Brunham Series 3 boiler installed this fall, with a new thermostat. Son and family departed Minneapolis Monday for a few days in Wisconsin. Before leaving he turned the heat down to 68°. He did notice it said "cool" and guessed it was because he was turning it down. Asked wife, she knew nothing about it and off they go.


The Almost

Luckily the neighbor came over each day to feed their pets, Tuesday it was 37° in the house and dropping.



As far as I know the boiler doesn't need cool or fan, it turned the heat OFF. He figures he hit the mode button and that did it. They have a small girl who could reach up and do that, what then? This has to go.

When he gets home I'll have him call the people who installed this and install what for a thermostat?

When he called and the first thing he said was, "I wasn't gonna tell you this but ..."

Thanks for any suggestions !!

 

Hi, that Stat has screen locking capabilities,check out page 4 in the owners manual.
http://www.energyconscious.com/media...user-guide.pdf

Geo

 

Strange that Honeywell doesn't have a safety temperature. They get slammed a lot but Nest has it. Can be confusing because the heat will turn on even if the thermostat is off.

 

Okay, he can do a partial keyboard lockout so you can only adjust the temperature, all they need. Thanks

One thing that bothers me is relying on a couple AA batteries to keep your house warm. I don't know but it doesn't look to me like it is wired, we'll see when he gets home.



Safety temperature sure would've been nice. I keep looking at the old mercury thermostat on my wall and think they never break, at least I've never seen it happen.

Not knowing how these boilers or wireless thermostats work, couldn't a person take an old mercury one like mine and wire it up along with the wireless? Mine goes down to 50° so if he could put one on an inside wall in the basement, maybe near the door going upstairs would be a good spot? Sure wouldn't want it next to his 100 year old coal chute door.

Here's a picture of his new boiler if that helps.


New Burnham Series 3 Boiler

 

I got a call from my sister last winter that her furnace was not coming on. She had changed the thermostat batteries and it still didn't work. I still had my service tool box loaded (about 60 pounds) even though I'd been retired for ten years so I tossed in my Fluke and drove over.

I first added a jumper across the Rand W terminals at the furnace and it fired right up. I let it run that way to warm up the house before really getting into troubleshooting and went into the house. She had told me about having some difficulty when changing the batteries so I pulled the carrier, looked at the batteries and replaced it with no trouble. Then I looked at the display and at first I couldn't believe what I saw.

Yep, it was on cool. I told her I found the trouble, showed her and put it back in the heat mode. Only thing we could figure was that in replacing he battery carrier she had inadvertently touched the heat/cool changeover. I removed the jumper wire, the furnace continued as normal and no more problems.

 

He did see the "cool" and didn't understand, his bad. To me it just seems too easy to go from one to the other, maybe a pop-up like a computer saying, "Cool, are you sure?" His temps weren't that bad but if it were off for four days I can't imagine the damage to his house.



Downright balmy compared to me 200 miles north, I've about had it.




I just looked on Amazon and they do have simple old type he could put in his basement if it can be wired and still work with the wireless. This possible?

Thanks again.

 

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I don't trust a thermostat or a heating system. If I'm going away.... I have someone check my house every day or every other day. Anything can fail.

 

Pete, I agree with you 1000%. When I heard they would drive 6 hours and leave their house for four days in the middle of winter I told he he is crazy. I would never do that.

Yes, anything can fail but I was thinking of the KISS thing. Spend less than $50 for a simple thermostat and wire would take the "new and improved" thermostat out of the equation.

Like I've said a few times, I know nothing about these things so just wondering if it was a good idea or just stupid.

Thanks

 

Geochurchi,

Son just called and he has it in the partial keyboard lockout and he thanks you.

Called him back and the display lights for 8 seconds so it is on batteries.

 

Most thermostats today have combined heating and cooling functions. For a home, and home occupant that doesn't have cooling it might be a bit confusing to see the word "cool" on a screen although having an actual switch (not just a mode button) that indicates heat-off-cool is generally understood. Older people, those that never had a thermostat, (my mother was one) could easily be confused with a combination thermostat.

As for the question, yes, you CAN install a wired thermostat to override the wireless model. It could be wired across the thermostat connections on the furnace where the wireless module is connected. I would suggest an entirely mechanical model, i.e. no batteries, and one that could be set at perhaps 40 degrees F.

I also agree with PJ, any home where the regular occupants are gone needs to be checked every day during the heating season and at least every other day during non-heating seasons. In my area the biggest problem is squatters and it seems that the laws around here make it damn near impossible to get rid of squatters if they have occupied the house for any length of time.