Cheap Honeywell CT87K The RoundHeat Only Manual Thermostat

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As others have pointed out, this is NOT the old thermostat you've seen for the last 50 years. The CT87K, CT87N, T87K and T87N are recent updates. The old thermostats relied on a coiled bi-metallic strip and a mercury switch. The new ones have done away with the mercury with its disposal headaches and replaced it with an electronic sensor and switch.

I can't speak to the accuracy of the electronic switch (they're usually accurate to one degree F), but of three I had sitting in a box by my desk, two showed temperatures within one degree of each other and one was off by 3-4 degrees. That's a problem if you're relying on the display thermometer to set a comfortable temperature on the thermostat.

Then there's the battery. They don't tell you about the battery, not even in the user manual. If you poke around long enough, you can find a reference to it on the Honeywell web site. It's a lithium CR2450. They seem to be recharging it from the low voltage wires to the thermostat, but even then, it doesn't last forever, maybe 5-10 years if you're lucky. If you want to pry apart the thermostat, then pry out the circuit board, then search for and buy a new battery, then put it all back together the way it was, you can have a working thermostat again for just a couple of bucks. If you don't want to do that, or if you don't figure out why your new thermostat stopped working, you'll need to replace it.

Honeywell has taken a product that lasts as long as your house and replaced it with one you'll need to replace again and again. It's a good deal for Honeywell.

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I purchased a CT87K heat only thermostat in October from a local home improvement center. (This is because the Mr. Heater 24Volt Thermostat I purchased through Amazon to go with my new Mr. Heater garage heater was defective.)

It's now seven months later. I went out into my garage this morning (as I do every day) and found that my heater was running and the garage was at least 100F! The thermometer on the thermostat was pegged all the way over! The thermostat was set to 40F since spring and it should have been just fine until fall when I need heat in the garage again. I was able to get the thermostat to shut off the heater by turning it up and then down all the way. After the heater cycled off, I unplugged it from the AC power and removed the thermostat from the wall base unit. I plugged in the heater again and checked the controller voltage to the thermostat and found that it was indeed within the acceptable range of 24-30V AC (it was 26.75V).

I read the warranty in the owner's manual and it said:

If the product is defective,

(i) return it, with a bill of sale or other dated proof of

purchase, to the place from which you purchased it; or

(ii) call Honeywell Customer Care at 1-800-468-1502. Customer Care will make the determination whether the product should be returned to the following address: Honeywell Return Goods, Dock 4 MN10-3860, 1885 Douglas Dr. N., Golden Valley, MN 55422, or whether a replacement product can be sent to you.

Even though I had pressed 1 for English I was connected with an East Indian whom I was barely able to understand. I explained to him that I purchased the thermostat from Menards and I no longer have the receipt. Being that the thermostat is defective I requested that it be replaced. He put me on hold for a long while and when he returned at long last I was informed that a replacement cannot be made unless it is returned to the store with a receipt. This seems contrary to what I read in the manual. But, he insisted that I will not get a replacement any other way.

So, I have decided to purchase an entirely different brand of thermostat and I will never again purchase a Honeywell product. If I could give a negative amount of stars I would.

Best Deals on Honeywell CT87K The RoundHeat Only Manual Thermostat

Man, I hate being cold. Normally I'm calm. This state returned after the very un-characteristic violent moment of punching this nasty thing right off the wall, and since that was insufficient, I also threw it. It broke apart and INSIDE IS A CHEAP CIRCUIT BOARD! This thing is a fake of the original.

Inside is a digital freeze-n-burn type that will make you very uncomfortable. My house is finally warming back up after re-installing the old mercury bubble type thermostat.

The advertising on the package for the new model says +/1 degree, but that is a lie, not unlike the majority of advertisements. It caused the temperatures in my house to rapidly rocket up and down by ELEVEN degrees and that made me sick, because most of that was cold and colder, with only about a minute's worth of heat per half hour.

Electric heat doesn't warm up in one minute, so this device is incompatible at best.

Plus, its designed to break!! Sealed inside is a lithium battery to run the digital fakery, and when that battery goes out, opening the cover causes breakage when attempting to replace that battery. Yes, its battery powered by some sort of quarter size flat disc battery sealed up in there. lol! Just like a disposable flashlight, this is a disposable thermostat.

Honest reviews on Honeywell CT87K The RoundHeat Only Manual Thermostat

Since its introduction in 1953, Honeywell has reportedly sold more than 58 million of these T-86 round thermostats. That's an amazing number. And there's a reason they're so popular: They work, they're simple and they'll last a long time.

In Summer 2007, we had central air installed in our old house and the dealer wanted to put in a programmable digital thermostat. I loathe digital thermostats for a whole host of reasons but in this case, I didn't want a beige, chincey-looking plastic box hanging on the wall in my beautiful upstairs hallway. The dealer brought out a couple of these T-86 thermostats and I opted for the white (as shown here) for a couple reasons.

One, the white casing makes it much less obvious on white walls. That's a plus. The bigger selling point is the size of the numbers on the dial's face. The numerals on this model (YCT87K1003) are dark, large and well-spaced, making it easy to read both room temp and set temp. In an upstairs hallway with minimal overhead lighting, that is very important. In a house where two near-sighted, bespectacled and middle-aged people live, that is very important.

Another plus is that many of these modern T-86 thermostats (unlike prior models) contain no mercury. Another nice feature is the trim ring, which is very forgiving for installing into existing buildings (where cutting into walls is required).

You can probably buy a knock-off product for less, but speaking as someone with a background in architecture, I'd stick with Honeywell. They've been making thermostats since the 1880s when they started with the "Damper Flapper," a primitive switch-type mechanism designed for coal-fired furnaces that used a motor to open and shut the damper.

In my downstairs foyer, I have one of the 1930s Honeywell Thermostats, complete with its solid brass housing and the words "Minneapolis-Honeywell" on its front. More than 70 years old and it's still a dandy!

I highly recommend this contemporary T-86 Honeywell Round. It's been an industry standard for more than five decades. And the best news? The most recent information I could find shows that this product is "Made in America".

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I have a very old Warm Morning wall furnace that my grandfather put in the house nearly 50 years ago.

I needed a new thermostadt because with the one that had been installed by a local repair man was way off on the settings.

You could set that thermostadt on 68 degrees and the furnace would not shut off till it hit 75 degrees or come back on till it dropped down to 68. I put up with that for several years and finally had enough of that.

I knew what I needed and instead of calling another repairman who was half the age of the furnace I started looking for what I knew to be realiable and that was the Honeywell heat only thermostadt.

No one had it for heat only but Amazon.com had it for $29.00 plus free shipping.

I placed the order and had the thermostadt in a few days and put it on. They are a little different than the old ones but the results are the same.

You can set this one on 70 degrees and when it hits that point the furnace shuts off. It will drop 2 degrees to 68 and come back on and that's perfect. My old house is so much more comfortable now and I'm saving money to boot.

If you need a single purpose thermostadt for an old furnace this is the one to buy. Skip the rest and buy the best for less than 30 bucks.