install.

6/22/2006 9:43:46 AM

Are they easy to install??? how are they normally attached to the wall? do they just slide up and out or something????? Im interested in changin mine to a programable one. IVe pulled on it a few times with no success. Im worried about ripping the damn off the wall

6/22/2006 3:34:28 PM

its pretty easy

it should be screwed to the wall

and the wiring is a snap if you have done any electrical ever

6/22/2006 3:41:18 PM

yeah

basically a wall thermostat is nothing more than an on-off switch

well 2 switches.

6/22/2006 3:42:24 PM