Honeywell White Round Thermostat - 4degF Heating Offset

Jan 10, 2023 Last reply: 3 years ago 27 Replies

_____________

*** UPDATE ***

Three days ago, I was able to successfully pull the T87K Honeywell white round from its base on the wall in the hallway. Just a word of advice - turn OFF any mode switches(T87N) or turn the heat knob setting all the way own(T87K) - before dismounting.

Removing is a hair-raising experience, because it feels like you are literally ripping the thing off the wall! Even if you are slow and deliberate, as one should be in this matter.

Side note: Although not required, I did check the base for level, along the straight edge provided for that purpose. I loosened one of two screws on the base, and ensured it was bubble center.

Here is a link to the manual for the T87K(heat only) and -N(Heat/AC) white round thermostats:

formatting link
On page 4 of that manual, under red bar sub-section "Cycle rate settings", is a diagram indicating a series of positions for two dip switches on the back of the thermostat(the brains of the unit) itself.

With a tiny standard scredriver, such as the one from an eyeglasses repair kit, one can move these switches to one of four combinations as explained in that subsection.

The third option, both switches 1(top) and 2(bottom) OFF, is the factory default setting.

As installed in our application, I found both dips switched to ON(option #1).

So, I set it to option #2, second down the list, #1 OFF, #2 ON, since it corresponded to the setting recommended for "hot water". Our system by the way is a newly installed hot water boiler, multi-zone (upstairs(us)), and downstairs(two business concerns). Ran it that way for 24 hours, set point 69deg F.

The next day, I removed the thermostat, and configured the switches for option #3, third down the list, OFF/OFF, the aformentioned default. Ran it that way, and continue to as of now 48 hours.

In all three configurations(as I found it, and the two configs. I tried), the difference between set point and actual hallway temperature persisted, with a difference between all three configurations about half a degree.

EG: at 69 degrees setting, an indicated temperature of between 64-65F was maintained. In my apartment, because of our thermopaned windows and weatherstripped(by me) entry door, this equated to 67-68F. Please understand that I already know that the two pointers(set point, and thermometer) will never always match. But while I can understand a 1-2F difference between setpoint and actual, I find a 4 degree difference to be a bit much.

Now: recall that I did mention that the boiler/hot water system in this building is of MULTI-zone design, two floors, two zones. I would assume some sort of thermostat or other regulation exists for the tenants on the ground floor.

For the heating & plumbing experts here: would this application, being multizone, affect or elicit the 3-4 degree F offset I noticed since heating season began here, both before and after the boiler was replaced? I am not well versed in how multi-zone hot water works, having lived most my life in homes with single zone, single thermostat hot water heat.

Thanks for reading this exhausting account of my experimentation, and let me know what you think.

No surprise that dip switches didn't solve it. Fiddling with cycles, what kind of system, heat anticipator settings isn't going to fix a consistent 4 deg difference. Shifting the metal coil or similar, if possible will.

___________________

Well to be fair, Option #2 produced the widest variation, almost 5F, between set and actual.

I still think that this being a two-zone hot water boiler heating system might have something to do with it. The manual I linked to did not provide a setting or recommendation as to how to proceed in a multi-zone scenario as ours.

In the last house I lived in, we had a digital Honeywell with similar cycle options, not as switches but in a menu format, and there *were* significant differences between each setting - the hot air mode actually causing a 1-2deg OVERshoot, and the others, either from within half a degree to as much as 3 degrees below setpoint. But again, that was a single t-stat, whole-house zone hot water system. Simple, and easy to notice the effects of changes to settings.

______________________________ On the thermostat I linked to the manual for, when you remove the head(the actual part you adjust the heat with), the back of the head seems to have limited or no access behind the back plate, which has the space as illustrated for the dip switches at upper left, and the large multi-prong connector for power and signal to boiler or furnace.

I'm not sure what is behind that back plate, I tapped it, and it sounds like a spring inside. I don't know if there is also a sliding-scale anticipator inside. It's not my thermostat, I just happen to have educated myself about it enough to know what the dips do.

Therefore I am not only hesitant to go inside it, but I just wouldn't, again, being as it belongs to the building I rent in.

I did ask the tenant in the apt next to mine, if he noticed the constant spread between setting and actual F, and he said it's because it's mounted in a hallway, outside of the rentable spaces that he, myself, and others occupy.

The thermometers in two rooms of my apartment agree more with the thermostat setpoint than they do with the actual indicated on the Honeywell Round itself:

Honeywell set point: 70F Honeywell actual: 66. Apt. thermometer actuals: 68-69

Hot water heat delivery is perimeter finned baseboard radiator, mid-late 20th Century.

It's not an anticipator problem. That could result in overshoot or taking more short cycles to get to the set temp, but not always being off by 4 degrees.

On Friday, January 20, 2023 at 8:26:42 AM UTC-5, trader_4 wmy thermostat, I just happen to have educated myself

___________

My aforementioned neighbor, who also performed maintenance for our landlord, said it’s probably because the thermostat is mounted out in a long, open hallway, so the result will not always match what it is set to.

I didn't read all the replies, but if your thermostat is old technology and has an actual mercury switch in it, then ROTATING the whole unit slightly will change the temperature offset. Gravity actually effects the mercury switch. If is is newer with electronics, this will not work of course. M

______________________

I did check for level as provided inside the base section, by removing the head unit - top of page 4:

formatting link
Once that is leveled, there is no way to mount the front/head unit on crooked.

If there is a mercury bulb and bimetal loop spring in this thing, it is sealed inside of the head unit, probably to prevent mercury exposure in case the unit is dropped and breaks.

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required