Ever had your thermostat go out and wonder if you should upgrade it to a better one or not? Well the answer is YES! It will save you $ in the long run AND better regulate the temperature in your home. So replace your cheap $ 25 thermostat and get one that is atleast $60.
My heat didn't come on one night and I woke up to it being 62 in the house. I figured the easiest and cheapest fix would be to replace the thermostat. The display wasn't on and it doesn't have a battery to replace. So I knew my thermostat had gone out and I had to get a new one. It was starting to get cold and the snow was coming. I moved into my home in April 2011. It is a two storey home with a half finished basement. The basement was always colder than the rest of the home and the upstairs, especially my bedroom was always much warmer than the main level. The thermostat is on the main floor on the wall that is open between the dining room and the living room. I know now that the problem with uneven heating and cooling was due to the cheap thermostat. It didn't have enough power to push the air to the farthest vents in the upper level.
The original thermostat was cheap and didn't push much air to the upper floor. As a new home owner I did not know that the quality of the thermostat dictated how well the air was pushed throughout the home. I went to my local Canadian Tire and looked at all the thermostats and tried to figure out what the difference was between them all. I know that I wanted something in the $ 65 - $75 range. I knew that I wanted to upgrade my $ 25 one but didn't want to over do it as I can upgrade to a $ 150 one at a later date. This thinking paid off. The power of the more expensive thermostat gives a lot more power to the furnace.
I purchased a Honeywell 5-1-1 Programmable Thermostat. It was easy to replace. The wires for the most part were the same as the previous thermostat. Before I had removed the previous thermostat to take with me to Canadian Tire I had taken a picture of the wires and which slot they were connected to. When I went to put the new thermostat on all I had to do was match the letters on the picture to the letters and description of the new one.
I set the time, date and schedule, which was easy. The schedule was easy to set up. It is separated by weekdays and then separate schedules for Saturday and Sunday. I pushed done and it turned on. I wanted to test the heat. The upstairs the heat came out nicely in the bathroom, spare room and office. My bedroom even with the filter in it blew out the vent nicely. The main level vents you could feel the heat push through and heat the home up much quicker. The basement warmed up a lot too. The basement bedroom now gets very warm with the door closed, which last year with the previous thermostat never did. After two months the home is much warmer and the furnace actually turns off because it hits its set temperature much quicker. My hydro bill has come down some compared to last year.
- Exclusive Honeywell Smart Response Technology
- 4 programmable periods per day
- +/-1° F precise temperature control
- Auto change from heat to cool
- Large, backlit display - room and set temperature display simultaneously
- Temporary and Permanent hold settings
- Fahrenheit or Celsius temperature display
- Soft-touch button interface
- Easy-access battery compartment
- Honeywell Model # RTH6400
- Brand Name - Honeywell
- Day Programming - 5-1-1
- Periods Per Star - 4
- Function - Forced Air
- Auto Switch - No
- Memory Backup - Yes
- Display - Backlit Display
- Voltage - 24V
- Remote - Armchair programming
- Energy Star Compliant - n/a
- Dimensions - 3.75"H x 6"W x 1.25"D
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