That was just stupid. The picture frame was hideous as well.

Sybarite: Or get a really cool looking thermostat.

Yup. That's what I want.

I also want to be able to mess with it from my iPad.

Diogenes: Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: Sybarite: Or get a really cool looking thermostat.

Yup. That's what I want.

I also want to be able to mess with it from my iPad.

Now that's a First World problem.

No doubt about that, but I would like to see my energy usage charted for me on a daily/monthly/yearly basis so I can adjust inefficiencies accordingly.

Sybarite: Or get a really cool looking thermostat.

[news.cnet.com image 465x310]

If you want to slowly kill an old person, put one of those in their house and set the temperature to 10 degrees F.

I thought this was going to be about solar panels (yes, "cooling", my mind skipped over that part) and how you will occassionally find neighbors/HOA's that fight people who install them.

I was shocked that I still couldn't get a thermostat that allows me to set a temperature range and heat or cool automatically. My house gets a lot of solar heat, so there is a good portion of the year when I have to turn on the air conditioner during the day and then switch to heat at night.

Not exactly a novel suggestion:

GameSprocket: I was shocked that I still couldn't get a thermostat that allows me to set a temperature range and heat or cool automatically. My house gets a lot of solar heat, so there is a good portion of the year when I have to turn on the air conditioner during the day and then switch to heat at night.

Yes. I think there's one or two available now, but it's gotten to the point where I'm sorely tempted to build one and start selling it.

\ It'd be interweb accessible too.

GameSprocket:
I was shocked that I still couldn't get a thermostat that allows me to set a temperature range and heat or cool automatically. My house gets a lot of solar heat, so there is a good portion of the year when I have to turn on the air conditioner during the day and then switch to heat at night.

Honeywell makes some that do that. You want "auto changeover." They're about $100.

I love the suggestions in the article to cover it completely, I guess those morons don't know how a thermostat works...

I mean these - salviati - "Clever idea. Perhaps a canvas print would do a better job at hiding a thermostat (if it's thick enough)"

blueardea - "That's what I was hoping for when I clicked this post... but no. A canvas could look nice. That frame isn't even fit to hold a real photo"

Let's just block the airflow to it so it can't take an accurate reading of the air temp in the house, genius!

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: Sybarite: Or get a really cool looking thermostat.

Yup. That's what I want.

I also want to be able to mess with it from my iPad.

Done (new window). I have one and it works great.

/still such an eyesore.

Shazam999: GameSprocket: I was shocked that I still couldn't get a thermostat that allows me to set a temperature range and heat or cool automatically. My house gets a lot of solar heat, so there is a good portion of the year when I have to turn on the air conditioner during the day and then switch to heat at night.

Yes. I think there's one or two available now, but it's gotten to the point where I'm sorely tempted to build one and start selling it.

\ It'd be interweb accessible too.

You can easily get a thermostat that will switch from heating to cooling for you. You just can't easily get them through your normal outlets like Home Depot or Lowes, I think they are too expensive for the usual homeowner, so they don't bother to stock them. Try a commercial HVAC supply shop. Or even Grainger. Should just need a model with Heat-Cool-Auto functionality. Check whether you need low voltage or line voltage (likely low voltage.) I would look for a 5-1-1 programmable or a full 7 day programmable for some energy savings.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/HONEYWELL-Touch-Screen-Thermostat-4N E 58
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/EMERSON-CLIMATE-Low-Voltage-TStat-1M B D8

/Don't just buy one of those, I just grabbed the first two that I saw with the AUTO function.

cirby: GameSprocket:
I was shocked that I still couldn't get a thermostat that allows me to set a temperature range and heat or cool automatically. My house gets a lot of solar heat, so there is a good portion of the year when I have to turn on the air conditioner during the day and then switch to heat at night.

Honeywell makes some that do that. You want "auto changeover." They're about $100.

Grrr. Fark wouldn't let me post for some reason. Oh well.

Robo Beat: Not exactly a novel suggestion:

[www.chasingprops.com image 200x133]

Everything looks better with a pair of bewbs in front of it.

GameSprocket: I was shocked that I still couldn't get a thermostat that allows me to set a temperature range and heat or cool automatically. My house gets a lot of solar heat, so there is a good portion of the year when I have to turn on the air conditioner during the day and then switch to heat at night.

Really I bought a touch screen thermostat similar to this one and it has auto changeover from heat to cool:



I noticed it one day last spring when it started to get really hot in the room and I noticed all of the sudden the thing was in cooling mode, even though I hadn't bothered to turn on the outside AC unit yet.

Robo Beat: Not exactly a novel suggestion:

[www.chasingprops.com image 200x133]

Exactly what I was thinking as I read the article.

just get a remote sensor and put the thermostat in a closet or something out of the way.

celery_stalker: just get a remote sensor and put the thermostat in a closet or something out of the way.

Or if you insist on covering it, use a ventilated box or a frame with an actual picture in it. I mean, come on, there's got to be a minimum amount of effort to make something qualify as "life hacking".

Lifehacker: here are things you can do that will save you about 0.9 seconds of time that we ripped off from a Heloise column from 15 years ago.

Robo Beat: Not exactly a novel suggestion:

Not that you can tell from that size pic, but it always seemed chilly in their apartment.....

Perhaps a nice knitted thermostat cozy...

Dazrin: Shazam999: GameSprocket: I was shocked that I still couldn't get a thermostat that allows me to set a temperature range and heat or cool automatically. My house gets a lot of solar heat, so there is a good portion of the year when I have to turn on the air conditioner during the day and then switch to heat at night.

Yes. I think there's one or two available now, but it's gotten to the point where I'm sorely tempted to build one and start selling it.

\ It'd be interweb accessible too.

You can easily get a thermostat that will switch from heating to cooling for you. You just can't easily get them through your normal outlets like Home Depot or Lowes, I think they are too expensive for the usual homeowner, so they don't bother to stock them. Try a commercial HVAC supply shop. Or even Grainger. Should just need a model with Heat-Cool-Auto functionality. Check whether you need low voltage or line voltage (likely low voltage.) I would look for a 5-1-1 programmable or a full 7 day programmable for some energy savings.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/HONEYWELL-Touch-Screen-Thermostat-4N E 58
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/EMERSON-CLIMATE-Low-Voltage-TStat-1M B D8

/Don't just buy one of those, I just grabbed the first two that I saw with the AUTO function.

Dear God, they finally put in an auto. I'll have to read the manual to see if these do what I need it to do. Stupid Honeywell website's broken right now though.

cirby: GameSprocket:
I was shocked that I still couldn't get a thermostat that allows me to set a temperature range and heat or cool automatically. My house gets a lot of solar heat, so there is a good portion of the year when I have to turn on the air conditioner during the day and then switch to heat at night.

Honeywell makes some that do that. You want "auto changeover." They're about $100.

Personally, I'd also go for 'more insulation on my house' and adding additional thermal mass to the inside. Get enough thermal mass in there with a bit more insulation and you might find that you don't need to use your climate control for those periods of the year.

Sybarite: Or get a really cool looking thermostat.

[news.cnet.com image 465x310]

Wow, cool!

{checks Trane website}

Gee, every link to local retailers includes a "Apply for financing" button. Guess that answers my "I wonder if that thing's really expensive?" question. {sigh}

My thermostat is hooked up to our network. I think it's by Proliphix? It was pricey for a thermostat but not bank-breaking.

I love it because it's easy as hell to control -- I can do all the settings with a web browser. I can do different settings for weekends and weekdays, tell it in advance which weekdays are holidays so it can use the weekend settings, etc etc. There's an api available for it, my girlfriend's always talking about programming in some better monitoring and im control via jabber.

It's not the prettiest thing on our wall but it's not so ugly I want to frame it.

Firethorn:
Personally, I'd also go for 'more insulation on my house' and adding additional thermal mass to the inside. Get enough thermal mass in there with a bit more insulation and you might find that you don't need to use your climate control for those periods of the year.

Some places have much bigger temperature swings during some seasons. I've been in places that went from 50s at night to 90s during the day in spring and late fall. Insulation doesn't help much with that.

A good new thermostat can make a difference in a lot of situations in the first place. I rent a duplex, and the old thermostat wasn't switching on an off correctly (always either too hot or cold). I dropped $27 on a new digital thermostat, and saved that much in the first two months (I didn't bill it to my landlord because they don't charge me that much to begin with).

Instead of a thermostat, I open the windows and deal with it. When it gets down to freezing, I'll use a space-heater near my bed so I don't freeze to death while I'm asleep.

One of things I like about my house is the thermostat is in the Master Bedroom, it really keeps utility bills low. I'm not sure how well it would work in a two story house though.

Dazrin: Shazam999: GameSprocket: I was shocked that I still couldn't get a thermostat that allows me to set a temperature range and heat or cool automatically. My house gets a lot of solar heat, so there is a good portion of the year when I have to turn on the air conditioner during the day and then switch to heat at night.

Yes. I think there's one or two available now, but it's gotten to the point where I'm sorely tempted to build one and start selling it.

\ It'd be interweb accessible too.

You can easily get a thermostat that will switch from heating to cooling for you. You just can't easily get them through your normal outlets like Home Depot or Lowes, I think they are too expensive for the usual homeowner, so they don't bother to stock them. Try a commercial HVAC supply shop. Or even Grainger. Should just need a model with Heat-Cool-Auto functionality. Check whether you need low voltage or line voltage (likely low voltage.) I would look for a 5-1-1 programmable or a full 7 day programmable for some energy savings.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/HONEYWELL-Touch-Screen-Thermostat-4N E 58
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/EMERSON-CLIMATE-Low-Voltage-TStat-1M B D8

/Don't just buy one of those, I just grabbed the first two that I saw with the AUTO function.

Sonofa.... I have the first one, programmed it meticulously, and didn't even realize it would do that. It never even occurred to me that there would be an option besides heat/cool/off in the "system" menu.

markie_farkie: That would go nicely with my existing wall of framed photos of thermostats.

That was magnificent. Full point.

Nuclear Pancake 2011-10-12 10:37:17 AM That was just stupid. The picture frame was hideous as well.
=====================================================

Yeah, it's just stupid.

GameSprocket: I was shocked that I still couldn't get a thermostat that allows me to set a temperature range and heat or cool automatically. My house gets a lot of solar heat, so there is a good portion of the year when I have to turn on the air conditioner during the day and then switch to heat at night.

I built my own (as part of a larger network). Touch panel in living room, accessible by web browser:

cirby: Some places have much bigger temperature swings during some seasons. I've been in places that went from 50s at night to 90s during the day in spring and late fall. Insulation doesn't help much with that.

It should work just fine with enough of it? Besides, please note that I hardly specified only insulation. In such a region, you use a combination of insulation and thermal mass - the mass soaks up the heat during the day and releases it at night, keeping the house temperature stable.

A good new thermostat can make a difference in a lot of situations in the first place. I rent a duplex, and the old thermostat wasn't switching on an off correctly (always either too hot or cold).

This I can agree with - but if you're needing both AC and heat in a single day, it's probably a sign you need a better built house. Houses located in desert areas that can reach from 0F to 100F in a single day DO need to be built a bit differently. Heck, as far as I'm concerned, most homes built in the USA should have more regional building methods/designs.

jdbob: GameSprocket: I was shocked that I still couldn't get a thermostat that allows me to set a temperature range and heat or cool automatically. My house gets a lot of solar heat, so there is a good portion of the year when I have to turn on the air conditioner during the day and then switch to heat at night.

I built my own (as part of a larger network). Touch panel in living room, accessible by web browser:

[www.certsoft.com image 426x532]

Now all you need is some CSS

The Smails Kid: Now all you need is some CSS

The whole thing was designed in 1998 or 1999, not sure there was such a thing as CSS back then.

Sybarite: Or get a really cool looking thermostat.

[news.cnet.com image 465x310]

yeah right! So terrists can hack my temperature control panel and slowly freeze or boil me to death!? No thanks!

/maybe a good plot for a syfy movie.