Do you have a thermostat?

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briggsy13

Member
Sep 19, 2011
147
Maryland
I've read other places (pellet stove reviews) that getting a thermostat has saved people even more money on pellets cause the stove can cut back, or off depending on the setting. I'm just curious of your own findings. Did installing a thermostat save you money in the long run? Money is pretty tight right now for us getting this install done with all the pieces and parts to buy. Just wondering if the thermostat was worth the expense or not.
Thanks!

After my first response to this, I figured I would add the question: Do you have a thermostat option that you recommend? I saw we could do wireless? Is that affordable?
 
briggsy13 said:
I've read other places (pellet stove reviews) that getting a thermostat has saved people even more money on pellets cause the stove can cut back, or off depending on the setting. I'm just curious of your own findings. Did installing a thermostat save you money in the long run? Money is pretty tight right now for us getting this install done with all the pieces and parts to buy. Just wondering if the thermostat was worth the expense or not.
Thanks!

My stove is brand new so I won't say I'm an expert but I have done a lot of research and I would recommend the thermostat because you'll simply save yourself a lot of time and effort. If you're not using one you can set the stove on low but when it gets chilly you'll have to turn it up. Then it gets too warm so you have to turn it back down.

The thermostat gives you the option of having it run at all times on high or low, adjusting itself accordingly. Or you can run it on auto/off which means it will shut down when it reaches the desired temp and restart itself when necessary. Most people recommend the high/low because there will be less wear on the ignitor.

I'm sure you'll get plenty of opinions on this but if you're going to use this as your primary source of heat Tstat is the way to go.
 
I have had a (programmable)stat on every stove I have owned. Where I feel I save is cutting the heat back when I am away during the day and at night while asleep. You will get some 24/7 burners that feel that keeping a steady temp is just as efficient! Some feel it takes more fuel to raise the temps back to the desired level, Than it takes to just keep it at that temp!

All I know is my house temp is far more steady with the stat controlling the stove than when I was at the helm. I also feel if the stat wasn't a useful item to have? The stove manu's would have them as an option. A programmable stat with swing is another priceless item I can't live without.
 
"Do you have a thermostat?"

Yes. I've always had one connected. I can't imagine having it any other way. My stove cycles on and off just as if I had central heating. I know some people who just leave their stove run constantly on low or med. low, but their house is 78F all winter. Or hotter. Seems like a waste of heat to me.

Just sayin
 
My wife does...it's usually set just above freezing...
 
I have one. Can't comment on how well it will work since this is my first year burning.

The top one is for my pellet stove.

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I use a Sky Tech remote thermostat. I only use it in the shoulder seasons. Once it gets below 32 constantly, I run the stove on Low 24/7. Its my personal preference and like someone stated above, my home is at 76 all Winter. But I like it that way. I kept the thermostat at 68 with the LP furnace and was always cold (spending about $4,000 a yr) Now I spend less the a 1/4 of that cost and I am finally warm.

Thermostats are nice. I really only use it a little though. Nov and Mar or April. From Dec to March. She runs on Low constantly.
 
I have a stat connected to my stove, and agree with Dexter....it is best suited for the late fall/early winter and late winter/early spring seasons and i run the stove in the On-Off mode. During the heart of the winter, the stove is basically running 24/7 on Hi-Lo.

That said, it DOES work very well, and I'm sure it saves pellets over the course of the entire winter.

I have a regular programmable unit (see pic of Lux PSP511), but the SkyTech remote is a nice unit.....you're able to adjust/start/stop the stove from most anywhere in the house if you want, plus it gives you the ability to move the remote to test out the best overall location.
 

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AZ Pellet Guy said:
I have a wireless stat works well

I had the Smart Stat (same as yours, but the receiver for the stove plugs into the wall, only the remote has batteries) it didnt make it through 2 seasons. The receiver itself pooped out. The guy said he never seen anything like it. I never had it plugged into a surge protector, like I do on the stove. So it may have been a Surge/ Brown out. It had a handy little mount for the wall that I loved. I mounted the Sky Tech with a piece of Vel-Cro on the battery cover. Put the other piece on the wall and then framed it with some 1/2" Corner Round. Looks pretty good
 
Love mine been working since 2008 and I have it plugged into a surge protector also have a surge protector on my electric panel.
 
I have a Skytech wireless on one stove and a $25 programmable wired one from Home Depot on the other stove. I use the wireless model because there was no reasonable way to run a wire from my stove to an opposite wall. As far as a wired one goes, if you spend more than $25, you are wasting your money! All you need is a closed/open contact to turn the stove on and off. Also, read up on the thermostat you like and make sure it has something called 'swing'. That allows you to adjust the 'sensitivity' of the stat. For instance, a swing of 2 degrees will shut off the stove when the temp is 2* above the setpoint. It will turn it back on when the temp is 2* below the set point. This CAN be had in a $25 stat. In my experience over the last couple of winters, a 1 degree swing is plenty because my Quads only shut off and turn on. There is no low/high choice. With 1 degree of swing, the temp will overshoot a degree since it is still pumping out heat after it shuts off. Then when the temp drops 1 degree below setpoint, the stove starts BUT it takes 10 or 15 minutes before it's pumping out significant heat. During that time, the temp has dropped another 2 degrees or so depending on the outside conditions. That means a swing of 1 degree, in reality is a swing of 5 degrees or so. If you or the boss can live with that, then go for it. Remember your stove is a space heater!
I wish my stoves had high/low ability. In fact, I will be looking at how to change them using a small Cubloc PLC.
 
I DO have one but can't remember where i put it...never got installed although I intended to do just that....
 
krooser said:
I DO have one but can't remember where i put it...never got installed although I intended to do just that....

If you don't remember where you put it, how are you sure that it didn't get installed???? You probably should start checking all the walls.
 
krooser said:
I DO have one but can't remember where i put it...never got installed although I intended to do just that....

Maybe that's why your microwave comes on in the middle of the night!!!??? :red:
 
I've got a thermostat on my Castile. I do think that we are saving a lot of pellets by having the heat drop down to ~65°F at 10:30 PM and return to normal temperature at 4:30 AM.
If we were to maintain the same setting all night it would roast us out.
 
no thermostat hooked to my stove. Not an option. However my wife lets me know if her thermostat is calling for more heat. My only problem is that my office gets too warm for me. I run a few ceiling fans to even things out. Since I never have had a thermostat on a stove, I don't know what I am missing.
 
I do the same thing as smalltown mainly for sleeping comfort. For me the jury is still out as to savings from the standpoint of setbacks. Someone made some sense last winter when they observed that when you kick the temperature setpoint back up, you are not just heating the air in the house. Everything in the house (walls, furniture, books, etc) have also cooled down and are a heat sink that must be heated back up. So the more sheeet you have, the more heat load. I haven't done it both ways, so I can't really say if it saves or not. The Government says it does so....................... I'm sure they spent a few million figuring that one out. :zip:
 
I think that the only savings with a setback thermostat is there is less heat loss to the outside with a lower inside temperature. The heating of objects in the house can be thought of as a flywheel effect. When the thermostat goes down, the objects give off heat for a while. When the thermostat goes up, the objects soak up heat for a while, for a net gain/loss of zero.

Otherwise, the only difference is the delta-T between indoors and outdoors when the thermostat is turned down. I have proven to myself that a setback does save money with oil heat.

That said, I leave my pellet stove set at one temp; any lower and the upstairs gets too cold.

I like very much having the t'stat, one less thing to keep track of.
 
heat seeker said:
I think that the only savings with a setback thermostat is there is less heat loss to the outside with a lower inside temperature. The heating of objects in the house can be thought of as a flywheel effect. When the thermostat goes down, the objects give off heat for a while. When the thermostat goes up, the objects soak up heat for a while, for a net gain/loss of zero.

Otherwise, the only difference is the delta-T between indoors and outdoors when the thermostat is turned down. I have proven to myself that a setback does save money with oil heat.

That said, I leave my pellet stove set at one temp; any lower and the upstairs gets too cold.

I like very much having the t'stat, one less thing to keep track of.

That makes a lot of sense with the delta-T.
 
heat seeker said:
I think that the only savings with a setback thermostat is there is less heat loss to the outside with a lower inside temperature. The heating of objects in the house can be thought of as a flywheel effect. When the thermostat goes down, the objects give off heat for a while. When the thermostat goes up, the objects soak up heat for a while, for a net gain/loss of zero.

Otherwise, the only difference is the delta-T between indoors and outdoors when the thermostat is turned down. I have proven to myself that a setback does save money with oil heat.

That said, I leave my pellet stove set at one temp; any lower and the upstairs gets too cold.

I like very much having the t'stat, one less thing to keep track of.

Your rate of heating is directly dependent on your temperature difference between inside and outside (DeltaT) Heating requirement=U*A*dT where U is 1/R value and A is area of wall or ceiling.

tjnamtiw said:
I do the same thing as smalltown mainly for sleeping comfort. For me the jury is still out as to savings from the standpoint of setbacks. Someone made some sense last winter when they observed that when you kick the temperature setpoint back up, you are not just heating the air in the house. Everything in the house (walls, furniture, books, etc) have also cooled down and are a heat sink that must be heated back up. So the more sheeet you have, the more heat load. I haven't done it both ways, so I can't really say if it saves or not. The Government says it does so....................... I'm sure they spent a few million figuring that one out. :zip:

It is still taking energy to maintain the temperature of the objects in your house.
 
Pellet stove is in a 26'x26' family room - On all but the coldest days the stove will cook you out even on the lowest setting so I run it on a thermostat.

Just wish I could find a low priced one with a 2-4° differential (stove cycles too often)
 
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