JoeChiOhki
Sauvie Island, OR
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Joined: 11/20/2003
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Alright, since there's been alot of discussion lately about keeping warm and thermostats, I'll pose my current dilemma.
My RV has a Suburban Furnace, one of the old units that uses a basic two wire mechanical thermostat.
Current thermostat works on the premise of a coiled banded of metal that is heat sensitive that completes a circuit when it cools enough to touch. I'm fairly certain it completes the circuit since the on/off switch lifts up a lead and makes it impossible for the circuit to complete.
Furnace switches on when the contact occurs and remains on till the air warms the coil enough to break the circuit again.
Now, I'd like to switch to a more accurate digital thermostat, likely one found at Home Depot or Lowes, but most of the ones I've glanced at are designed for 3 wire systems and I have notions about voltages and what not also in my head, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to go with.
Also, toss in that the unit cannot be much wider than the existing thermostat, but it can be taller.
For details, my current thermostat is a Suburban Wall thermostat model 1030.
Best picture I could find online was this:
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xnorp
Spokane Washington
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Your old one is just like the one that I had. I put in one that had like 4 wires that I got at Lowe's was like 20 dollars. I just did not hook any wires to the other terminals on the thermostat just the two that I needed which were in the directions. Pick one up take hit home give it a try if it does not work for you take it back. Home Depot and Lowe's are great about returns.
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ScottG
Bothell Wa.
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All your stat does is connect two wires together in order to turn it on. A Digital model will do the same thing, just follow the directions. FWIW, I have the same setup and tried a "Hunter" brand stat. It was better but still allowed to much temp swing. Next I got an Energy star rated stat - huge difference! It works fantastic and keeps the temp from swinging too far by shutting it off just before it hits the set temp and then using the cool down or over run time of the furnace to hits the temp dead on.
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JoeChiOhki
Sauvie Island, OR
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How well can the degree difference offset be adjusted on the digital units? On my mechanical, there is a little slider that you can push up and down to extend how many degrees of temperature loss are allowed before the furnace cycles on again.
On my existing mechanical, I have it set to the max it will go to reduce how often the furnace runs (Longer run times, less frequently).
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AnEv942
CA
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Joined: 10/10/2003
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The digital I wouldnt say more accurate but more easily adjusted. On ours push button up or down changes by 1 degree-where as the old slider was just in referance to the printed numbers so could be +/- 5 or so degrees...biggest plus though progamable
Id also agree, most you simply dont connect the extra function wires.
Long as its not external power source. Few are though.
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Jeep Hauler
San Diego
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For a residential application they use three wires. In a two wire application you will use the R terminal (power) and the W terminal(heat. The thermostat will have its own power source usually a battery of some kind to operate and maintain the program. You can adjust the differential set point as close as one degree in most cases. When set at a one degree setting the furnace will cycle on more often to maintain set point.
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2oldman
Winchester WA
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JoeChiOhki wrote:How well can the degree difference offset be adjusted on the digital units? They say to 1* ( hate that there's no degree key) but I'm not sure they always live up to that claim.
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ScottG
Bothell Wa.
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True that the stat will cycle more often as Jeep Hauler says but it will use less energy over all.
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mountainkowboy
Socal High Desert
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You need a T-stat that will work with a millivolt system and you will be fine. They are available at Ace hardware for about $20.
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Starcraft21SSO
Atlanta, Ga.
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JoeChiOhki wrote:there is a little slider that you can push up and down to extend how many degrees of temperature loss are allowed before the furnace cycles on again.
If you're searching, the term for that "gap" between on and off is called the hysteresis.
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