AC Control (1 Viewer)

[Philip Hamm]

Programmamble thermostat. It turns the AC temp up to a high temperature when I'm gone and not as high a temp when I'm asleep. It is a criminal waste to cool the house all day when nobody's there.

The more temp difference you set the better off you are. Your HVAC can handle it. My temps are 77 when I'm home, but I go up to 89 I think when I'm at work, and something like 79 at night. 5 degrees will help a lot, but you can usually go farther than that and save lots of energy.

Look for the recent appliance thread, I posted about 5 or so links supporting the large difference energy savings and debunking the small temp difference myth.

 

[Chris Huber]

Can you get these digital thermostates at home depot? Hoe much do they run? Also, is it difficult to install yourself?

 

[Philip Hamm]

Yes, a wide variety of prices, and I don't think so. I read on the other thread that cheap thermostats can break HVAC systems. Not sure about that, but my builder installed my programmables.

 

[Philip_G]

HD sells the honeywell chronotherm stats for around $80 and are very good, they used to sell the LUX brand stats, which aren't bad but don't carry them here anymore.

a stat isn't going to break your system, it is nothing more than a switch. You could break your system while installing it, by shorting out the low voltage transformer or blowing the 5 amp fuse on the control board, not a big deal.

 

[Chris Huber]

Cool, how hard are they to hook up? Wonder if I can do ut...

 

[Philip_G]

if you can see colors and work a screwdriver, I think you can handle it. There are only 6 little wires to deal with. Just note which wire came off which terminal on the old stat, and hook them up the same way on the new.

 

[Gary Seven]

Actually, not anymore. I just bought a brand new Trane 5 ton unit that has two compressors in the condensor. The air handler is three speeds. So depending on the cooling needs, the system will determine what compressor to use and what speed the air handler needs to be. Thus, if it needs to cool the house a degree or two, then the smaller compressor will kick off at lower air speeds, otherwise the bigger one will. This is a 17 seer unit designed for energy savings.

This is governed by a programmable t-stat, as others have suggested to use. So I program it at 83 degrees when I'm not home to 79 when I get home and 78 when I go to sleep.

 

[Ted Lee]

it's totally easy. i've installed at least three or four myself.

the only thing you have to be careful of is to get the right kind of thermostat for your system. i think one is called a "heat-pump" style ... or something like that.

as far as actual labor goes, it should take you about 10 minutes to do....20 if you actually read the directions.