Aprilaire THE thermostat choice?

[beelzerob]

Well, not surprisingly, the HVAC subcontractor on our house isn't an aprilaire dealer. So that means it's up to me to find the model that meets our needs and then hand it to him to install (or at least make sure I can install it myself later).

Is Aprilaire the best choice? I really don't think I've ever heard mention of any other brand when it comes to thermostat control.

If it is, then how do I go about making sure I get the right model for our house? The aprilaire website seems to indicate the 8870 as the only one that communicates with outside control equipment. I just want to make sure it's compatible with the heatpump/central air system we're supposed to be getting.

 

[rfdesq]

Try here http://resconsys.com/.

 

[IVB]

I think CQC also has a Proliphix driver

 

[Steve]

Aprilaire and RCS are the main 2 players. RCS will be more reasonably priced. Aprilaire you need the 8870 and 8811 protocol converter to use wilth Elk. Many people are happy with the TR40 from RCS. Most HVAC contractors will just install what they are familiar with so they can prove it works and warranty it. I would let them install and test their basic stuff then install the automated stat later. HAI also makes a stat but it has been tricky to install for some.

 

[politics123]

Aprilaire and RCS are the main 2 players. RCS will be more reasonably priced. Aprilaire you need the 8870 and 8811 protocol converter to use wilth Elk. Many people are happy with the TR40 from RCS. Most HVAC contractors will just install what they are familiar with so they can prove it works and warranty it. I would let them install and test their basic stuff then install the automated stat later. HAI also makes a stat but it has been tricky to install for some.

HAI is ridiculously easy to install, as long as you pull a cat5 cable to the same location as the tstat (which is a wise move, anyway). The HAI is low cost, integrates well with an ELK, etc. If you don't have an automation controller (Elk or HAI), then you should look elsewhere.

 

[Steve]

Yea, I was referring to the issue with not having common for voltage, which is 'common' in retrofits, But yes, if a Cat5 is pulled it should be fairly easy.

 

[beelzerob]

Yea, I was referring to the issue with not having common for voltage, which is 'common' in retrofits, But yes, if a Cat5 is pulled it should be fairly easy.

So then, whatever HA controller I get later, it SHOULD just be easy to remove the old thermostat, and plug in the new one along with a CAT5 cable, and be good to go? I just wanted to make sure I didn't have to tell my hvac guy that he needed to make some special kind of connections or something.

As for controlling, I'm happy so long as it has a protocol I can write a CQC driver for. An elk will be in the future somewhere.

 

[politics123]

Yea, I was referring to the issue with not having common for voltage, which is 'common' in retrofits, But yes, if a Cat5 is pulled it should be fairly easy.

So then, whatever HA controller I get later, it SHOULD just be easy to remove the old thermostat, and plug in the new one along with a CAT5 cable, and be good to go? I just wanted to make sure I didn't have to tell my hvac guy that he needed to make some special kind of connections or something.

As for controlling, I'm happy so long as it has a protocol I can write a CQC driver for. An elk will be in the future somewhere.

Depending on what your HVAC system is, you may not need a "C" common wire. For my RC80B, the "C" is optional, but the cool blue backlight doesn't work without it.

The key's here:
1) Regardless of what system you go with, you're going to need either a cat5 to each thermostat and zone controller, or to the HVAC unit. These need to be homerun to your wire closet. To be safe, if you can, make sure you do both. Cat5 is cheap, especially compared to the "time" cost of having to pull extra cable.
2) Make sure that your HVAC controller leaves you enough thermostat wire. They have a habit of cutting the thermostat wire to "just barely" reach whatever terminal block they install for you. I can't tell you how annoying that is. Ask them to push some extra thermostat wire behind the wall and use a clamp behind the tstat. That way, if you need more play (and you will), you can just pull some more through. It might also be smart to ask them to NOT clip the unused wire (bend it back into the hole). That way, you have extra connectors.
3) It's a good thing to ask for a "C" wire. Yes, this is easy enough to do on your own (standard is "blue" and on your unit, you'll see a "C" on the wire harness inside the HVAC unit once you remove the cover), but its much easier for the HVAC guy to do it. Tell them that you have a fancy tstat that needs common.

So, in a simple one tstat, one HVAC unit, unzoned system, speaking to an automation controller, HAI is a very easy and inexpensive purchase. If you never plan on an automation controller, or you have zones, or you have a complex HVAC setup, there might be better options.

I'm also assuming that you aren't getting anything exotic (eg: simple gas furnace + AC or simple 2 stage heat pump). Model #s are RC80b and RC100B respectively.

 

[beelzerob]

Thanks for the guidance!

 

[Sendero]

Thanks for the guidance!

I would strongly recommend Aprilaire. The RCS t-stats are good, but I found Aprilaire service and support to dramatically superior. They are very responsive and helpful. Even when I was trying to get the RCS to work in my situation they were helping with ideas. I bought Aprilaire after that since they knew my requirements and were very clear on how their product would work. They even offered to have the installer call their 800 number during the install for any help. Great company!

 

[bingl]

I recently changed out my original cheapie tstats for the Aprilaire 8870. Just to reinforce other posts, the "C" wire is required for the 8870 to work as a standalone. My original installer cut off the unused wires in the bundle (no "C") which made me go in circles trying to figure out why the original works but not the 8870. As others stated, it should have been left alone, but not cut off.

If you have the cat5 behind the tstats, you're in (for HA). No special connections/instructions needed. The 8870 install manual shows all different HVAC configurations for install. The manual makes it look much harder than it is. I posted here before about jumping couple connectors which is not obvious in the manual for standalone mode. If you go straight to HA operation, the manual is more pertinent. But I wanted to see the tstat work before adding complexity.

I had the foresight to homerun Cat5 to all tstats even though at the time I didn't know what for.

I use the 8870 with CQC (no ELK). I like it a lot, but I also have no experience with others.

 

[beelzerob]

I recently changed out my original cheapie tstats for the Aprilaire 8870. Just to reinforce other posts, the "C" wire is required for the 8870 to work as a standalone. My original installer cut off the unused wires in the bundle (no "C") which made me go in circles trying to figure out why the original works but not the 8870. As others stated, it should have been left alone, but not cut off.

If you have the cat5 behind the tstats, you're in (for HA). No special connections/instructions needed. The 8870 install manual shows all different HVAC configurations for install. The manual makes it look much harder than it is. I posted here before about jumping couple connectors which is not obvious in the manual for standalone mode. If you go straight to HA operation, the manual is more pertinent. But I wanted to see the tstat work before adding complexity.

I had the foresight to homerun Cat5 to all tstats even though at the time I didn't know what for.

I use the 8870 with CQC (no ELK). I like it a lot, but I also have no experience with others.

Wow...that's exactly my situation. Replace original cheapie tstat with an Aprilaire, homerunning Cat5 and using CQC. Nice! :lol:

So, when I tell him to include the "C" wire....does that need to be connected to something on the furnace end? He'll know what to do if I just tell him to "include" the C wire?

 

[bingl]

In my own situation, all the wire leads were connected up at the furnace side in the attic (no problems). At the t-stat, only 4 wires were utilized, the rest were cut off to the point I didn't even know they existed by looking at the wire bundle.

Following politics123 lead, I would ask that no wires be cut off and no shortchanging wire lengths in the wall. Just asking about the "C" may sound like the other wires are not as important which is not true.

Once you have the 8870, 8811, manual, and wires in your hands, its will be simpler than it sounds. If not, just asks.

I am not an HVAC guy. This is just my own experience being a newbie CQC HA'er.

 

[magrann]

I just replaced my cheapie with the 8870 and the 8811. All I can tell you is that I believe I had like a 7 or 8 conductor thermosat wire. This was very helpful since I did not use the distribution panel which would have provided the power to the tstat. Instead I used the power from the hvac.

So what I would say is it doesn't matter what they do to hook it up as long as they leave you with the right amount of conductors. Which for me was 5 conductor for the hvac to thermostat (including voltage) and cat5e to the 8811 protocol adaptor (which you will probably need). I had to add the cat5e.

Regards,
Mike

 

[phabib]

I am trying to choose the right thermostat and I'm new to all of this home automation stuff. I will have several heating zones in a mountain cabin. I need to keep the heat up to around 40F to prevent pipes from freezing when I'm gone, and I'd like to be able to turn on the heat before I drive up.

My research so far indicates that the Aprilaire is the device of choice. Since I do embedded computer stuff for a living, I appreciate the RS422 communication.

I have heard that the protocol the thermostat uses is available but I have not found it anywhere. Can someone point me to that? I probably won't actually build my own controller/web interface since it would take me longer than my time is worth to develop one off code, but it would be nice to know its there.

Thank you.