How do i know what kind of thermostat to get for my AC/heater?
Question:i live in florida, i want to get a programmable digital thermostat so it will shut off when im at work and during some of the night, but theres all kinds and i have no idea what kind of AC and heater i have ... lowes has a bunch of them but i dont know what to pick. ive changed out the electrical receptacles before so i dont think this will be too hard as long as i get the right one
Answers:
i don't know...but i do know that i get a military discount to Lowes...
Well, Harvey, most of the programmable thermostats today have options for using them on a variety of systems. Since the manufacturers have no idea on what kind of systems people use them on, they make them compatible with all of the major system manufacturers. A good Honeywell or a Hunter would be a good choice. The unit instructions will explain what leads you need to connect for a gas fired or oil fired system. The A/C part is pretty straightforward.
If I had to guess, I'd say you have a heat pump with an electric resistance furnace for backup. Hooking up a new thermostat can be much more complicated than replacing an outlet. Depending on your setup, there could be as many as 9 wires to connect and the instructions can be pretty confusing because of the variety of systems they can control.
I think it would be worth the money to hire a HVAC company to do this for you. It'll be done right the first time and you'll get exactly what you want/need.
Good Luck
Really any good heating and cooling thermostst will be okay as long as it is programmable. Some of the Honeywells are very complicated and are like laptop computers hanging on the wall. If you are good with cell phones, Ipods, and other gadgets you'll be fine.
You have to find out what kind of AC/heater you have first. Go take a look and read the manufacturer's name and model number. Search the internet and find out exactly what it is.
Write down which wire goes to what terminal on the old one.
You will need a single stage heat cool. read manual to see how to change thermostat from electric-gas heat source.
Some of the cheaper thermostats may give problems (you get what you pay for). Call a heating/cooling company see if there are any Government rebates in affect.
Honeywell,White Rogers and Robertshaw are all good name brands. I had bad experiences with Hunter thermostats
I live in Miami and have a programmable. Any brand you want will work. They all have directions.
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