Ice Castle thermostat

[dlbuck]

I want to replace the thermostat in my Ice Castle. I am trying to get a more even temperature. What would you suggest?

[Chad Holst]

I hear most guys just get a regular thermo for a house. All the thermostat does is measure the air temp and when below a certain point it closes a circit and the heater turns on, until it reaches a temp and then opens the circit again.

A thermostat wont make it a more "even" temp. the heater and how you circulate the air in the house will.

Something like this looks nice, is digital and its $15.00. THis one is a Honeywell, but i think they are a dime a dozen at FF, Menards, Lowes...wally world.

[outkast7222]

I hear most guys just get a regular thermo for a house. All the thermostat does is measure the air temp and when below a certain point it closes a circit and the heater turns on, until it reaches a temp and then opens the circit again.

A thermostat wont make it a more "even" temp. the heater and how you circulate the air in the house will.

Something like this looks nice, is digital and its $15.00. THis one is a Honeywell, but i think they are a dime a dozen at FF, Menards, Lowes...wally world.

A digital thermo like that will make for much more even temp. It will much the furnace on closer to the set temp and shut it down closer to the set temp. The standard suburban thermostat swings about 5° both ways. That digital will be within 1°.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Exact one I use.

Note that it only works down to 40 degrees, as in it won't turn on if your house temp is below 40. I hold mine over the cook top to get it above 40 and then stick it back on the wall. It isn't a big deal, but I'd look closer at the package next time I buy a thermostat to make sure I don't need to do that.

[Chad Holst]

Thanks Ripper, ill make sure to look at that when we buy one for the house.

[Fishalittle]

Isn't there an adjustment wheel inside the original thermostat from suburban that will help reduce that temperature swing? I am sure it won't bring it as close as going digital but finding a digital to go to 0 or below and still function might be a problem? Thanks for the insight Lip....would never have thought that it wouldn't start up the furnace...

[mmartin]

I just take a paper clip and jump the wires until it hits the minimum temp.

[FIRECAT]

This is the one I use, I think it was around $20 it will kick the furnace in no matter how cold it is in the house.

[Gus]

It looks like the one Firecat posted is this model: Pro1IAQ Model T771

Best I can figure anyway.

I ordered one, will be testing it when it arrives. Thanks Firecat!

[Iceman1026]

How do you wire it for 12v since I assume it's set up for 120v for a home

[mmartin]

How do you wire it for 12v since I assume it's set up for 120v for a home

can't hardly hook one up wrong.

[Gus]

That model will run on 2 AA batteries or hardwire. For the ice house it will need to run on the batteries.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

How do you wire it for 12v since I assume it's set up for 120v for a home

Voltage doesn't matter. A thermostat is just a fancy switch. The switch turns on when it's too cold, and off when it's warm enough.

[walleye-]

Lip ripper I have the same one as u minus the fan settings. I'm not understanding why it won't turn your heater on till it reads 40. When my house is colder than like 15 it reads Lo on the screen but when i flip the switch it fires right up and warms to whatever my setting is. Now mine can't be set below forty but always turns on no matter how cold it is something doesn't sound right there that would be a pain to pull it off and heat it up every time.

[Jigging Joe]

I have the same one as Firecat, works great!! It only goes down to 40 and then reads lo or something but will turn furnace on. Much more detail as far as when it turns on and off.

[Gus]

To back up Ripper, some thermostats just don't work well in the cold. We have one at the cabin that we have to bypass whenever we fire up the furnace from stone cold. We do not heat it in the winter unless we are there. That thermostat will kick it on, but then off again right away. If we cross the two wires it'll run just fine. We put the thermostat back in when it gets closer to a reasonable temp ~40-45 and it's good the rest of the weekend.

[aczr2k]

A thermostat that doesn't work when its cold is not something I want to own?

[mmartin]

To back up Ripper, some thermostats just don't work well in the cold. We have one at the cabin that we have to bypass whenever we fire up the furnace from stone cold. We do not heat it in the winter unless we are there. That thermostat will kick it on, but then off again right away. If we cross the two wires it'll run just fine. We put the thermostat back in when it gets closer to a reasonable temp ~40-45 and it's good the rest of the weekend.

That's what I do in my yetti. Yeah it will kick on for a little bit when it is at first start up, but about 30 seconds into it, it will kick it off when it is below freezing. Just jump the wires until it is at a decent temp and then she is good to go after that.

[bowtie]

Most tsats for our houses are 24 volt. Be warned not to connect it to 120 volts. Dont be afraid to use a stat on 12 volts.

[JSK76]

This is the one I use, I think it was around $20 it will kick the furnace in no matter how cold it is in the house.

I have the same one. I bought it because it goes down to 25 and most stop at around 35 to prevent someone from going to low and freezing their pipes. I set it at 30 when I leave and know I'm coming back the next day. I only have skim ice when I come back.

[B-man715]

When I bought my new shack I put in a Honeywell digital. Didn't work under 30-40 (had to jump it with a hemostat).

I had a Hunter programmable laying around and tried that. It works no matter how cold it is Makes life a lot easier, especially if a guy wants to preheat the house while driving down the road.

[DIESELDAN]

where did you buy that thermostat jsk76?

[waligators]

I purchased a digital thermostst for my forced air furnace the other day, works great when the temp in the fish house starting out is 35 degrees or higher. If it is below 35 the display says low and doesn't want to work decent. When I flip the switch to heat on the thermostat, I can hear the furnace "click" like it wants to start but it doesn't fire up. So my question is what is the best thermostat to put in a house? Now I'm kinda leaning toward getting a slide thermostat, but now I see some of them use batteries just like a digital one, and some don't. I don't want a round thermostat that are in a lot of residential homes. What's going to work the best and have a fairly accurate heat reading and give me the most bang for my buck?

[outkast7222]

I picked up a cheap Hunter slide thermostat from Menards it uses 2 AA batteries. It is electronic but has the mechanical slide. I works at 10 below and keeps the house at a much more even temp. Best part is it was only $7.99! And no crappy anticipator like the true mechanical thermostats.

[RiverChuckNorris]

Had issues with the factory thermostat in my castle. Originally changed out for a digital thermostat but continued to have issues (sounds like what LRG is talking about but I didn't know about heating it up).

Finally decided to go basic and picked up a manual Honeywell, simple-stupid, thermostat at HD and heater has run like a top ever since. Sometimes less is more!