Honeywell RTH7500D Conventional 7-Day Programmable Thermostat
by Honeywell
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Honeywell RTH7500D Conventional 7-Day Programmable Thermostat
Customer Review: Solution for a hectic schedule around the house. Wiring is ok.
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had this for over a month and so far I have nothing but praise for this controller. I replaced a 5+2 digital controller because my wife works 3 days a week outside the house. So, the house was always cooled or heated to comfort temperature even if she was at work. Once I installed this controller, the three days that neither of us are at home, we allow the house to warm up or chill down to gain some savings on power and fuel.
Two important features of this controller that make it quite nice are:
1. the temperature setting and time set on the controller is actually the time at which you want the house to be at that temp. So, if I want the house to be at 74F in the summer when my wife gets home at 4:30pm, I set the thermostat with these settings. The controller "learns" over a week's time, how long it takes for the A/C to cool down the house so it will start the A/C in time to achieve my settings. This learning process is continuous so that as the seasons change, it knows it will take shorter or longer to achieve the desired temperature.
2. The temperature resolution of the thermostat is 0.2F; this feature allows the temperature in the house to remain very constant ( I can't feel the change). I can hear the A/C unit start, run for 10 minutes perhaps and shut down. 20 minutes later, it starts again for a short time and shut down. My previous thermostat would allow the house to warm up or chill down a full degree before starting the A/C or furnace to bring it back.
If your schedule requires 7 days programming, this controller is for you, it is very easy to program and reprogram.
I saw some reviews about the wiring difficulty, my house was built in 2001 and found no issues when wiring this thermostat in, I did read the whole installation guide to ensure success though.
Good luck
Customer Review: Easy to Install, Rocket Science Instructions
Summary: 4 Stars
Pros:
The product is very easy to install. It brings a page of stickers so you can label your existing wiring when you remove the old thermostat. Then you simply match up the wiring with the new Honeywell thermostat.
Cons:
The included instruction booklet does not have all the operating instructions. I had to download the PDF booklet from the web. The configuration of the thermostat is not easy or intuitive. Its rocket science, take your time, read each step several times, and it should finally click. Once you figure out, it all gets easy. This is the reason I gave it a 4 instead of 5.
Additional Info:
Depending on your thermostat wiring and type of heating/cooling units, you may need to do a little more research. There is a common standard for wiring but the contractor did/does not necessarily follow it during installation. I have two thermostats, upstairs/downstairs. My downstairs one had a lot more wires then the upstairs one which confused me. I opened the heating unit to see how the wires were attached to the control panel and found that the upstairs one was incorrectly wired to the unit. I had to fix that issue before I could continue to install the new thermostats.
Thermostat common wiring colors:
[...]
Upstairs
R - red wire (power)
Y - yellow wire (cooling)
W - white wire (heating)
Downstairs
B - blue wire (common)24vU
W2 - green wire (fan relay)
W1 - white wire (heating)
R - red wire (power)
O - orange wire (heat pump) Not used by me, i did not connect this one.
Y1 - yellow wire (cooling)
Customer Review: Heat pump owners, be careful
Summary: 3 Stars
I have a two-stage heat, one-stage cooling heat pump with auxiliary electrical heat. I replaced an old honeywell thermostat with this one (the LCD display had faded to invisibility, otherwise the old one worked fine).
Unfortunately, two of the wires were switched, resulting in the backup being always on, and the compressor not kicking in. I had to call in an HVAC person, and it was very expensive, to come out and fix it. Fortunately my system seems not to have been damaged by this. But my heating bill for the week before I got this problem fixed will probably be astronomical.
So, be careful which wire goes where. The colors don't always match up. Also, I would advise installing it during business hours so you can get honeywell customer service on the line if you need help.
I think that posters who found this to be easy to install probably don't have heat pump systems. That adds some complications.
Setting up the thermostat is a little tricky because there are a couple of settings for which the selections were not clear to me. Another reason to have customer service available.
Programming the schedule is a bit cumbersome, but I like that I can program the days of the week separately or in combination. For example, I have one schedule on M & W, and a different schedule on T & TH, so I can program the two similar days together.
I agree with other posters that the lack of a dedicated button for the backlight is annoying, but not a dealbreaker.
Customer Review: Works well, a few quirks but worth the money
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased two of these to run the 2 separate heating and cooling systems in my home. Both were identical in quality and operation and their temperature measurements matched when sitting side-by-side.
I'll be honest, there are three things I really don't like about this thermostat. The first is that it makes a clicking noise every time the A/C comes on (probably when the heat comes on too). Second, the quality of the screen isn't all that great. When the light's on you can see some discoloration on the left side. Third, it seems flimsy -- qualitative but telling. It just feels like it could break when I put it on/take it off the wall (something I'll only do a few times in it's lifetime, mind you).
That being said, I gave it 4 stars because I felt it was a great value for the price. Removing the old thermostats and installing the new ones took less than 15 minutes each after a 5-minute call to customer service. If you're the least bit mechanically-inclined it should be a breeze. The only challenging task I had was making a jumper to connect two terminals, but again, not that bad.
The programming is pretty straight-forward and clear. The users manual provides good instructions on everything you'll need to know to get it working the way you'd like.
I can't comment yet on efficiency -- I know it's saving me money but I'm not sure how much.
Customer Review: Perfect 7-Day Thermostat for Most Applications
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased five of these 7-day programmable thermostats for our church so that I could customize the heating and cooling settings based on our varying daily schedules. Here in Colorado it is quite common in the Spring and Fall to have days where the mornings are cool but the afternoons are warm so I needed a thermostat that could be set up for auto mode selection. I also needed one that would allow true 7-day program capability since there are different events at different times each day of the week. This Honeywell model offers all of this at a very affordable price. It even offers automatic daylight savings adjustments as an option. I like the fact that the two temperature adjustment buttons (which allow raising or lowering the temperature temporarily) are located away from the other buttons. I enclosed each thermostat in a plastic guard to prevent unwanted tampering of the settings (this is critical in public settings because people always mess with them). I plan to add two spring-loaded push rods over the temperature adjustment buttons so that users can change the temperature temporarily, even with the thermostat guard in place, but they cannot access any of the other buttons. I am very pleased with these thermostats since they offer all the features we needed and will save us more than the cost of the units in their first year of use.