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I've even heard of people specifically heating their basement (past waste heat from the heating system) with at least a partial goal of keeping the 1st floor warmer.

 

I was in a house last weekend that uses radiator system built into floors. One day is hard to judge such a system...but I can say I was quite comfortable there. I NEVER drink anything with ice in it during winter because it's too cold, and yet had at least a couple of drinks with ice there, and thought nothing of it.
 
To Lord Kenmore...=)

I like Big Bertha too! Of coarse she is modest, she is Victorian...lol...Modesty was a Victorian virtue=)...

I am going to keep the vintage Honeywell thermostat. I don't trust anything new, and that has served its propose for twice of my life time. Nothing appears to be worn or broken, and the wires are not crumbling or deteriorating. So I see no point in using a new fangled, digital piece of garbage...lol....

And to answer Lord Kenmore's question about my house, It is just a craftsman style home. But it is a prestigious home, was built for the original Wichita City Commissioner Mr,Garrison Scott. It is pretty much a time capsule of a house, with all its original wood work, and doors, and lead glass, and door knobs, and hard wood still intact. I will post a few pics to let you get a idea. Enjoy.

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Stunning house! Thanks for sharing the photos!

 

I like houses with interior woodwork like that. That house had the radiator system I've mentioned before in this thread apparently had good woodwork. I don't known when that house was built--much later than 1903; I'm thinking about 1920. I've wondered if I like houses from that era because I remember that one house on a deep level, and it was fairly good time in my family's history.

 
 
 
Old thermostats do go off-kilter, become inaccurate.  A store/office where I worked from 1999 to 2007 had (probably still does) a Carrier HVAC system that surely dated to the 1960s if not earlier.  The thermostat was wonky with a wide, uncomfortable temperature swing.  Had to be set cooler than necessary in summer so the room temp didn't swing too high before it cycled back on, and vice-versa for heating.
 
I wouldn't go so far as to call a digital thermostat a piece of garbage. I've seen many Honeywell digital models that are close to 30 years old and still working. Any consumer grade one is garbage, I agree, but Honeywell pro grade stuff, and Emerson to a slightly less extent is pretty good quality equipment. Perhaps as a compromise if you would like something far more accurate, you could pick up a NOS Honeywell T87F on eBay, preferably the gold colored one made before 2000 or so. Those and the T874 were the most accurate mechanical thermostat ever made. They work extremely well with hot water and steam heating systems with some tweaking of the heat anticipator to dial the cycle rate in just right.

John - Our first floor system with uninsulated sheet metal ductwork does a pretty good job at providing impromptu radiant floor heating, and I could care less that the joints are not air tight as that also keeps the basement conditioned summer and winter.
 
I'm pretty happy with the performance of the Aprilaire 8400 series that was installed when I bought the home. True, I had to adjust the temp swing to "tighten" it up a bit, but it has been reliable and accurate.

At some point, I will replace it with another Aprilaire programmable unit.
 
TheSpiritOf76

Clarification--my post above wasn't crafted too well (sorry!). I was in a hurry to get out to do some errands. The house I referred to being later than 1903 was one my family had (ca. 1920), not yours. 

 

It's neat that you've been able to get historical information...even if meant tiresome hours of going through microfilm!

 

 
 
Too Big a Swing

I have lived in a few houses with steam heat. A swing of 5 to 6 degrees is normal for this type of system. When thermostat calls for heat and furnace starts its sometimes 10-15 minutes before the system is charged and producing heat in all rooms. When the thermostat is satisfied and the system shuts down there is still plenty of steam and heat in the boiled to keep the radiators producing more heat. It does not just stop just because the furnace has stopped. Plus the radiators themselves are heated up and continue for awhile till the pressure and heat in the boiler have lowered. What I have found was that the higher the temp was set in the house, the less amount of swing there was. The colder the weather outside I found to have less swing also. These type of systems are a different beast that what is found in newer homes of today. When these were installed some houses had no insulation and window curtains would move around from all the air infiltration. Oil and coal was cheap so you just cranked up the thermostat to compensate. My opinion is that a digital thermostat is not going to make any difference in the performance of this unit.

Jon
 
The advantage of good digital thermostats is that they can learn. They'll have the weird swing for a couple of days or so, but if everything is set up correctly (type of heating plant, fuel, etc), after a very short period it becomes dead accurate, because the thermostat learns how long your home takes to heat from a certain temperature to hit the target.

Once it knows that, it will turn on just a tad bit before it's needed and run for exactly the right amount of time to bring it up to temp and turn off even if the temp has not been reached yet, because it knows how much heat the boiler/furnace will continue to add to the space.

I once installed one (Honeywell Magicstat, if I remember right) in a 60-ish year old home with very little insulation and an oil furnace that used 1 gallon of oil per hour. The first month it used 300 gallons of oil. I installed the magicstat, and 3 days later instead of the nearly 10 degree swing the house stayed at a constant 70F and used about 250 gallons/month for the rest of the several winters I've spent there.

Maybe it doesn't fit everyone's style or needs, but our household was very happy with the comfort and economy -- then again, that was back when oil cost a dollar per gallon or less. We moved out 6 months before the price of oil doubled, the new tenants were not happy. They also lowered the thermostat to around 50 degrees, but the walls were so badly insulated that the pipes burst all over the home. Apparently the landlord had to gut and insulate everything.

Cheers,
-- Paulo.
 
Did I just get screwed?

I have this Trane Gas Force air system that was installed 13 years ago. I had maintenance done on Friday. The tech shows me the ignitor from the system and says it may crack and become useless. He said it would be $75. He also said the condensate pump is not working well and that was $125. He discounted the prices and the total was $180. I said yes. At first I was skeptical. I said yes even though I think I was taken for a ride. Anyone feel the same?
 
Digital thermostats

Paulo: Thanks for the info on the newer digital thermostats. I did not know that they have incorporated a learning curve. Nice feature that can be useful on older steam heat. I guess in this day of technology someone is thinking and creating units that can function well with older systems and make them more energy efficient and controlled.

Jon
 
My old Chronotherm III needed a long learning curve for how long the house would need to get warm. I caught it a few times heating the house in te middle of the night. The new Chronotherm Touch just took a few days. It's very convenient to just program at what time you want the house to be warm and the thermostat heating the house in time.
 
I have lived in this state for nearly 63 years and the winters are getting more stranger. 4 storms in the last 2 weeks that dumped heavy wet cement, not nice fluffy, easy to snowblow snow you have to shovel by hand. Instead it will be turning frigid to glare ice, when power goes out again, then shovel if you can, sand, rinse and repeat again tomorrow for the next one. Getting VERY old and 3 more months of this crap at least to go. Who knows if global warming has anything to do with it. All I know, I have never seen winters extreme swings like the past 2 years.
 
"Who knows if global warming has anything to do with it.

Last I read global warming will cause everywhere north and east of Chicago and Wash, DC to become cooler and wetter. Kinf of sucks because as time goes by we'll need to produce a larger and larger percentage of the world's food.
 

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