Need help picking out a thermostat for electic heat pump system (electric heat, warm)

[cittic10]

Hi I need help picking out a thermostat for electric heat pump system and can't seem to find a website with a "help me choose" function.

My wants are extremely simple.

It has to work with electric heat pumps with emergency heat.
Adjustable temperature differential!!! *
Reasonably accurate. I know things aint been the same since they took the mercury out of these but it at least has to reasonably close not like the junker I have know where it says 75 but its really 63.

* This is where you can specify a temperature range for the thing to kick back on from the set temp. For example, the piece I have now if it is set to 72, the second it drops to 71, the heat goes back on. But I don't want the heat to go back on until it gets to 69 or 70 tops. I don't know if there is a cutesy trade name for this now (haven't replaced a thermo in 9 years) but I don't see anything in the promotional materials that would indicate this feature is available.

I don't care if it's a programmable. I never use that and prefer if it wasn't complicated. And if it nags me to change the filter I will be
I don't want any "predictive" this or that. That will just make me

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

[Pink Jazz]

Here is one model that I found might meet your criteria:

Pro1IAQ Model T855 Universal Programmable Thermostat:
Buy Pro1IAQ Model T855 Universal Programmable Thermostat | Pro1IAQ T855

It has an adjustable temperature differential up to 2 degrees, and it appears that the filter change indicator can be disabled on this model.

[accufitgolf]

Your basic cheap, run of the mill programmable thermostat will work, such as the one I had in a home or three ago that had a heat pump. We both worked so it was set to warm the house at 7am (our get up time), go lower at 9am (our leave the house time), warm up at 6pm (our get home time), go lower at 11pm (our go to bed time). Different for cooling but same principle.

Most (I expect all) the programmable ones have look forward/recovery feature where they do not just switch to next temp at a given time. They look ahead and do the change slowly. Like if was 4pm and it was 64* in the house and it was set to be 72* at 6pm, it would start warming the house slowly so it was 72* at 6pm. I forget the exact look ahead time, but it worked. I did learn to set the lower temp at night for an hour or two later like instead of 11pm, I set it to 1am so it would still be warm at 11pm when we got ready for bed. You will have to play with it some to figure your personal comfort level.

Ours was also 5 and 2 day programmable so we did set it different for Sat and Sun when our schedule was different.

The look ahead feature is critical for heat pump systems as they are not the fastest/cheapest systems to respond quickly, especially for heating.

If going from a mechanical thermostat (dial it up or down) for a heat pump system to a programmable one, the wiring will be different. The wires will be there but require a different arrangement (hookup) then the mechanical thermostat. If memory serves me right there were 5 wires to 4 posts in the mechanical one where the 5 wires go to 5 posts in the programmable one. I expect that info is out here somewhare.

Hope this helps.

[Hopes]

I've had so many problems with my thermostat for my boiler through the years. I truly believe that it needs a match made in heaven. Good luck!

[boomtownfunlover]

I'm the old-fashioned type; give me the basic mercury bulb heat pump thermostat anytime. It should have a heat anticipator adjustment that should help the short cycle situation.