Heater keeps running

emperor_black

12 yr old house...family room lower than the living room and kitchen. Its a programmable honeywell thermostat. Problem is that it does not shut off. If I set it to 73 degrees, it reaches 73 degrees, shuts off for a min or two and starts over again. It doesn't "know" to reach something like 74 for example, shut off for a good 10 or 15 mins and then start.

I got another honeywell thermostat and this one, just keeps running. Is there any thermostat that does what I want? The insulation in the house is not that bad. I've even got energy saver curtains for the family room.

Scuba_Dave

Where are you located ?
How big is your house ?
What kind of heat ?
What kind of heating method ?

beenthere

Is the hole in the wall where the thermostat wires come through sealed.
Often a cool draft will come out the hole and make the thermostat think its cooler then it really is in the house.

Also. What CPH is the thermostat set for.

emperor_black

2200 sq. ft. Two stories.
Gas.
Not sure what you mean. There is a big gas heater in the garage and vents on the floors.


Ah! That's a great point. No, it is not sealed. there is a big hole where the wires come out of. I'm not sure what CPH means.

The old tstat was a honeywell and the new one is also honeywell. There were 4 wires coming out. Actually 5 but the red one was not being used. I connected a fat black wire to 'G' on the tstat (i assume it means ground?). There was a blue, white and a yellow wire from the wall. I think I connected the blue wire to the Rh Rc jumper, white to W and the yellow to Y ? I think that's what I did. I dont have the piece of paper where I wrote down the old connections.

beenthere

G is not ground. low voltage thermostats don't need a ground.
G is fan.

Seal the whole. Will probably make a big difference.

emperor_black

I think the problem is solved. It was a combination of sealing the hole (so, thanks beenthere! ) and operator error

The jumper was not screwed in tight. And one of the wires might have got out. Everything is now nice and tight, the hole sealed (although, upon careful examination, the hole is the hole in the wall and does not go through. There is only enough space for the wires to come out, but that could also send it some draft.)

Anyways, I'm planning to mount the thermostat a little away from the wall. The walls are always cold no matter how hot it is around it. I'm surprised its not some sort of standard. Laws of physics states land takes a while to heat and a while to cool. Its not like water. If the thermostat's sensor is on the bottom faceplate putting it on a cold wall will obviously lead it to think the temperature is different. Please correct me if my reasoning is wrong.

thanks for all your help!

Sam

beenthere

In a warehouse. Its fine to mount the stat off of the wall.
In a house. It can make you feel cold.

Reason. As you said. It takes a while for the wall to warm, and to cool off. Just like your furniture.

If its just sensing air temp. You could end up with short cycles. And the heat shutting off before the furniture absorbs any heat.
So that you lose more body heat to your furniture.

Newer Honeywell thermostat(most, not all). Use both air temp sensing, and radiant heat sensing. And work better on a wall, then mounted off the wall.