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We just received the quarterly statement from our utility company stating we are Number 1 in effiecincy out of the 100 closest occupied houses near us. As we should be. Keep that in mind if your utility company sends out something similar; homes not being currently lived in but paying a monthly bill are rated, skewing the results.
I was thinking about this statement and it didn't make sense. The tools used to measure efficiency by your boiler/hvac company are thousands of dollars, not to mention they are not hooked up to your equipment. And this doesnt include how comfortable you feel as this is based on a person by person basis.
And as you stated, some homes are not even occupied, so I have no idea what they are using as a metric to measure efficiency.
I was thinking about this statement and it didn't make sense. The tools used to measure efficiency by your boiler/hvac company are thousands of dollars, not to mention they are not hooked up to your equipment. And this doesnt include how comfortable you feel as this is based on a person by person basis.
And as you stated, some homes are not even occupied, so I have no idea what they are using as a metric to measure efficiency.
Maybe your #1 in fuel usage? Hehe.
We used the lowest amount of energy, gas and electric, which translates to effieciency in their eyes. Never mind that the inside temp is a bone chilling 52.
The biggest drop in our energy consumption was when we got our first programmable thermostat years ago and set lower temps when we were at work and at night. The thermostat paid for itself quickly.
The biggest drop in our energy consumption was when we got our first programmable thermostat years ago and set lower temps when we were at work and at night. The thermostat paid for itself quickly.
Not to dispute that the t-stat paid for itself, but the same results could have been achieved if you lower the temps manually on the way out to work and before bedtime. It does take say 30 mins of discomfort when you raise the temp back up upon returning but then, you're already thick-skinned enough to tolerate 52 deg.
I'll disagree again. A boiler would reheat the temp quickly on small modern radiators, that doesn't happen quickly on old, large cast iron ones. I would not use a swing range. We have the temp set at 52 while we are gone and do not want it going lower than that.
A boiler burner has it's own operating control with it's own deadband to cycle based on loop temp rather than a zone control. Minor deadband differences for zone controls have virtually no impact on boiler efficiency. From the standpoint of a gas fired furnace, longer run periods are the most efficient and short run periods are horrible as it takes a few minutes to reach "steady state" operations. Don't be fooled.
Either way a 1° deadband has no practical purpose in comfort control and needlessly wears out whatever it controls.
FYI, for those on the fence, the Ecobee doesn't use batteries.
Both use internal batteries. Nest made the mistake of promoting the idea that it could be used to operate the stat. A missing "C" wire is why the folks in the article are dissatisfied. The linked article leaves a lot out by implying that the battery is the issue rather than the circuit. Nest vs Ecobee, Ford vs Chevy...you could could be right or wrong by stating one is superior.
The Ecobee 3 doesn't have batteries for the main stat. It is powered by the 24 volts from the system. The sensors have little 2032 cells in them but they are wireless.
A coin cell that keeps time and lasts years while the stat off the supply from the unit is completely different than batteries as the primary means to run the thermostat at all times that last months and evidently can be run down by a crappy firmware update. Just saying.
Now here is my dilemma. Went and bought the Honeywell wifi touchscreen.
then found out that the wire is a 2 wire only. Even at the furnace level I see the red and white connect. I mean it's a transformer, there must be a way that there is a 24V somewhere in there that I can tap into to run the C wire to power the thermostat?
Welcome to the major dilemma with smart thermostats. As another poster mention, the majority require a C wire to operate properly. I did not have a C-wire to either of my thermostats and my Nest did funky things like cycle the furnace on and off to charge the battery. You can have an electrician (or HVAC technician) run a new thermostat wire for you with a C-wire to power your Honeywell. Unfortunately, its an additional cost but it means you can continue to run WIFI thermostats as technology changes.
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