Which Programmable Room Stat?

[Set Square]

I am seriously considering replacing the room stat on my central heating system with a programmable stat - to enable me to have several different temperatures set during the course of the day. I have a Danfoss SET5 programmer which will continue to programme the hot water - but with CH set to "continuous".

I notice that a number of companies make (or sell) programmable stats - including Drayton, Honeywell, Horstmann, Sunvic (plus Screwfix) - all of which are basically similar but with a few variations.

Features which seem to me to be useful include:

• At least 4 programmed events per 24 hours (preferably 6)

• Time resolution (granularity) of 10 minutes or better

• 2 day types (nominally weekday/weekend) with the ability to set any day to either type

• Temporary over-ride without re-programming

• Holiday feature enabling the heating to be off for a period and them resume automatically after a specified number of days - preferably up to at least 50 days

Does anyone have a view on this shopping list? Have I missed anything important? Are any of the above features a waste of time? [I'm only looking at wired models - I can't see any point in using an RF model since the wires are already in the right place].

I would particularly like the over-ride to work in the same way as my current programmer if possible - but I haven't found any that are exactly equivalent yet. My current programmer (which admittedly is only controlling the on/off function and not temperature) has an "Advance" button which takes it to the next programmed event early, and then reverts to the set programme. For example, if it is set for 2 on periods (say 7am-10am and

4pm-8pm), if I press this button at noon it will come on straight away (instead of waiting till 4pm) and stay on until 8pm. Most programmable stats which I have looked at seem to have up/down buttons to enable you to change the set temperature until the next programmed event - but not simply to jump to the next event and adopt whatever temperature is specified for that event. Are there any which can do this?

I would welcome recommendations of specific makes/models to look at based on the above requirements and (hopefully) your personal experience of any you recommend.

TIA.

[Steven Briggs]

WH Smith's. Third Shelf up, 6 feet from the left. Between "Boiler Monthly" and "Zone Valve Review"

Sorry, IGMC.

[John Stumbles]

controlling

The Horstmann (sold by Screwfix, and others though sometimes badged differently AIUI) is not what you want. I know, I've got one :-(

There's a Sunvic (dunno the model number offhand) which may be closer to your ideal (pretty sure it hasn't got the advance feature, and not sure about the holiday feature though)

I think there was a[t least one] thread on this recently - Google

-- John Stumbles

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[Set Square]

Very droll!

[Set Square]

Would you care to elaborate?

I did "Google" before posting the question. I found a number of threads about the use of Programmable stats in general, but none which address the features in detail.

[Dave Liquorice]

The newer to the market and cheapo ( * 2 day types (nominally weekday/weekend) with the ability to set

On the fly? ie suddenly decide that "today" is a weekend day rather than a weekday? Not sure any do that, the TP75 here has an "on" from first event to last event feature not sure what temp its sets presumably the 1st on one. Don't use it as there is awlays some one in and all days are programmed with the same thermal profile.

I doubt any don't have those abilties.

Just use the jog buttons to set the temp the same as the next event or how we use ours just nudge it up a degree when it feels a little cool.

I'm more than happy with a Danfoss TP75.

[Dave Liquorice]

Do what I do when I want to find out what a bit of kit can (or can't do) read the instructions. Quite often you can get the installation and user instructions off the web...

[Dave Plowman]

I find four sections - night, morning first thing, day and evening fine. If the house is to be empty during the day, I switch the programmer to the older twice a day setting.

[Peter Watson]

I've been very happy with my Honeywell CM67 - 7 day/6 event per day (all days can be different), over-ride current temperature for this period or for n hours (useful if you've staying up late), 99 day holiday mode, optimise mode etc

Peter

[Angela]

"Peter Watson"

period or

mode,

Ditto, I have the optimum start as well and that is very good

I'm sure it would even make the coffee if I asked it nice enough!

Angela

[Andy R]

If we're playing "mine's bigger than yours" then I've got one with the radio controlled time setting module as well so it's still right when the clocks change:)

Rgds

Andy R

[chris French]

In message , Set Square writes

i can 't do that but the times can be set with complete flexibility.

This holiday feature isn't IMO very useful.

Check your household insurance - mine specifies (and i think it is pretty common) that when the house is unoccupied that the CH be left on a minimum temp - I think mine is 15 C. so turning it off isn't much use. A holiday function that left it on a set temp until the end of the holiday would be useful however. I'd leave mine on anyway to avoid the possibility of burst pipes while away.

Mine has an Advance button which does exactly that.

It is an ACL PT371 (is this the same as Drayton?)

The function that I would really like however is the ability to switch from an 'at home' program to an 'at work' program for an individual day - I don't always know until the day if I will be working out of the house.

Certainly they are useful though, being able to set a lower temp at night but leave the heating on, and a slightly lower temp in the middle of the day, when we tend to be more active I guess has improved the comfort level of the house.

[Snowman]

I'd have thought "*Boiler* Monthly" was a top shelf mag!

Peter.

[Christian McArdle]

I have a Sunvic, which is really slim and quite elegent looking. I'm very happy with it. However, it is missing several features from your list.

Yes. Up to 24 programmed events per day.

No. Hourly granularity. (I like this, many wouldn't).

8 day types. 5 preset (and actually quite sensible), 3 user defined.

Yes. Advance and temp override. No 1-2 hour boost, though, which I miss.

Not that I've found, although you can manually set the "on" temperature to be low and restore this when you return. This means you don't disturb the day settings.

Extra features not mentioned:

1. Best looking (and slimmest) room stat I saw. Elegant, rather than in your face.
2. Premptive logic to turn on heating before set time, depending on the temperature.
3. Display constantly shows the day's programme, in the form of 24 dots which show at a quick glance what sort of day is programmed.
4. Constant display of current temperature, time, day, call for heat, and mode.
5. Backlighting

If the disadvantages don't bother you, I'll try to find the model number. I got mine for 30 quid each from B&Q.

Christian.

[Tony Bryer]

Unless I've remembered wrongly the CM67 holiday setting incorporates frost protection (5C?). 15C is IMO high for an unoccupied property unless you have valuable antiques or suchlike,

[Angela]

Yeah, yeah but mine is cute !!! :-)

[chris French]

In message , Tony Bryer writes

Thinking about it that might be the case with mine, I can't remember.

Probably, but it's what my insurance asks for - this is the same with my current co. which I changed to last year as with the old one IIRC.

[Paul W]

Set square,

I have the new Horstmann Centurstat 7 from Screwfix, which has recently been upgraded ( I know this cos I ordered 3 a month ago and got a mixture of the new and old varients, Screwfix changed them all to the new varient as that is the one described in the catalogue).

This has 6.

10 mins.

Everyday can be totally independant, hence no need for day types.

You can temporarily increase or decrease the temp until the next time zone.

It doesn't do this, but you can set a temperature and press "lock", which will hold that temp until you unlock it.

The newer flavour of the centurstat 7 allows you to see the current temperature as well as the target temperature, which can be handy.

It's working well for me !

Cheers,

Paul.

[Christian McArdle]

I find day types a real convenience. Most of my days are similar. Some really bad types expect you to set every single day individually. Others have a "Copy" feature that lets you copy the previous day's. However, I much prefer just defining some typical programmes and then assigning them to a specific day.

Christian.

[tony sayer]

In article , Peter Watson writes

Second that!....