programmable thermostat advice?

[upallnight]

i'm looking to upgrade the thermostats in a few rooms in our place to be more energy-efficient.

in one of the rooms i have a radiant "cove" heater; in another i have electric baseboard heaters.

the current thermostats have a simple dial with no temperature settings (just relative positions on the dial), as well as an "off" position. removing the cover shows that it appears to be wired into an electrical box -- no exposed wiring.

1) can anyone recommend a solid, reasonably-priced programmable thermostat that will work with radiant heat? will the same unit work with electric baseboard heating? (we're heat-only....no a-c/cooling up in this piece)

2) is it really an easy job as this site implies? (turning off the breaker for the room, then unscrewing the existing unit, disconnecting the wires, then reattaching them to the new unit?) i'm a handy guy but generally don't mess with anything electric...but this *seems* straightforward provided i cut the power.

am i missing anything else?

thanks so much for any help you can offer.

[upallnight]

note: if it wasn't clear above, the existing thermostats are wall-mounted units (not mounted on the heater itself as it seems can occasionally be the case).

[Core Shot]

They are both pretty easy to replace.
The directions you linked to are for a low voltage thermostat which is what will work for a furnace or centralized radiant heat system. The voltage is low so you can't get electrocuted.

For a baseboard heater, its 120 or 240 volts and can possibly kill you. Just make sure you shut off the power and connect things right and you will be fine. These thermos are harder to find, but here is one:
http://www.smarthome.com/300607b.html
http://www.smarthome.com/300608t.html
FYI - single pole is where you have two wires going to the baseboard (hot and neutral)(120v) and double pole is for three wire setups (2 hots and a neutral)(240v).

Ask around and you will find a local friend that knows how to wire shit. It ain't that hard.

[Snow Dog]

FYI - single pole is where you have two wires going to the baseboard (hot and neutral)(120v) and double pole is for three wire setups (2 hots and a neutral)(240v).

Lots of 240V equipment uses 2 wires (hot and hot). 3-wire is used on things like stoves and dryers which use both 120 and 240. I would expect a baseboard to be 240V (2-wire) and use a double breaker at the electrical panel. Just don't touch the wires with your tongue...


(And you need a thermostat specifically for baseboard heaters.)

[El Chupacabra]

As far as replacing the wall units themselves, it's really easy. Just unscrew/unclip from the wall, remove old wires, attach new wires. A 30-second job.

No experience with the higher-voltage units, just the standard gas-fired forced air furnace style. In fact, both the programmable units in my house run off 2 "AA" batteries each; they replaced a simple mercury switch thermostat.

[upallnight]

thanks for the thoughts so far.

these definitely are the higher-voltage kind. so....do i have to start taking it apart to figure out whether it's of the 2- or 3-wire variety?

are the baseboard thermostats the same as for a radiant/cove heater?

thanks for answering my dumb questions.

[splat]

Check out Honeywell controls online. They pretty much pioneered most of the energy effiient control sysytems, but now everyone has programable controls. Or call a controls company near you to talk to someone and glean some facts, then you can probably buy some at Home Depot next time you go to the big city. If you live a predictable schedule, programmable controls allow you to shut down the heating when you're gone and then it will fire back up to temp before you come back home.