Thermostat question

[Kelric]

Any of you kind folk know if a thermostat exists that allows for a temperature range? My furnace likes turning on every 5-15 minutes to keep the house at X degrees, whereas I'd like it to work something like this: I set the temperature at 65 degrees max, with 62 degrees minimum, so every time it drops down to 62 degrees the furnace kicks on and brings it back up to 65. Then it does nothing for a few hours while the house drops back to 62, then kicks on again.

[Roman]

I don't believe one like that exists.
While certainly much more expensive........ you could look into a 2 stage furnace.
I've had them in my last 2 homes - essentially the furnace 'blower' is always blowing a little warm air to help the house maintain an 'even' temperature. Then once in a while it will turn on 'full blast' to heat quicker.

Benefit is more consistent home temperature.

[stessier]

Any of you kind folk know if a thermostat exists that allows for a temperature range? My furnace likes turning on every 5-15 minutes to keep the house at X degrees, whereas I'd like it to work something like this: I set the temperature at 65 degrees max, with 62 degrees minimum, so every time it drops down to 62 degrees the furnace kicks on and brings it back up to 65. Then it does nothing for a few hours while the house drops back to 62, then kicks on again.

Yes, we have one like that. I'll have to check the model, but it basically has a dead band. So you set the temp and then the range you'll allow. I think the most is +/-3 (it is an equal range). So it heats +3 and then is off until it hits -3. It also has auto mode you can set as wide as you want - so say 74 high and 62 low. If it gets above 74 the AC kicks on and if it gets below 62 the heat kicks on. Then it randomly circulates air for 20 minutes every hour. I think it's a Honeywell, but I'll have to check.

[Lassr]

The one we have for an electric heat pump is by Lux and it allows something like this.

We have ours set to 70 degrees in the winter and it has a setting of when do you want it to kick on to heat up. I have mine set at 2 degree offset so at 68 it will kick on and warm the house to 70. I think it goes all the way to a 4 degree offset but not positive as that offset is not recommended for electric heat.

this is the one we have:

[Scuzz]

Mine has a 2 degree range built in. If I set it at 70 it has to hit 68 before it kicks in and warms to 70. I think both thermostats I have had did that.

[Lorini]

Mine have had that for quite a while. If you want something fancy get a Nest. Mine is set during the day at 71 heat and 78 cool, is that what you mean? At night it's 68 heat and 75 cool.

[Kelric]

Mine have had that for quite a while. If you want something fancy get a Nest. Mine is set during the day at 71 heat and 78 cool, is that what you mean? At night it's 68 heat and 75 cool.

Well I don't have AC, so it'd just be heat. I want to tell it to get to 65 degrees (or whatever temperature) and then to turn off until the house naturally cools down to 62 degrees, then turn itself back on until it brings the heat to 65, then let the house settle, etc. Sounds much better than it turning on every 10 minutes for hours on end to try and keep it at 65.

[Chaz]

You sure that thing isn't short cycling? I mean, it's possible it's the thermostat, but kicking in for really short periods, but all the time sounds fishy to me. When was the last time you changed the air filter? On mine, if I let it go too long, it eventually starts short cycling the furnace because it can't get enough air pressure though, so goes into a safety cutoff thing and kills the flame. I'd get about five minutes of flame+blower, five minutes of blower alone, then twenty minutes of nothing. The history on my Nest thermostat showed it doing that all day. My HVAC guy said to try changing the air filter, and that fixed it.

[Kraken]

Mine have had that for quite a while. If you want something fancy get a Nest. Mine is set during the day at 71 heat and 78 cool, is that what you mean? At night it's 68 heat and 75 cool.

Well I don't have AC, so it'd just be heat. I want to tell it to get to 65 degrees (or whatever temperature) and then to turn off until the house naturally cools down to 62 degrees, then turn itself back on until it brings the heat to 65, then let the house settle, etc. Sounds much better than it turning on every 10 minutes for hours on end to try and keep it at 65.

That's how old-fashioned dimetallic mercury switches worked. The metal coil expanded and contracted within a range of a few degrees, so that if you set it at 68 the actual temp would range from 66-70 (or so; they weren't precise) as the switch took longer to heat/cool than the air did.

I concur with Chaz that the behavior you describe doesn't sound normal. Are you overdue for a furnace tuneup?

[Kelric]

I switched the filter out a month ago when we first turned the heat on. I think the last inspection was a year or two ago; I don't recall the last date on the tag (and I didn't own the place then).