Customer Reviews

Honeywell TH8321U1006 VisionPRO Universal Programmable Thermostat With Armchair Programming

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We moved into our new home 1-1/2 years ago and it came with a builder's grade Honeywell thermostat. There is also a fresh air duct leading into the return air grille area. I wanted to cycle the air about 30% of the time but couldn't do it automatically with the original thermostat.

I ordered this Honeywell TH8321 thermostat and had planned on having an electrican install it. When he was out installing ceiling fans in our house, I asked him to install my new thermostat. He wouldn't touch it, mumbling something about that it would require someone to get into the air handler/furnace and change the wiring.

Well, the next day I looked at the installation instructions and discovered it only required 4 wires to hook up, the same as the old one. So, I took the old one off (after turning off the power) and installed the new one. It took no more than a half hour total. The setup instructions were straight forward and very clear to understand. I turned the power back on and WALA (sp?) and it worked and has ever since.

I like everything about this thermostat. The air cycling, humidity indication, current temp setting and current temp, time, day, etc. It's everything I wanted and more. I did buy the outside temp sensor but haven't hooked it up yet. (The electrician wouldn't touch that either)

This is a do-it-yourself project even though the instructions warn you to have it done by a professional.

In contrast to others, I have found this to be an excellent thermostat. It was easy to install myself and has a lot of great features. It automatically adjusts for high humidity by using the air conditioning system. It drops the set temperature lower to bring the humidity more in line with the level set by the user.
The Intelligent Recovery system is also great. It learns how long it takes to heat/cool your house and, instead of simply turning on at the programmed time, reaches the desired temperature at the desired time.
The only downfall is the short backlight cycle, which isn't a problem if you hardwire the unit since it can be set to keep a reduced backlght level all the time. But if you rely on batteries, as I did, the light turns off until the screen is touched and only stays lit for 8 seconds.
That's certainly no reason to pass on this thermostat, which I bought off the popular online auction site (you know which one) for $80, including shipping.

I bought this unit as a replacement for my Chronotherm 7-day programmable thermostat, which worked well until one of the pins connecting it to the baseplate gradually shorted out and did not allow the fan circuit to come on anymore. I was glad to see that Honeywell has greatly beefed up the pins connecting the TH8321 to the baseplate, making them much thicker, making for a more solid (and hopefully long-lasting) connection.

This thermostat is a great product overall - I especially like the "circulation" feature, which runs the fan randomly, to help keep a more even temperature in my 1-zone house. My only complaint is that the relays are very loud, and make a noticeable <CLICK> whenever the fan, A/C, or aux heat turn on or off. Seems like a major oversight in an otherwise very well-designed product.

Also I was disappointed to learn that I needed to buy a different external temp sensor than my previous Honeywell thermostat (the resistance must be different), but once purchased it is a nice feature to be able to see the external temperature continuously on the backlit screen.

I have a Trane heat pump system installed with this thermostat - with a propane furnace as auxilary heat. I love the way this thermostat works; it's easy to program and is smartly design. Honeywell is a superb company and generally make robust products. When you have a problem though, be prepared to speak with someone in the third world who's probably never touched or seen the thermostat. This is a pain in the neck when you need help and have to ensure an unending set of questions from someone reading from a prepared list.

Be advised... it's easy to install this thermostat incorrectly; particularly if you have a dual heat system like I do. I went through 3 of these thermostats before I finally figured out what was going on. On the first two I let the heating contractor solve the problem (at great expense); when the 3rd one failed I decided to see what was going on for myself.

The first 2 thermostats failed catastrophically. The 1st one displayed the infamous "EE" symbol - when you see that the device is toast. The 2nd one lost it's mind and started displaying gibberish on the display - also toast. On #3 I got gibberish again. Calls to Honeywell led me on a long and frustrating ordeal manuevering through call centers, but I finally got back to the U.S. and someone who actually knew something about the thermostat (come on Honeywell... can't you really spend a few extra dollars and make it easier on us?!)

The problem I was experiencing was an incorrectly wired outdoor temperature sensor. On a dual heat system the outdoor temperature sensor is needed to let the thermostat know when to go from heat pump to propane. The Honeywell instructions clearly tell you NOT to wire the temperature sensor into the thermostat wiring, but to run separate shielded wiring from the sensor directly to the thermostat. My installer took the easy path and just hooked the temperature sensor to two extra wires in the thermostat cable to save time. Most of the time you'd get away with this, but in my case the thermostat wire crossed a high voltage wire along it's path. The thermostat displays temperature by sending a tiny current down the line to measure the resistance of the temperature sensor. It's imperative that the temperature sensing circuit be free of any stray voltage. Because my thermostat wire was lying next to house wiring, induced voltage was being fed back to the thermostat. These induced voltages will cause this thermostat to fail over time; it's a sensitive device.

The lesson here is to pay close attention to how you heating and electrical contractors handle wiring like this. Any sort of sensing circuit (in my case the temperature sensor) should be run with shielded cable. The other mistake the heating contractor made was placing the temperature sensor inside the heat pump. These sensors should be mounted in a separate box where they can sense ambient conditions and out of the way of the sun which will obviously cause incorrect readings. I took the sensor out of the heat pump and put it in a vented plastic enclosure. They I ran shielded cable and grounded the shield at both ends. I wired the thermostat the correct way and it now performs flawlessly.

So this is a top notch thermostat from an old reliable company. Make sure it's wired correctly and you won't have to waste time talking to uninformed people overseas!!!

Have been using two of these TH8321U thermostats for 2 years now. I like the backlit touch-screen, and 7 day 4-periods-per-day, and I've added the C7089 temperature sensors as well for conveniently viewing the outside temperature as well. However, drawbacks include:

1. The relay clicking is very loud; easily heard from several rooms away. You know it's bad when the relay clicking is much louder than the A/C compressor & fan it's controlling.

2. Cycles-per-hour adjustment has no effect at all; my A/C is cycling about 10 times per hour at night even after I've lowered the setting to 1 cycle per hour (seems like it always wants to keep the temperature of the thermostat within half a degree regardless what you want, which is extra wear on the HVAC system). I may have to wrap a blanker over the thermostat to dampen its sensitivity.

3. When the system is configured to be "off" (I usually turn it off to change the filter), the fan continues to run if the fan is enabled in the current schedule; you can edit the schedule or come back & change the filter at some other time, but I would have preferred an easy way to shut off the fan when I want to change the filter.

4. There are insufficient choices for filter reminder (30 days or 60 days).

5. Schedule is only programmable at 15-minute increments (would have preferred 10 like my old Chronotherm).

6. No way to view duty cycle, or system operating hours. Seems like it would have been so simple.

Broke one of these. Ordered a new one. Got it. It works. Wish every business transaction was so easy. Thanks for doing what you advertise to do.

Pretty decent thermostat. I've lived with it for about 6 months so far. I just installed the outside thermometer probe today and the screen went blank. Changing the batteries didn't help. If this ever happens to you, note that you need to disassemble the thermostat and remove the backup battery on the circuit board, in addition to the AAA batteries. This doesn't require tools and isn't a problem for someone skilled in taking things apart.

Also, it cannot display outside temperature AND inside humidity at the same time.

wanted this for the air "circulate" function. The blower comes on and off all day and keeps the temp steady way better than leaving it on auto. The install was easy. Had to get the wall plate to put behind because of the previous thermastat. looks great and is easy to use.

There is a button battery inside the unit that may need to be replaced. The battery is a couple of dollars, compared to the cost of the thermostat.

Thermostat works great, we had one for years, and replaced two other thermostats with two of these for other zones of the house. Lots of helpful features, including humidity level (we live on the Gulf Coast), and have had no problems with the one we have had for years, so hopefully these two new ones will be trouble-free as well.