Programmable Thermostat

Just a note to those considering buying a programmable thermostat and deciding on the make to buy.

I've just bought the Sunvic one from B&Q. At 30 quid, it is much cheaper than a Drayton Digistat 3. Rather than programming with the normal 3 on/off times per day, you can set up a heating profile with 24 dots representing the hours and have complete freedom to set the dots (i.e. up to 12 periods per day, if you are weird). You then set each day to the profile previously set up. (There are 6 factory suggested programmes too). You can set each day separately, or set 5/2 or 7 days all at the same time as you wish. You can set both the 'on' and 'off' temperatures. It has logic to pre-empt the onset of an 'on' period (but no external temperature sensor).

It displays the the time, call for heat, the day, the temperature and the 24 dot profile at all times. Although slightly bigger than the standard light switch size, it only sticks out of the wall by a relatively small amount and looks very classy. Much less intrusive than other makes. It also has 6 buttons, making programming much easier than those with fewer buttons. It even has a electroluminescent backlight and manual override (both programme advance and temperature adjust).

In use, it keeps temperature well within 1 degree at all times. Very highly recommended and much better than the Drayton Digistat 3, IMHO.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle
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Not quite sure what you mean by "24 dots representing the hours". Hopefully this doesn't mean that the on/off times have to be in whole hours?

Can you, for example, switch on at 06:50 and off at 09:35?

Roger

Reply to
Roger Mills

Your hope is misplaced. But then, I've always wanted programmers to be much more granular. I hated scrolling through the minutes. I mean who wants to turn on at 16:18 instead of 16:17? Obviously, if you want finer granularity than an hour, you'll be disappointed. At the end of the day, provided you have reasonable insulation and draught proofing, keeping a place warm for half an hour longer than you wanted won't cost much. It was heating it up to temperature in the first place that costed you.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

granularity

I agree that a granularity of one minute isn't required - but programming to the nearest quarter hour (like the old mechanical devices with removeable pegs) would be nice.

Roger

Reply to
Roger Mills

Whilst I can see that hourly setting takes the other extreme, I am quite willing to give up quarter hour granuality in exchange for the immediate display of today's complete programme at all times. You can tell at a glance whether the heating's going to turn off during the day and that the programme looks sensible. I suspect many central heating programmers are set to weird timings, but no-one ever notices.

But then, everyone has their own priorities.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

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