Best Thermostat - Honeywell RTH7500D or Lux TX1500E?

Despite the economic recession the world is in at the moment the price of oil continues to be high. It appears that the demand for oil is less but the price hasn’t fallen dramatically. This is because oil is running out. And this is the reason why President Obama’s moratorium on deep water drilling was overturned. They need the oil even if it is highly dangerous to extract. And now spend a moment to consider rising pollution levels, climate change, deforestation, desertification, rising food prices and continued population growth. You don’t need to be a genius to see that the natural resources of oil, clean air, good soil, food and water are going to be the most precious commodities of the future.

Now is the time to start preparing for rising prices. And one of the first places you should start is with your home. Heating and cooling is one of the major expenses for the average household and one of the most cost effective things you can do to reduce your HVAC bills is to install a good programmable thermostat.

The Energy Star Program set up by the US Department of Energy and the US Environmental Protection Agency have done research into the average home’s heating and cooling bills. It found that the typical household in the States spent $2,200 annually on energy bills. HVAC bills make a large proportion of this figure. The Energy Star Program also found that by using a programmable thermostat correctly your heating and cooling costs could be reduced by as much as 33%. That represents a saving of about $180 a year.

There are several Energy Star rated programmable thermostats on the market but two of the most affordable and accurate are the Honeywell RTH7500D Conventional 7-Day Programmable Thermostat and the Lux Products TX1500E Smart Temp Programmable Thermostat. This article will compare these two digital programmable thermostats.

The first consideration is price. The Honeywell RTH7500D is one of the cheaper Honeywell programmable thermostats and costs under $75. The Lux TX1500E Programmable Thermostat is much cheaper and can be bought for around $40.

Both the Honeywell RTH7500D and the Lux Products TX1500E Smart Temp are state of the art programmable thermostats that will save you money. They both allow you to program in your heating/cooling requirements for every day of the week. And within each day they allow you to set four different periods of heating/cooling. This allows you to efficiently set the heating/cooling in your house to match your lifestyle. However, the Lux TX1500E is a 5-1-1 programmable thermostat which means that it has only 3 program slots - weekdays, Saturday and Sunday. If you have a complicated weekday schedule the Honeywell RTH7500D might be more suitable.

Whichever thermostat you choose and install you will improve the comfort in your home: the heating will turn down when you are in bed asleep, come on shortly before you get up, go off while you are at work and then come on before you return home from work. If you follow Energy Star guidelines for optimum temperatures in your house you will make big savings.

The Honeywell RTH7500D lacks a vacation mode. So if you go away for a few days you have to  change your daily settings or use the temporary hold. In contrast, the Lux TX1500E Programmable Thermostats has a vacation mode to allow you to save money while you are away from the house for extended periods and both tell you when the filters need changing.

Furthermore, both thermostats can be installed to regulate most 24-volt heating/cooling systems including single and multi stage and gas pumps. Both Lux and Honeywell provide help lines for those having difficulty with installation.

So for the basics of saving money and making your house more energy efficient the Lux TX1500E Smart Temp Programmable Thermostat and the Honeywell RTH7500D 7-Day Programmable Thermostat do a very similar job. There are, however, a number of differences between the two thermostats.

In reviews many people complain about the stiff buttons on the Lux TX1500E. In contrast reviewers seem happier with the Honeywell RTH7500D program interface. To balance this, the Lux TX1500E has a couple of extra functions that the Honeywell RTH7500D doesn’t have. Firstly it tells you the relative humidity in the room. This could be a useful setting if you have hardwood or bamboo flooring that might be liable to get damaged by big shifts in relative humidity. And secondly, the Lux TX1500E has a lock feature whereby you need to input a code to change the settings. This stops children pushing the buttons and sending the HVAC haywire.

In defence of the Honeywell RTH7500D it has the ability to regulate the temperature of a house more precisely because, unlike the Lux TX1500E Programmable Thermostat, it can automatically switch between heating and cooling systems, making the Honeywell rth7500D Programmable Thermostat ideal for those in-between seasonal times.

The main complaint with all the Honeywell Programmable Thermostats is their lack of swing control. Swing control refers to the temperature differential before the heating/cooling system kicks in. The swing is fixed on the Honeywell RTH7500D at +/- 0.25 degrees. This means that if you set the temperature to 68 degrees that if the ambient temperature reaches either 68.25 degrees or 67.75 degrees the heating or cooling automatically comes on. In some really hot or cold climates this small swing means that the boiler or cooler will be constantly turning on and off. Not only is this noisy but it can also damage your HVAC systems.

In contrast, the Lux TX1500E Smart Temp Programmable Thermostat does give you control over swing allowing you to set a wider differential in actual heat and thermostat settings before the heating or cooling systems cycle. One degree more or less to your set temperature will not cause you any discomfort and will prevent wear and tear on the HVAC systems.

So despite the Honeywell RTH7500D superior design and ability to switch between heating and cooling systems automatically for those people living in extremely hot or cold climates the cheaper Lux TX1500E might be a better choice because you have control over swing and thus are able to extend the life of your boiler or cooler.