Most thermostats do not have setting for cycles per hour, but they do have a setting for how many degrees of temperature drop causes them to cycle the heat back. On several I have used, the default setting is 2 degrees.

3 degree temperature drop in 15 minutes for an interior wall seems excessive unless its really cold outside. I think my heat cycles on no more than about once an hour, even in very cold weather, and it is set for a 2 degree drop to activate the heat.

Bruce

hi bruce, thanks for chiming in. once an hour! this themo starts up after 1 degree drop. well this is a drafty old house. not going to address insulation until later in the year. i have a honeywell rth110b (non-programmable). how do those 2pc. thermos work. thinking about moving the therm to the living room, lot less temp fluctuation.

The two wifi/internet accessible Honeywell thermostats I have are the opposite from what Bruce says, they have a setting for cycles per hour instead of a setting for temperature variation between cycles.

Bruce, what kind and what age are the thermostats you're referring to?

In a house that has been at the set temperature for awhile, unless it's very cold outside, a 3 degree drop in 15 minutes doesn't sound right. How good or bad, old or new, is the insulation and air sealing?

You do want your HVAC equipment (whether during heating or cooling season) to run fewer, longer cycles. Oversized equipment or poorly placed thermostats are a frequent cause of short cycles.

@300ft - how old is your thermostat? Is it a mechanical one, or digital? I once rented a place that had a really bad short-cycling problem, furnace would fire many times an hour. Replaced the thermostat and it was much, much improved. Explanation (we think) is that the old thermostat was just old and worn out, and was registering need to turn on at minor temperature changes. At any rate, testing by replacing with a cheaper new one is worth a try.

hi armoured, it's digital. i talked to honeywell and they said that it's normal for the thermostat to ask for heat after a 1 degree drop.

If you want the furnace to fire less often and longer each time, better to have one that asks for heat after a larger drop. Perhaps the one you have could be set to a different gap? Or replace with one that can?

As I think someone else mentioned, given that your current one calls for heat with a small difference, if it placed somewhere that's draughty or cools off more quickly (set against a cold wall?), it's going to be even more pronounced an issue - light air circulation likely enough.

The thermostat I have is a fairly basic Honeywell 5/2 day setback thermostat I purchased in late 2012. I had to go back to the directions to realize that I was mistaken, and the documentation shows the temp differential, but there is no way to adjust it. And the higher end Honeywell thermostats do have settings for cycles per hour - I was really off base on that.

Bruce

yeah, according to honeywell the thermostat i have isn't adjustable. the tech i was chatting with mentioned that was normal operating procedure. moving to the living room might be an option, as mentioned in my second post.

" according to thermostat drops around 3 degrees over 15 min. period "

The house temperature drops 3 degrees in 15 minutes? That's a huge heat loss.

You can buy yourself a programmable thermostat so you can set back the temperature at night. You should be able the cycles per hour to 3. You need to figure out the heat loss. You are wasting a lot of energy.