My home is heated with electricity and we have about ten of the Aube/Honeywell thermostats with the proportional sensing feature. They are all leaving these stains on our walls. I think I have come up with a simple fix for these, but before I explain it, let me say that these are excellent thermostats and will keep a room at a perfectly stable temperature. The "smoke stain" is not from smoke. The stain comes from the electrostatic effect of warm air from the thermostat drifting up the wall. The source of the heat is a resistor (I think it's a resistor) inside the thermostat that stays quite warm all the time unless the circuit breaker is off. (We shut off our electric heat in the summer.). Nothing is burning and there is no risk of fire.
The cure for this is simple. First, clean the wall. Soap and water usually is not enough. A Mr. Clean Magic Eraser does a good job on painted walls. Now find an old HDPE milk or water jug. Clean and dry it. Cut out a curved part of the bottle, like at the bottom, in a strip about 1" wide and 2" long with the curve at about 1 1/2" up on the long side. Carefully slide this piece behind the thermostat, between the thermostat and the wall, on the top right side of the thermostat where the smoke stain originates. This will divert the warm air away from the wall enough that the air will cool sufficiently to not trace up the wall.
No more smoke stains. Perhaps Aube/Honeywell will consider building a little deflector into their plastic housing.
Last edited by omero; 12-19-20 at 08:43 AM.
Reason: correct images
Is the wall sealed behind the thermostat? I've seen similar issues where convection is pulling air from inside the wall (from the basement of attic) into the room, and along with the air, whatever dirt and dust is in the wall/attic.
Sealing the hole helps reduce air and dust coming in - and will also keep the temperature more accurate.
I've had the nest thermostat for a year now and haven't had a good experience. I have an oil burner with a two wire system and was assured by a nest rep that the Nest would work no problem with this setup. I ran a red white and common from my peerless boiler (replacing the 2 wire from the old boiler with the new 3 wire to the nest. The aquastat also ties in at these terminals as well with a red and white wire.) Since I've had it I get E74 errors randomly. The thermostat heats up the house and then shuts off. It says under equipment detected no power to Rh. After troubleshooting with a Nest rep today he determined either I need to purchase an isolation relay if I'm doing it myself (which I intend to if thats what is needed) or contact a Nest Pro. The purpose of the isolation relay is to communicate an analog boiler to a digital thermostat.
I'm just confused bc im hearing different answers. One will tell me i need the isolation relay. Another will tell me the Taco board (Sr501-4) on the oil burner is capable of doing what the isolation relay would do. Im also confused about the wiring diagram. I have plenty of experience with outlets and lights but transformers and relays are not my specialty so any help is appreciated. Ive attached pictures of the Taco board, the relay I purchased and its diagram.
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Question, How do I add a humidifier to an Observer thermostat connected to my Tempstar Furnace. It is installed to the hum terminal and the other wire to the com terminal. I just can’t get the humidity selection to show up on their thermostat. Humidity % shows but no adjustments. Only have dehumidification adjustments. Thanks in advance.
12-19-20, 08:39 AM
