Honeywell RTH221B Basic Programmable Thermostat
by Honeywell
|
List Price: Our Price: $19.59 You Save: $10.40 (35%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $15.00 (click here) Category: Tools See more product details |
|---|
Tools and Hardware Reviews of Honeywell RTH221B Basic Programmable Thermostat
Customer Review: Inexpensive upgrade from old mercury switch thermostats
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this programmable thermostat to install in the portion of my two-family home that I live in. I also purchased the similar Honeywell RTH111B Vertical Digital Manual Thermostat NON-programmable model for the portion of my home that I rent out. Installation of both models is identical, and the main difference between the two is just the ability to set up a program of varying temperature changes based on your schedule. The non-programmable RTH111B has no clock feature. Just simple buttons to change the temperature up or down, and switches for a system fan (if applicable) and the HEAT-OFF-COOL selection. The programmable RTH221B gives you these same features, PLUS a 7-day, 4-event schedule to work with. In other words, every day of the week is treated the same and you can program in a time and temperature change for waking, leaving, returning, and sleeping. For people who desire to have a different schedule for the weekend, a 5/2 day programmable model would be a wiser choice.
The apartment that received the RTH221B is a simple heat-only, oil-fired steam radiator system. The installation instructions were generally easy to follow, but I also found additional information on the Honeywell website explaining what each terminal actually was. It would have been useful for Honeywell to print this in the instructions. Summarized:
Rh : Heating power supply
Rc : Cooling power supply
W : Heating signal
Y : Cooling signal
G : Fan
Both of the two environmental systems in my home are ONLY heat, and have a two-wire connection. The wiring looked about a hundred years old, but still worked perfectly once I connected the wires to the Rh and W terminals. Interesting to note that in both installations it did not seem to make a difference which of the two wires went to what terminal, so long as it was Rh and W. However in a more complicated system that includes more wires for cooling or a fan, I'd use the included labels to mark each wire and be certain it was connected properly.
Following the instructions, setting up a schedule for temperature changes was a simple process. Even if you ONLY wished to alter the temperature at night (rather than during the day while at work), it's a breeze because you'll just set the temperature the same for the "leave" and "return" events. Overall, setting the clock and programming took only a couple of minutes.
I don't have any dollar amount savings to offer, but I can say that the temperature was MUCH more consistent in my apartment than it had been with the old round-style mercury switch which was prone to large temperature swings. There is no question in my mind that less fuel was used, and it's very likely that the two thermostats I purchased have already paid for themselves one month later.
Customer Review: Honeywell RTH221B Digital Thermostat
Summary: 3 Stars
I gave this a 3 star because although once connected and running the thermostat works well. The instructions are terrible for connecting the thermostat. They assume that when you remove your old thermostat that all of the wires in the wall were color coded and labeled according to their thermostat specifications. Just connect the right colored wires to the proper connection. Wrong. Over the years I have worked on a lot of furnaces. Most of the furnace people just ran 2 wires from the furnace to the old thermostats. They used whatever wire was convenient at the time. Much of that wire was white and black two wire cable. If Honeywell had spent just 5 minutes writing a proper instruction for connection I would have given them 5 stars. The thermostat deserves a 5 star the employee that wrote the instructions doesn't even deserve a 1 star. The best instructions I found for connections were right here at Amazon in the review section. Just try to call the phone number at Honeywell. Nothing but FAQs on the phone or their web site. One wire, usually the black, gets connected to the RH connection and the white wire to the W connection. Since the thermostat isn't grounded I suspect it doesn't matter which wire goes to the RH terminal and which ones goes to the W terminal for a two wire hook up found in older houses. I didn't see the temperature difference that others have mentioned. Maybe that error was corrected in newer thermostats. My old Honeywell mercury thermostat allowed room temperature to vary sometimes by 5 degrees. Using the RTH221B digital thermostat I only see a 1 degree variance in room temperature. I have a digital thermometer sitting very close to the thermostat and have always monitored the room temperature.
Prior to installation, while holding the thermostat in my hand I did get what appeared to an error in temperature readings. It was not an error but a sensitive thermostat reading some of my body temperature.
I would highly recommend this thermostat. It is a very good upgrade to your home. Although I didn't buy this from Amazon, I showed my local hardware store Amazon's price and he lowered his price from $35 to Amazon's price. My advice, stick with Amazon.
Customer Review: Needs Much More Comprehensive Install. Instructions
Summary: 3 Stars
Does what it's supposed to do, but that's not asking much, especially in the two-wire installation.
If your existing thermostat doesn't have labels on the wire terminals, you're going to have to figure it out.
I hope you benefit from this, the result of an hour and a half of messing with it:
If you have a 2-wire mechanical thermostat for a gas wall heater, chances are pretty good that the wires are White and Red (or should be labeled as such.) So you'll put them in the wallmount the top and bottom terminals on the RIGHT side of the wall-mount.
Also, your pilot may go off, for whatever reason. Before you go through changes trying to figure out how to wire it CORRECTLY, you'll want to restart that pilot. Then when the electronics says "Heat on" you can trust that if yo have it wired correctly, it will kick in the remote heater.
It was okay, better than some, I imagine.
EDIT/PS: Having used this for a week now, I'd add that it seems to think it's warmer in here than it actually is. Easy to operate, but maybe a slightly more expensive model would have been a bit more reliable?
EDIT/PS 2: Now it has been months, and this thing is simply not reliable. It will keep the heat on when set to Hold at 74, until it's 78 or so, and then stay there. A thermostat should be able to keep the place within a couple degrees of setting, or it's not worth having. I'd rather have had a more accurate old-fashioned manual model that worked consistently.
Customer Review: Very easy to install, very easy to use
Summary: 5 Stars
We purchased this thermostat in an attempt to lower our winter heating bills. As someone who is very new to do-it-yourself home improvement, this thermostat was very easy to install, and the included directions were very clear... the only tool required is a screwdriver.
After install, we were a little worried about the seemingly super-sensitive heat sensor; just breathing directly on the thermostat (after it was installed on the wall) made the temperature immediately jump five or ten degrees. However, this turned out not to be a problem, as one tends to spend very little time next to the thermostat after the initial installation and setup. We did keep a regular mercury thermostat on the wall right next to it for a few days to ensure that the temperature readings were accurate, and we were pleased to find that they were... at most, the temperature differed by one degree.
The setup of the four states (wake, leave, return, and sleep) is extremely simple, and there's a prominent "hold" button if you want to have the manually override the settings. The only gripe I have is that, when running, it only shows the current temperature... it doesn't also show the value at which the heater (or AC, as the case may be) will turn on. This requires re-entering the "set" mode, which is a minor inconvenience.
All in all, this is a very good project for any homeowner, and is quite easy to install and set up.
Customer Review: Simple and perfect
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been using this thermostat for the past 3 weeks and I have had no problems with it.
Installation: This was the first time I attempted to mess with anything electrical in the house. The manual pretty much covered everything you would need to know, even on how to deal with extra wires that are not used by this thermostat. The only problem I ran in to was that one of the screws that I needed to undo was on there pretty tight and it took me about 15 min to get it off (it would be helpful to have small tools). Other than that the whole process was pretty simple and it took me about 30 minutes to finish everything. If I can do it then I'm sure you can.
Thermostat: The screen is not back lit so you wont be able to see it in the dark. This has never been an issue since I have it programmed and haven't had to adjust it in the middle of the night. The programming is pretty simple. You set the time and the temperature for 4 different times. So far we've only used the AC and I like to turn the tempurate up when I am at work all day. The only thing is that since I am home for those times during the weekend I'd have to reset the tempurature.
I would recommend this product to anyone who needs a simple, reliable, affordable thermostat.