House Thermostat Question

[lawman]

A year ago I replaced my entire heating and cooling system including the thermostat. I recently noticed the temp in the house only drops 1.5 degrees before the thermostat calls for heat. This causes the furnace to run often for short periods. I emailed the company and they said this was normal as their units are programmed to do just that. They said it keeps the house temp more "even and comfortable."

I say this is overworking the furnace and I think I should replace this thermostat with one that allows for a bigger drop in temp before it kicks in the furnace.

Any advice on this? By the way, the thermostat cannot be adjusted. I asked.

[LightningBG]

I think the adjustment will need to be made on the control board in the furnace. I want to say you can set a minimum run time, so you'll go past your set point for a while, but then it will be longer before it gets back down to that trigger temp.

(but this is just a guess. I installed a furnace a couple years ago and this is what pops into my head, but could be totally false. I've never seen a thermostat with any adjustment available for run time).

[Surface Tension]

A 1.5 degree drop is quite noticeable.

The furnace kicking on for short times. This is why you choose a furnace according to sq. ft. of the home, windows, doors and such, matching that to BTU's. Too many BTUs and the space heats too quickly. Not enough BTUs and on the coldest day its not enough to heat the space.

A perfect match would be to continuously run on the coldest day and still keep.

I'll assume you have gas forced air. I'd check temps in the other rooms. Maybe some management with the registers. A T-Stat with heat anticipator will give you some adjustment temp swings which will give you longer heating cycles but as I said 1.5 degree is a lot.

Use a different/more accurate thermometer to test those temps.

[BobT]

A furnace that cycles often with smaller temperature swings is going to be used more efficiently than allowing for large temperature swings. In a perfect world your fire would burn continuously at exactly the right flame level to maintain the room temperature setpoint with zero variation. Since we don't live ina perfect world with a perfect system we do the best we can with what we have.

[jmd1]

So i have a honeywell stat that allows me to set the swing. i run mine at .5 as if i got to 1 or 1.5 it cycles the a/c too much. is it a digital tstat that you can adjust the setting on?

[Pat K]

My furnace & thermostat have been operating like that since it was installed 5 years ago. The utility company had told me that was the way it would work before we bought it. Heating bills dropped a little and we have had no problems with the furnace.

[fastkaw]

This may sound a little harsh, but come on 1.5 degrees

as someome said, we don't live in a perfect world,

least not a lab.

Leave the fan run and you won't notice the furnace going on

or or off.

In most cases, it's not the equipment or the thermostat

it's the duct work, air flow or lack of it.

[Josh.P 86]

If the ductwork and equipment are sized properly there is no reason to have a 1.5 degree temp swing. The longer and slower equipment runs the more efficient. 1.5 degree temp swing is huge and you would notice it. I have a two stage variable speed furnace that is properly sized with properly sized ductwork and my house stays with in .5 degree of where i set it. Short cycling furnace is either poor ductwork or too big of furnace not a thermostat issue.

[LightningBG]

So i have a honeywell stat that allows me to set the swing. i run mine at .5 as if i got to 1 or 1.5 it cycles the a/c too much. is it a digital tstat that you can adjust the setting on?

That doesn't make any sense.