Recommended thermostat?

[jawsont]

Hi there - I'm looking to get a thermostat for my quad. I currently have a Honeywell programmable but it has no anticipator settings and this appears to be a problem now (why it wasn't until now I don't know - I cleaned a couple fans but largely nothing has changed).

Anyhow - I've read on the forums that the Lux Products TX1500E a recommendation, but I'll be damned if I can find them for sale in Canada.

I've also read that Harman stoves (and I have to assume Quads would behave the same) recommend RTH230B &/orRTH6300B.

Any suggestions?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Any millivolt thermostat with a suitable swing or span setting will work.

The systems on a Harman are different than you have on that Quad.

You can find one here: http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_no...1?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=TX1500E

 

[jawsont]

Sorry, yes, I saw that earlier today, but decided since I would have to pay 2x the regular cost for the thermostat (reg. $40 US, $60 here, + $20 shipping) I would look for others that might fit the bill.

I noticed there are a few for sale on ebay that I could get shipped here (cheaper than Amazon's one). Is the TX1500 that much superior I should get that rather than something else?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I don't know how much programmability you need.

You should be able to find something at your local big box or hardware store.

Other than acting like a switch, the thing you need is that adjustable swing or span setting.

I have a Lux TX500E on my stove.

 

[jawsont]

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll get the TX500 from ebay then ($50 after shipping). I really hate the licensing agreements that go on between US companies and Canada -we tend to get screwed on products if we can even find them up here.

 

[tjnamtiw]

In my signature is what I use, which is sold at Home Depot's down here. Works great for me for 3 years so far.

 

[jawsont]

Reading up on it - could I 'trick' the thermostat into thinking I have a heat pump? There's built-in protection into many millivolt thermostats in the heat-pump setting that forces the thermostat NOT to turn on for 5 minutes to protect the pump from overheating. The same would stop a quick-restart from happening on the pellet stove right?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Five minutes might not be enough time.

 

[jawsont]

Drat. Any reason you can think of I couldn't switch the existing thermostat from the oil/gas heat type setting over to electric/heat-pump on the back to try? (I assume it's simply telling it on/off with a built-in preset for swing settings ... but I don't want it to break the stove either).

(manual below)

http://www.manualowl.com/m/Honeywell/RTH4300B/Manual/134020

 

[jawsont]

Nevermind - that's not smart. It's a 2-wire that when I wired the harness I had to dictacte if it was gas/oil vs. heat pump.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Here is what happens with the Quad on a t-stat, the temperature gets met the stove enters shut down (blowers run to dump heat in the room and such combustion byproducts out of the burn pot) this results in things cooling off in the stove.

Outside of the stove the temperature eventually starts its downward drop once the t-stat sees it is now below its set point it issues a call for heat.

The Quad dumps a priming load into the burn pot (which is frequently still warm when the t-stat doesn't have a large enough swing or span) and turns on the igniter, the controller then checks the thermocouple's temperature and says well warm enough to start normal feed (I think I have a fire) then smoke results, followed by either a very large flame and boom or a very large flame. All simply because the thermocouple never gets below 200.

Doing a timed shut down doesn't guarantee that the temperature at the thermocouple is below 200when the controller checks it during the start up sequence.

You can try that t-stat but don't be surprised if it doesn't work very well, there isn't any guarantee that even with a swing setting or span that it will be below the 200 line although it is very likely to be (the Lux units have settings in 0.25 increments + or - 2.25 . I don't usually run in on/off mode but I do know that my stove is very hot 5 minutes after having turned it off and is still hot at 15 minutes. It takes longer than that for my house to loose the temperature required to have the t-stat to again call for heat with the swing setting I have the t-stat set for.

You can watch the lights on your stove as they cycle through its colors when you turn the stove off. To see if 5 minutes will do the trick.

 

[jawsont]

Thanks for the in-depth description, it helps in troubleshooting for sure. I'll watch the stove cycle to see the timing on it.

 

[DexterDay]

A Quad runs best with a 3*-4* total swing (set at 70* kick on at 68* and off at 72*)

Smokey is correct on the T/C. If your stove isn't shutting down for at least 25-35 minutes (5minutes is Definitely not enough!) then the swing should be increased.

There were times last year I was using a 6* swing (3* each way from set point/ set at 72* on at 69* and off at 75*) this gives the house a good long heat soak and the stove will stay off for hours.

I have a Hunter (touch screen) for my Fahrenheit and a SkyTech remote control t-stat for my Quad. Both work well and work as advertised.

 

[jawsont]

Thanks for the advice all. Just tying up the thread.

Before torching my old thermostat I started a Shelock Holmes sleuthing game as to why, when my system worked well enough for years with only the occasional restart issue, it wasn't now working.

Facts:

• I know my vertical run needs cleaning badly - perhaps my system is degrading from that
• my convection blower needed cleaning (separate issue - it was overheating and thanks to the advice here a good DEEP cleaning solved the problem)
• I'd changed my snapdiscs and my thermocouple cover.
• But I'd forgotten one last thing as all the others had overshadowed it: my thermostat went down hard on batteries while we were away on vacation (past the low battery to just dying).

For fun, before I went and got a new t-stat from ebay, I tried getting deep into the controls of my t-stat. It turns out, either I'd made a mistake setting it originally, or perhaps with the loss of power to the unit, but it was set on some weird function for what must be an electronic anticipator (they didn't call it that, but it asked on a scale of 1->14 what type of system I was using and the one end had gravity/water pumps and the other had oil). Once I set it back to the recommended setting it now works well again. Go figure.
Anyhow, as always, thanks for all the help. I just may get that TX1500 anyhow, but at least the mystery has been solved.

[edit]

Nevermind. I got lucky yesterday. Three minutes after the first cycle this morning it started up again and of course started dumping pellets w/out the normal ignition sequence. The TX1500E is in the mail.