Thanks for sharing

Thank you! Good luck!

You're welcome

Thank you! Most modern digital thermostats have very accurate temperature sensors and I don't usually have a reason to doubt them. That being said, a calibrated digital thermometer with a bead probe positioned inside the thermostat housing as close to the actual temperature sensor as possible will be the way to do it. See my video on how to calibrate a thermometer. You should know that HVAC thermostats sense temperature a little differently than standalone thermometers do. Because of the way they are constructed, they sense a combination of the air temperature and the wall temperature. This is by design. Anything you do to try to measure that at the same time can change the dynamics of that system. Also, modern thermostats are packed with intelligence which will take that temperature reading and make decisions based on it. That decision making process is never transparent or obvious to you. It is more complicated than simply looking at temperature alone and responding to it. Generally, the more expensive the thermostat, the more advanced that decision making process is. This is why you can buy a thermostat for $50 and also buy one for $300. Speaking as a person who has spent considerable time verifying that thermostats are reading accurately, I have realized that most of that time was not impactful and that thermostats are generally pretty accurate. The most helpful thing I was able to find was cold drafts flowing through the wall cavity and through the hole behind the thermostat.

Some thermostats have a 2- 3° range from current room temperature to when the heat pump system will turn on . If your thermostat has a 2° change when you have the home set at 74°, 76° will make the thermostat start to heat or cool the home. What has been explained in this video is run time once the system has started, to increase the time or decrease the time . The instruction manual explains the cycle rate. I just read it myself 😂😂

Cycle rate only applys to heating

@@simonmarx34 No it doesn't. You can change the cycle rate for air conditioners as well.

Glad you liked it. Back in the old mercury bulb thermostat days, cycle rate was determined by a heat anticipator which had a sweep type of adjustment. Electronic thermostats replaced this with a 3, 6, or 9 CPH adjustment. Today, many thermostats have even more steps for finer adjustment. I don't think there will really be a noticeable difference between 3 and 4 CPH. My recommendation is to set for the lowest setting you can get away with without overshooting the temperature setpoint. If overshooting occurs, set the CPH higher until overshooting isn't a problem anymore.

@@hvacservicementor Thanks for the reply. One more question if I could indulge your patience: May the cycles setting also be affected by how wide the dead band is set at? I am guessing that when it comes to cycles, the key is to avoid short-cycling; but if the dead band is set to a differential of more than 3 degrees, would worrying about the cycles per hour even be an issue? Thanks again.

@@juliotorres3618 Most residential thermostats do not have an adjustable deadband unless you are looking at the difference between the cooling setpoint and the heating setpoint in auto changeover mode. Auto changeover will have you select a heating setpoint and a cooling setpoint. when the temp falls below the heating setpoint, the heat runs. When the temperature rises above the cooling setpoint, the AC runs. There must be a deadband of separation between these setpoints or else we would be rapidly banging back and forth between heating and cooling. This deadband typically defaults to two degrees and is sometimes adjustable higher. For example, if cooling is set to 75, heating can be set no higher than 73. Attempting to set cooling lower than 75 will also drive down the heating setpoint as well to maintain that separation. This would be the two degrees deadband. A user may wish to be energy conscious and say they want the cooling to maintain 78degrees and the heating to maintain 68degrees. This would be a ten degree deadband. Within the individual heating or cooling mode, the deadband is typically non adjustable and will generally be between .5 and 1degree F. Sometimes this deadband is also known as swing. A setpoint of 70deg with a 1 degree swing will produce actual temperatures between 69.5 to 70.5. Remember that the cycle rate does not directly control how many times per hour the furnace runs. There are several other factors that influence this more directly such as system output capacity and sizing. How quickly the house is naturally gaining or losing heat. And the thermostats own factory set PID loop programming. A cycle rate setting actually directly influences when the burner or compressor or hydronic zone valve or electric heat strip will turn off in anticipation of achieving setpoint. This is why they used to be called heating or cooling anticipators.

@@hvacservicementor Thanks again. I have a thermostat that allows me to decide between cooling or heating. I had my dead band set to a 3-degree differential. I have now changed it to a 4-degree difference, 66-70 degrees.

Not necessarily. I believe is depends on the efficiency and stage of your furnace

If the unit only runs for two minutes every 15 minutes, that is four starts per hour and only 8 minutes of run time per hour. I think there is probably more to the story.

I set my heat pump to 3 to get longer runtimes ... it's about temperature fluctuation what you can handle versus start and stop. Start and stop a compressor more often, will shorten the life and it will draw the higher amps when starting.

He did tell you, download the thermostats manual, and find it in there.

History is important. Everything we have now is based on what came before.

​@@hvacservicementor this is where we are as a society. Why you have men on the side of the road with women changing their tires and men that can't use a grill..... many other examples. Point is ignore well don't ignore but smile and know that will be a service call for a small business person. Know this is reason why service calls have went from major issues to simple adjustments most of the time. Simply ask location and post phone num er of local business. Heck make deal where you get finders fee. I will be searching out mire of hour videos. We are going to upgrade our heating system that was built in late 80s. 2000 sq fr two story home with an evaporative cooking master cool ac and whatever heating system used back then. Any advice or systems to avoid??

3 is a good starting point. The lower the discharge temperature, and the lower the mass of the heater, the longer the cycles can be.