Cheap Aprilaire Thermostat, Universal Touchscreen Thermostat

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List Price: $220.71
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I just installed this thermostat today. Install couldn't have been easier. Before buying a thermostat, I researched this one and others like it online. My two main requirements were automatic changeover from heating to cooling (and vice-versa), and a fan circulation mode, where the fan runs for a set amount of time each hour, even if the heat or air conditioning doesn't come on. I thought a touch screen would be nice, but it wasn't a requirement. Turns out I really like the touch screen on this unit, and am really glad I got it. The back light is bright and makes it really easy to read. The brightness can be adjusted in the setup. It uses two AA batteries, and can run on batteries only, or if you have the R (hot) and C (common) wires it runs on the 24 volts from your heat or AC system. It will operate on a range of 18 to 30 volts. With the R and C terminals connected the display can be programed to stay on constantly. It will dim slightly after about 30 seconds from the last touch, but is still very readable, unless there is a bright light nearby. As long as the 24 volts is present the batteries are only used for clock backup in case of a power outage.

As I said, I researched several other brands with the two features I was looking for. There are several on the market, so why did I pick this one? It was the only one with a match for all the terminals I had on my old thermostat. I have a Coleman heat pump with electric aux. heat. I have 8 wires to the 'stat. Heat pumps have a reversing valve that changes the heat pump to an air conditioner. This is controlled by the B and/or the O terminals. Most other 'stats have a combination B/O terminal. Some have both B and O, but the instructions say to use one or the other, not both. My old 'stat had both B and O, and this one does as well. So it just seemed to be the simplest to wire, at least in my situation. The only other one I found with both B and O was a White-Rodgers 1F95-1277, but after reading both install manuals, I felt this one would be easier to setup. I think I was right. Most 'stats similar to this one require a setup procedure before they will work. The other brands require you to reference the install guide or you will have no idea what "Option 6" (or whatever) is, or what setting you need to choose. This one tells you, on screen, what each option is. You can refer to the install guide if you need an explanation of how that option works, but most are self explanatory.

I will update after it is in use for a few months.

Update: This has been in use from Dec to Oct, heating and cooling seasons. I am still very pleased with the unit. I esp. like the automatic changeover from heating to cooling and vice-versa. It is very nice when the weather is changing and the days are warm and the nights are cool. We get air conditioning during the day and heating at night without ever having to think to change the thermostat. It maintains the temp. to within one degree of the set temp. I recommend this thermostat and would buy one again if the need arose.

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Just installed this as a small DIY project. This model gives you a good amount of control over your system when you run thru the installer set-up. There is a remote indoor temp sensor and outdoor sensor optional add ons available. I had to run an extra wire for the C terminal 24VAC for the constant backlight, since I only had a 4 channel cable bundle to the air handler. Very happy with this product. The mounting design is nice, and removing it to sit down while programming is perfect for my lazy style.

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I give this product a low score because of the product failure and the refusal of the company to stand behind their warranty. A product and service is only as good as they are when something bad happens. Had the units worked for more than a year or two and if the company had stood by their warranty, I would have given a much better rating. I would agree with the previous reviewers, but two failures out of four in 2 years? A thermostat is something that must be reliable or it can be very costly. In my opinion Aprilaire fails both on quality and on customer service.

I purchased four of these units for my home and had them professionally installed. The first one went out in less than a year. It cost me an additional service call thinking it was my HVAC unit, and it turned out to be the thermostat. The AC guy said the Aprilaire thermostat was bad and he put the old Honeywell back on, which has been working well for years. I tried to get him to explain what was "bad" and he said the unit is dead and does not work.

I had actually purchased these Aprilaire units because of the functionality and looks. It looks great and the idea behind the product functionality is great. However, the products are failing in less than two years and the company could care less. My second thermostat just failed and I have to go back and put on another one of the old Honeywell units. What do I mean by fail? There is no communication between the unit and what the HVAC does. The unit is set for 68 heat and the heater has the room at 74. The only way to stop the HVAC is to turn off the thermostat and then it takes about 10 minutes for the HVAC to turn off. Similar to what the other failed unit was doing. Not worth another call to the AC guy and the expense of another service call as I know I must just install my old unit myself.

The old Honeywell units worked well for years and the ones I put back on still work without flaw. The Aprilaire units were professionally installed on high quality HVAC units, regular and heat pump units. The problem was the Aprilaire thermostats and not the installation or my AC units which work fine. Two of the four Aprilaire thermostats are still working at about 2 years and they work well. However, I can't trust that they won't go out soon and I'm ready just to replace them.

I had originally called the Aprilaire company customer service line attempting to get a replacement for the first unit as it was under warranty. The customer service rep told me to return it to where I purchased it. As I purchased it on line, this was not possible. Nowhere in the warranty does it say anything about the company not standing behind the warranty based on where you purchased the unit. It also said nothing about the company not handling the warranty problem. The customer service guy then told me to return it to someone in my town. This was also not possible as no one in my town carries Aprilaire and in reality no one would take back something they did not sell. I would have had to drive 2 hours to another town to attempt to return it. The customer service person also told me I should have purchased the unit from them. At that time they were not selling this unit on line. They refused to do anything about the failed product. I gave the product to my installer and he said he would attempt to try to return it, but never could and ended up tossing the unit. I ask anyone what would be so hard as to have me mail back my failed unit and them send me a new one? Wouldn't it be nice for their engineers to see what the failure was on my unit?

So the lesson I learned is that I need to stick with a product sold by a company with a reliable warranty. It is also good to stick with a product the people in your town are used to working with. Honeywell is sold everywhere in my town and as per my AC guy they stand behind their products and are easy to work with. The second thing I learned is the frustration of purchasing a product and then finding out the company does not stand behind their warranty. So after about 2 years I'm out over $500 (plus installation and service calls) on four thermostats and I'm now in the market again for four more units. The reason I just don't reinstall and keep the old Honeywell units is I want something with a bit more modern look (which Honeywell does have) and a bit more control functions than the old units I have.

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This thermostat is far superior to my 15 year old programmable t-stat. The owner and installer menus make simple work of setup. I like the back-lit display, especially in the dim hallway. Once the setup is complete there is no need to touch it again. Recommended.

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So I purchased this thermostat because I wanted to update the thermostat on my old 90% high efficiency furnace. On the one hand this product is way overkill for what I needed. I don't have multiple thermostats in the house, want to connect it so I can control it remotely, or even have a multi speed fan. The 8600 model would have met my needs for a setback thermostat with circulate mode. I wanted circulate functionality that wasn't on my old thermostat so the fan will come on and circulate the air in the house to minimize hot and cold spots/rooms. We get a lot of sunshine on the southern and western side of the house. When the sun warms up parts of the house cool spots develop in rooms that are away from the sunshine and of course the rooms with the sunshine get pretty darn warm. The CIRC mode kicks in regularly to start the fan on hourly intervals and will hopefully minimize the hot and cool rooms we've had previously.

The only challenge I had in installing was the my convention furnace thermostat had only 4 wires for the thermostat (Y,G,R,W) an additional common wire was required for this new thermostat. It was there in the wall but tucked back into the drywall and unused previously because it wasn't required. For the new thermostat the additional wire was needed for the common "C" terminal to complete the circuit. In order to use this additional "common" wire I had to also connect it to the "C" terminal on the wiring board in the furnace. This in addition to adding another jumper wire between the "RH" or "RC" and "R" terminals got me working and in fine shape with my new thermostat.

If you don't need all the additional functionality of the 8800 check out the 8600, I found the price to be about $25 less for the 8800 as compared with the lower functioning 8600. I decided not to pay more for less functionality. Heck 10 or 15 years from now when I want to upgrade my heating and cooling system I may be able to use some of this advanced functionality ;-)