2022 Thermostat Recommendations

[johnnyt]

Looking for up to date Zwave thermostat recommendations.

I've had a Venstar and liked a lot of things about it but didn't like the hair trigger cycling that happened when I set the deadband to 1 degree. It would short cycle my heat/AC because it had no minimum run time and when I discussed it with support their suggestion was to set a 2 degree deadband. I've had 1 degree deadbands for 30 years - what's up with that?

I'm not loving the Honeywell T6 Pro I have now for 2 reasons,

1. it doesn't respond to ISY program queries. That might be an ISY problem supporting that t-stat - I don't know. (yes, I've reported the issue to UDI - ticket still open a year later - one of the few rare ones I have with no answer.)

2.  it's strangely ON (heat/cool call) even when the setpoint has been reached. Clearly it's not reporting on the screen  the temp it senses internally but, more interestingly, it can sit at SP=Temp for what seems like a longer time than needed while it's calling for heat/cool (especially cool). 

I would really like suggestion for a good 700 series stat, if there is one but I'd be fine with a 500 series as long as it worked well with ISY.

 

 

[Geddy]

Some recently suggested an Ecobee option since there's a node server that could give you ISY options. But that's only from searching the forums. Perhaps others might have more feedback on your request than one from a few months ago.

 

[johnnyt]

forgot to mention that I don't want a stat that needs a cloud service to work/control, e.g. Nest, Ecobee (I think), etc. I'm okay if the cloud provides reporting or other optional value add, but don't want to be tied to the whims of a cloud service that might end one day (see Insteon hub, etc.) or demand a monthly ransom.

 

Edited May 13, 2022 by johnnyt

[lilyoyo1]

1 hour ago, johnnyt said:

forgot to mention that I don't want a stat that needs a cloud service to work/control, e.g. Nest, Ecobee (I think), etc. I'm okay if the cloud provides reporting or other optional value add, but don't want to be tied to the whims of a cloud service that might end one day (see Insteon hub, etc.) or demand a monthly ransom.

 

The best thermostats unfortunately are all cloud. Not many companies make zwave thermostats so you're limited in your options. I think go control and 2gig are your only other options. 

With that said, I have an original ecobee 3 from 2014 installed at my Mom's house which still connects to their servers and works flawlessly. That sort of history makes me trust them to continue using them in any future home for personal or professional use. 

Edited May 14, 2022 by lilyoyo1

[hart2hart]

Looking for up to date Zwave thermostat recommendations.
I've had a Venstar and liked a lot of things about it but didn't like the hair trigger cycling that happened when I set the deadband to 1 degree. It would short cycle my heat/AC because it had no minimum run time and when I discussed it with support their suggestion was to set a 2 degree deadband. I've had 1 degree deadbands for 30 years - what's up with that?
I'm not loving the Honeywell T6 Pro I have now for 2 reasons,
1. it doesn't respond to ISY program queries. That might be an ISY problem supporting that t-stat - I don't know. (yes, I've reported the issue to UDI - ticket still open a year later - one of the few rare ones I have with no answer.)
2.  it's strangely ON (heat/cool call) even when the setpoint has been reached. Clearly it's not reporting on the screen  the temp it senses internally but, more interestingly, it can sit at SP=Temp for what seems like a longer time than needed while it's calling for heat/cool (especially cool). 
I would really like suggestion for a good 700 series stat, if there is one but I'd be fine with a 500 series as long as it worked well with ISY.
 
 

Not questioning your desire, but I’ve never seen a thermostat that didn’t have a deadband of about 2 degrees or else it would short cycle. Also, saw ones that would under or overshoot set point by a degree and in effect create a 2 degree deadband.

What are your expectations on the 1 degree deadband?

[larryllix]

Not questioning your desire, but I’ve never seen a thermostat that didn’t have a deadband of about 2 degrees or else it would short cycle. Also, saw ones that would under or overshoot set point by a degree and in effect create a 2 degree deadband.

What are your expectations on the 1 degree deadband?

Accurate temperatures in the house. I use 0.3C deadlines on both my ecobee stats without any short cycling, just no huge waves of hot and cold.

Short cycling usually refers to the off time between runs for an air conditioner. ecobee allows that to be set also.

Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk

[johnnyt]

10 hours ago, hart2hart said:

Not questioning your desire, but I’ve never seen a thermostat that didn’t have a deadband of about 2 degrees or else it would short cycle. Also, saw ones that would under or overshoot set point by a degree and in effect create a 2 degree deadband.

What are your expectations on the 1 degree deadband?

2 deg gets too hot in summer and too cold in winter. Always used 1 deg and never had problem until I got the Venstar.  If they had implemented a min run time and min off time, it would have been fine. I worked around it by having ISY programs implement MRT and MOT. It wasn't foolproof and the stat had other issues, like spontaneous reboots, so I gave up on it.

 

[Athlon]

I have 3 zones in my home and I'm using Ecobees. Great thermostats and great support as well.

When I installed them I had to grab power from a contact on my oil burner. Someone at Ecobee actually drew up a schematic for my unique situation and emailed me a PDF of it (after pictures and phone calls back and forth).

I'm using data from them in a couple of different node servers on my IoP.

[jec6613]

15 hours ago, johnnyt said:

I'm not loving the Honeywell T6 Pro I have now for 2 reasons,

1. it doesn't respond to ISY program queries. That might be an ISY problem supporting that t-stat - I don't know. (yes, I've reported the issue to UDI - ticket still open a year later - one of the few rare ones I have with no answer.)

2.  it's strangely ON (heat/cool call) even when the setpoint has been reached. Clearly it's not reporting on the screen  the temp it senses internally but, more interestingly, it can sit at SP=Temp for what seems like a longer time than needed while it's calling for heat/cool (especially cool). 

I have no trouble with my T6 Pro like you're describing, either with the ISY994iZW Pro or the ISY on Polisy.  Queries work fine, and since it's configured properly for my HVAC system, I don't have any short cycle or long delay issues.

Of note, however, if it's not configured with the correct CPH and other settings (and there are ~100-ish on this thermostat) I would expect to have odd behavior.  Out of the box with all default settings, I will indeed have quite poor thermostat behavior for both comfort cycle delays.

[oskrypuch]

The Honeywell T9 works on WiFi, don't believe it needs the cloud though, and there is a free PG3 node for it. It will also work with remote temperature sensors.

But, I have no experience with it.

* Orest

[oskrypuch]

5 hours ago, Athlon said:

I have 3 zones in my home and I'm using Ecobees. Great thermostats and great support as well.

When I installed them I had to grab power from a contact on my oil burner. Someone at Ecobee actually drew up a schematic for my unique situation and emailed me a PDF of it (after pictures and phone calls back and forth).

I'm using data from them in a couple of different node servers on my IoP.

Which model? Do the Ecobees support remote sensing, IOW having more than one location drive a single zone? Also allows you to locate the stats where you like, but control other locations.

Which node servers are you using?

* Orest

Edited May 14, 2022 by oskrypuch

[Athlon]

2 minutes ago, oskrypuch said:

Which model? Do the Ecobees support remote sensing, IOW having more than one location drive a single zone? Also allows you to locate the stats where you like, but control other locations.

* Orest

Model: Ecobee3 Lite (3 of them)

And yes, they have remote sensing. I have 4 additional sensors around the house feeding info to them.

The app can be used to control them from anywhere and shows all of their stats. It's user friendly in that my phone literally duplicates the screen of the units on the wall. Ecobee also provides a webpage with similar capability and record keeping.

I purchased them a couple of years ago when my utility company offered them for nearly free after rebates.

[oskrypuch]

@Athlon... and for control from ISY, how do you do that?

* Ores

[kzboray]

@oskrypuch There are both a PG2 and PG3 Node server for Ecobee. I'd use the PG3 as PG2 is going away.

[oskrypuch]

@kzborayThanks.

I have several insteoned Venstar stats now, and do use remote sensors for them. All is working well, and I do have some spares, but just looking at mitigation in the future.

* Orest

[Athlon]

54 minutes ago, oskrypuch said:

@Athlon... and for control from ISY, how do you do that?

* Ores

PG3 Node server

[johnnyt]

On 5/14/2022 at 9:56 AM, jec6613 said:

I have no trouble with my T6 Pro like you're describing, either with the ISY994iZW Pro or the ISY on Polisy.  Queries work fine, and since it's configured properly for my HVAC system, I don't have any short cycle or long delay issues.

Of note, however, if it's not configured with the correct CPH and other settings (and there are ~100-ish on this thermostat) I would expect to have odd behavior.  Out of the box with all default settings, I will indeed have quite poor thermostat behavior for both comfort cycle delays.

I don't have short cycling with this stat - I've only had those with Venstar. I do have AC situations where temp = SP and there's still a call for AC for a long time. Doesn't happen with heat calls. I was assuming the temp display rounds up or something compared to the internal temp setting for the purposes of a cooling call.

For the record I checked and adjusted, as needed, all the settings to optimized values (researching if I wasn't sure). I left Cycles per Hour (CPH) to 3, the default and generally recommended setting for high efficiency furnace as well as for my furnace. My zwave firmware version is "01-03-00-00" - what's yours @jec6613? I haven't tried to update it since I got the thing and don't know if I even can. (I don't think so. I don't recall it advertising that it supports OTA firmware updates)

I may well have a defective unit. For one thing I have to use the remote temp sensor because the one in the stat is about 8 degrees too hot (max temp offset is -3). Hopefully it's using the remote sensor for everything, not just the display. It also doesn't report stage 2 heat call, even though it supports it. I'm thinking it's just a missing zwave feature?

[johnnyt]

does Ecobee need cloud service to work with ISY or can it connect locally? I think I know the answer but just checking

I don't mind a cloud service for "value add" stuff, like reporting, etc. and might even pay if it's good stuff but I really don't want to count on a cloud service to use it with ISY.

[tmorse305]

50 minutes ago, johnnyt said:

does Ecobee need cloud service to work with ISY or can it connect locally?

The NS needs the cloud to communicate to your ecobee