Thermostats?

[Hillside]

Had a problem with my circulator pump recently and the tech said that it "could" be the thermostat. I have 2 Hunters that have been in for about 10 years and I've had no problems. One of the things I like about the Hunter is the filter monitor that tells me how long the fan has been running and so I know when to clean or replace filters.
However, most posts here say that the Honeywell is a much better thermostat. Why? What is wrong with the "junk" Hunter. How many have gone bad and why? I may go with a new Honeywell but don't like to switch brands if I have had good luck with what I have. Is there any verifiable evidence or is this merely Hunter bashing?

[wyounger]

I'm just a homeowner, but I have thrown out two Hunters myself because of malfunctions. Your mileage may vary.

[hvac hero]

I have had quite a few problems with hunters. I've never installed one but I've sure taken a bunch out. We install the Honeywell Vision Pro 8000 for customers that want programmable. It has touchscreen controls. Very nice. If they dont want programmable, then we install Honeywel Focus Pro 5000. Either one of these will give you great service.

[BobbyBJr]

I installed 6 Hunters in a church once. I changed about 8 under warranty and then decided to just bite the bullet and junk the Hunters and put up something else. I think I choose White Rogers to replace them, but anyway that was my fill of Hunter.

Bobby

[Swabby]

As someone in the service side of this business and as a person who has owned 2 Honeywell digital programmable thermostats I can fairly say that I wouldn't buy another one. The 2 I had, the LCD display faded out and became unreadable. I, also, have had customers that paid to have their Honeywell digitals replaced with what I now use, White Rodgers. The Honeywells are hard to read and the backlighting doesn't help any. I have no experience with Hunters so I can't speak for them, but the White Rodgers are less expensive than Honeywell, easier to read and, so far, I have not had problems with the one I use or the others I have installed.

[Hillside]

Price is $XXX according to the site I checked. A bit too steep for this Scotsman!

http://www.my-smileys.de/smileys2/033102sor_1_prv.gif (No pricing, due to site rules (http://www.hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?threadid=1241) )


[Edited by jultzya on 11-09-2005 at 06:08 PM]

[james mo]

The Hunter programmable thermostats have caused me some call backs in the past. They seem to fail intermittantly. I have found that they create voltage drops within the thermostat and I have had them bleed through just enough to hold a fan relay open as well. I am talking about the programmable t-stat with the horizontal door on the side. To change the temperature, you have to hold the temp up/down button for 3 seconds until it flashes and then adjust it. I would highly recommend staying away from this particular thermostat. Their newer models may be better, though I have not seen any others.

[Hillside]

Has anyone had experience with the Honeywell CT3300 which is inexpensive and also has a filter monitor. About this monitor, it seems much more logical than having to change the filter every 1 or 2 or 3 months since the use of the furnace or a/c is variable.

[contactor]

I dont understand 2 things. You have a circulator pump , and need to be reminded to change filters? And how can a thermostat cause a pump problem?

[marylandtech]

I have never seen a good Hunter thermostat. Also around here i think they have a brand called rite temp sold at Home depot. I have ran into intermittent problems with hunter tstats (sometimes hard to diagnose because they run while im there). Also have had quite a few problems with the G circuit in AC mode. Sometimes it sticks closed on some, others open. Get a decent Honeywell or WR. Stay away from depot stats.

[chicago tom]

Lets forget the stat and go back to the problem.

[BobbyBJr]

Originally posted by contactor
I dont understand 2 things. You have a circulator pump , and need to be reminded to change filters? And how can a thermostat cause a pump problem?

I can't answer that second question, but I was at a large house yesterday that had pumps and water coils in the air handlers and filters too, so it can happen.

Bobby

[Hillside]

Connection between circulator and thermostat. I have a circulator on my Lenox Complete Heat (Lets not go there, please) with a split system. 2 floors. Circulator pumps the warm water to the attic coil.
Problem occurs when I get cooling from the upstairs fan, but no heat. When I check the circulator by touch it is not circulating the warm water. If I turn the furnace off and then on, the problem is solved. - for the time being.
Earlier post on this site said that problem may be a bad electronic board. However, my service man said it might be the thermostat. That is why I asked about thermostats. The comments by James Mo are interesting and may suggest a thermostat problem.
And the filter issue is unrelated. Its just that it seems to be a good feature on the Hunter, and on an inexpensive Honeywell (CT3300)I have seen online.

[tpa-fl]

Honeywell CT- or RT- are consumer-grade products, made for price only. You want a contractor-grade stat... better contacts, better circuits, and depending on the model, better design, not to mention more features.

[thorton]

Hi: I had a Hunter thermistat at one time, it was called a Energy Monitor. I think I used it for at least ten years and had no problems with it. The only reason I quit using it is when I had a Heat pump installed and I needed the Carrier Thermiistat that matched up with my system.

Thorton

[Hillside]

So now I have about 1/2 of you saying that the Hunter is no good and the other 1/2 saying that they have had not problems with it (I think I'm in that camp but have just ordered a Honeywell). Maybe we need a consumer reports evaluation that is statistically valid rather than lots of anecdotal evidence. I think that then we would have a difference between fact and opinion.

[pstu]

I'm just a homeowner too, but it sure looks like the majority of estimates are critical of Hunters. That agrees with what I have learned.

We used to have two Hunter Energy Monitor thermostats, they worked fine for awhile then one went out. When I swapped in the good one to test, it immediately became a bad one. I like the feature set of the Hunter Energy Monitor, but that's not worth much without reliability. I sure would consider a Honeywell or a White-Rogers to be a surer bet on reliability. No doubt there are some other good brands out there too.

Good luck -- P.Student