Buy Honeywell TH8321U1006 Visionpro Universal Programmable Thermostat

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List Price: $399.96
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We moved into our new home 1-1/2 years ago and it came with a builder's grade Honeywell thermostat. There is also a fresh air duct leading into the return air grille area. I wanted to cycle the air about 30% of the time but couldn't do it automatically with the original thermostat.

I ordered this Honeywell TH8321 thermostat and had planned on having an electrican install it. When he was out installing ceiling fans in our house, I asked him to install my new thermostat. He wouldn't touch it, mumbling something about that it would require someone to get into the air handler/furnace and change the wiring.

Well, the next day I looked at the installation instructions and discovered it only required 4 wires to hook up, the same as the old one. So, I took the old one off (after turning off the power) and installed the new one. It took no more than a half hour total. The setup instructions were straight forward and very clear to understand. I turned the power back on and WALA (sp?) and it worked and has ever since.

I like everything about this thermostat. The air cycling, humidity indication, current temp setting and current temp, time, day, etc. It's everything I wanted and more. I did buy the outside temp sensor but haven't hooked it up yet. (The electrician wouldn't touch that either)

This is a do-it-yourself project even though the instructions warn you to have it done by a professional.

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In contrast to others, I have found this to be an excellent thermostat. It was easy to install myself and has a lot of great features. It automatically adjusts for high humidity by using the air conditioning system. It drops the set temperature lower to bring the humidity more in line with the level set by the user.

The Intelligent Recovery system is also great. It learns how long it takes to heat/cool your house and, instead of simply turning on at the programmed time, reaches the desired temperature at the desired time.

The only downfall is the short backlight cycle, which isn't a problem if you hardwire the unit since it can be set to keep a reduced backlght level all the time. But if you rely on batteries, as I did, the light turns off until the screen is touched and only stays lit for 8 seconds.

That's certainly no reason to pass on this thermostat, which I bought off the popular online auction site (you know which one) for $80, including shipping.

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I bought this unit as a replacement for my Chronotherm 7-day programmable thermostat, which worked well until one of the pins connecting it to the baseplate gradually shorted out and did not allow the fan circuit to come on anymore. I was glad to see that Honeywell has greatly beefed up the pins connecting the TH8321 to the baseplate, making them much thicker, making for a more solid (and hopefully long-lasting) connection.

This thermostat is a great product overall I especially like the "circulation" feature, which runs the fan randomly, to help keep a more even temperature in my 1-zone house. My only complaint is that the relays are very loud, and make a noticeable whenever the fan, A/C, or aux heat turn on or off. Seems like a major oversight in an otherwise very well-designed product.

Also I was disappointed to learn that I needed to buy a different external temp sensor than my previous Honeywell thermostat (the resistance must be different), but once purchased it is a nice feature to be able to see the external temperature continuously on the backlit screen.

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I am a semi-retired HVAC contractor who has worked as a installation and service technician, owmer of a 10 person HVAC company and an eight year term as a service manager for a HVAC company. I have had some experience in the field.

1) Honeywell makes (markets) the best thermostats that I have had occasion to use.

2) I own one of these thermostats in a winter home in FL and it does a great job in controlling humidity in the summer as it lowers temperature setpoint when humidity goes above a given setpoint. Humidity is a serious problem in FL.

3) Installation and programming is straight forward and intuitive.

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I have a Trane heat pump system installed with this thermostat with a propane furnace as auxilary heat. I love the way this thermostat works; it's easy to program and is smartly design. Honeywell is a superb company and generally make robust products. When you have a problem though, be prepared to speak with someone in the third world who's probably never touched or seen the thermostat. This is a pain in the neck when you need help and have to ensure an unending set of questions from someone reading from a prepared list.

Be advised... it's easy to install this thermostat incorrectly; particularly if you have a dual heat system like I do. I went through 3 of these thermostats before I finally figured out what was going on. On the first two I let the heating contractor solve the problem (at great expense); when the 3rd one failed I decided to see what was going on for myself.

The first 2 thermostats failed catastrophically. The 1st one displayed the infamous "EE" symbol when you see that the device is toast. The 2nd one lost it's mind and started displaying gibberish on the display also toast. On #3 I got gibberish again. Calls to Honeywell led me on a long and frustrating ordeal manuevering through call centers, but I finally got back to the U.S. and someone who actually knew something about the thermostat (come on Honeywell... can't you really spend a few extra dollars and make it easier on us?!)

The problem I was experiencing was an incorrectly wired outdoor temperature sensor. On a dual heat system the outdoor temperature sensor is needed to let the thermostat know when to go from heat pump to propane. The Honeywell instructions clearly tell you NOT to wire the temperature sensor into the thermostat wiring, but to run separate shielded wiring from the sensor directly to the thermostat. My installer took the easy path and just hooked the temperature sensor to two extra wires in the thermostat cable to save time. Most of the time you'd get away with this, but in my case the thermostat wire crossed a high voltage wire along it's path. The thermostat displays temperature by sending a tiny current down the line to measure the resistance of the temperature sensor. It's imperative that the temperature sensing circuit be free of any stray voltage. Because my thermostat wire was lying next to house wiring, induced voltage was being fed back to the thermostat. These induced voltages will cause this thermostat to fail over time; it's a sensitive device.

The lesson here is to pay close attention to how you heating and electrical contractors handle wiring like this. Any sort of sensing circuit (in my case the temperature sensor) should be run with shielded cable. The other mistake the heating contractor made was placing the temperature sensor inside the heat pump. These sensors should be mounted in a separate box where they can sense ambient conditions and out of the way of the sun which will obviously cause incorrect readings. I took the sensor out of the heat pump and put it in a vented plastic enclosure. They I ran shielded cable and grounded the shield at both ends. I wired the thermostat the correct way and it now performs flawlessly.

So this is a top notch thermostat from an old reliable company. Make sure it's wired correctly and you won't have to waste time talking to uninformed people overseas!!!