Honeywell RTH6400D 5-1-1-Day Programmable Thermostat
by Honeywell
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Honeywell RTH6400D 5-1-1-Day Programmable Thermostat
Customer Review: Great Product!
Summary: 5 Stars
I installed this thermostat about six months ago and it works well. I found the installation straightforward and programming sequence intuitive. I especially like the large, well-lit display and the large programming buttons, none of which are hidden behind a panel which must be lifted for access. I also like that heating/cooling periods can be "skipped" so you can program two periods per day (wake/sleep) instead of having to program all four periods (wake/leave/return/sleep). The thermostat has both temporary temperature override (only affects current period) and vacation hold (maintains temperature setting until manually canceled). The unit is well designed and visually appealing.
When reading previous reviews, I had some concerns that almost caused me to not order the product. Luckily, I found that none of these issues presented a problem for me. Here are some of the problems discussed in previous reviews, followed by my answers:
1) Issue: There is no dedicated backlight button and it is not possible to activate the backlight without pressing a button which will then alter thermostat programming. Answer: I found this *not* to be true, and just pressing the temperature up or down button once causes the backlight to come on without changing the temperature set point (just press the button more than once to change the set point). Surprisingly, I didn't see this feature mentioned in any of the product literature.
2) Issue: When setting the unit to "cool", the compressor will *never* come on until the compressor protection interval has expired (five minutes). Answer: I found this to be true only if the compressor has been on within the previous five minutes, so the AC will come on immediately as long as you didn't just turn it off (which is what I would expect).
3) Issue: There is no cycle or "swing" adjustment on the current Honeywell digital thermostats. They are set for a "swing" of plus or minus one degree. Answer: This is true, and there is no direct way to set the swing so you can reduce the amount of cycling of heating/cooling. That said, there is a "heating cycle rate" setting for different types of heating systems (Function 5 in System Setup). This is set to "gas or oil furnace less than 90% efficient" by default, and needs to be changed for electric, hot water, high-efficiency, steam or gravity heating systems. I believe many people will need to change this setting to match their heating system type. Also, if you find that your heating system continues to cycle too often when the thermostat is set to the correct heating system type, you may be able to reduce cycling by choosing a different setting (but only do so at your own risk).
Hope this helps.
Customer Review: Energy Star Rating For This Product Should Be Removed
Summary: 1 Stars
Although many reviewers think these Honeywell thermostats are great, in actually, this, and the entire family of Honeywell thermostats, are the worse thermostats on the market. Why? Their temperature differential, that is their differential point at which they turn "on" and turn "off", is a mere +/- .25 degrees and unlike many other thermostats, including the old mercury thermostats, it is completely unadjustable. In other words you are stuck with the build in +/- .25 degrees. What this tight differential causes is frequent cycling from "on" to "off" of compressors - and this is extremely bad for the life expectency of the compressor. Also, frequent (as in every 5 minutes when the inside and outside temperatures are close) cycling is very inefficient. Air compressors do not reach their maximum efficiency until they remain on for about 10 minutes. In most cases, this thermostat will turn off the compressor in 5 minutes and back on in 5 minutes. When their is a small difference between inside and outside temperatures (and this occurs frequently), properly adjusted thermostats will cycle on about once an hour and more importantly, once the compressor turns on, it will stay on for a minimum of 12 minutes, for example, on 12 minutes and off 40 minutes. This thermostat will instead, cycle on and off about 4 times in one hour when their is a small difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures. Personally, I believe that these Honeywell thermostats should not be allowed to display the "Energy Star" rating - and I stake my reputation on that. I will say this, if all you are interested in is keeping your home at the set temperature with extremely little variation, and you do not care how much energy it takes to do it nor how long your air conditioner will last, then Honeywell thermostats are great for you.
What to do? Purchase a thermostat with a build in temperature differential of at least +/- 1 degree, or better yet, purchase a thermostat with an adjustable differential, they do exist.
Customer Review: No emergency heat, huh?
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a great little thermostat if you live in a warm climate. South Carolina to Florida, maybe. Some place where it gets kind of nippy at most. Woe betide you if you live in a state (like mine) where you get snow. Like, say, the two storms last winter dubbed "Snowpacolypse" and the ever popular sequel two months later, "Snowmaggedon". Why? Because there is no capability to switch to backup electrical heat if your heat pump is not working efficiently, otherwise known to most people as "the high 40s and below". My service contract for my brand-new heat pump meant I had two techs and a supervisor on the phone trying to puzzle out why this thermostat wouldn't switch on the emergency heat. All three of them said, and I quote: "Huh. I've never seen that before. A heat pump thermostat without emergency heat? Crazy."
I suppose there's nothing really WRONG with this product, but I could have sworn I read the description forward & backwards when I bought it and I don't recall hitting this little detail. I don't know how I missed the two separate locations where it says "not for heat pumps with electric emergency heating" that I now see upon my frustration. Nor do I remember if the slightly newer models were available with emergency heat capability as they are now.
Using it for the past seven months has been pretty good, actually. It works the air conditioning mode just fine. The programming is easy and I like that you don't have to individually set all seven days with four settings. The backlight is very useful and day-to-day operations are easy. Setting it for a "vacation mode" is likewise easy. The learning mode is effective and (thankfully) can be switched off.
Spend the money and get one with the emergency heat capability.
Customer Review: very happy with it so far!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have used previously another (non-programmable) Honeywell model (the RTH5100B 1009) and was absolutely satisfied with it. It never needed any maintenance or attention, other than changing batteries once or twice in the course of four years.
This year I decided I needed programmable thermostat, so I can regulate A/C better during the night. I live in hot, humid climate, and during the night the A/C is complete life-saver... except that no matter how low I set it in the evening, it inevitably stops running somewhere in the middle of the night, making eventually the air in my upstairs bedroom way too hot and un-breathable - necessitating at least one, sometimes two trips each night, trudging down the stairs, lowering the temperature to get some fresh air and trekking back up... it does get pretty annoying after a while.
This programmable unit has completely solved my problem, as I can set it up to gradually (and automatically) lower the temperature during the night, making the air conditioner kick in periodically and supplying me with fresh air the whole night.
My friend did the set-up, and since the previous model was Honeywell as well, switching everything to this model was a breeze.
Since its installation last month, this thermostat has worked like a magic... keeps the temperature accurate and even, programming is very easy and works dependably, and most of all - it saves me daily frustration of waking up each night and having to adjust temperature manually.
Very happy with this purchase and highly recommend!!
Customer Review: No Differential Temperature Control
Summary: 1 Stars
I had a Lux digital Thermostat for my heat pump and thought I would upgrade to a Honeywell RTH6400. I immediately noticed the heat pump was turning on for 8 to 12 minutes, and off for 6 to 9 minutes repeatedly. I looked at the temperature change on the digital display and it never changed, but remained constant at 72 degrees. The display changes from 72 to 71 degrees when the temp falls below 71.5 degrees and increases to 73 degrees when higher than 72.5 degrees. Since the display always says 72 degrees, it means the thermostat is turning on at 71.5 degrees and turning off at 72.5 degrees. This means the RTH6400 has a plus or minus half degree temperature differential not a plus or minus 1 degree as I have read elsewhere. Then I read the manual and could not find out how to change the temperature differential. So I called the tech support, who sounded like he was in India, and after explaining what I wanted to do 4 times he finally told me, No you can not do that." Turning the heat pump on and off like this is very inefficient, wastes electricity and money, and probably reduces the lifetime of the compressor. I just threw money away not only buying this thermostat but even more by using it for the last month. I think another Lux or maybe a Robertshaw is going to be mounted on my wall in a few days.