programmable thermostats

[iron]

looking for a recommendation for a cheap thermostat that i could program to run my furnace fans periodically (no heat, just the fans). the reason is that we have the fireplace on the main floor and a basement below. we've experimented with just running the recirc fans to get warm air into the basement and it seems to work well enough. however, we don't need to run them 100% of the time, so i'd like to find something that i could program to run, say 10 minutes every 30 minutes.

 

[Dobish]

you probably won't find something cheap that will allow you to do something that often.... maybe you could figure out a way to use a 30 minute timer and a switch?

 

[WES999]

If you just want to run the fans without regard to temperature, a programmable timer would work.
Manually flip a switch when you want the fans to run, 10 min on/30 min off.

http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=16&products_id=115

I have this one on my stove air controller, when power is applied it runs 6 sec on/20 off.

 

[woodgeek]

My Ecobee Si can do just this....I program a minimum fan runtime per hour, so it will do this when there are no other calls for heat. I think the newer ecobees will do this too, the ecobee3 is the cheapest....$150 refurbs on amazon.

You could shop fleabay for a used Ecobee Si, or get a used/refurb to take the price down a bit. A quick search looked like $80 and up.