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From: wanttaja@ssc-vax.UUCP (Ronald J Wanttaja)
Newsgroups: net.consumers,net.misc
Subject: Furnace anticipator setting
Message-ID: <152@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 15-Oct-84 11:55:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: ssc-vax.152
Posted: Mon Oct 15 11:55:58 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 17-Oct-84 06:41:05 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: Boeing Aerospace Co., Seattle, WA
Lines: 18

I'm throwing out a question that's be bothering me for a long time:

On a furnace thermostat, there is a control labeled "Anticipator".
This apparently controls the cyclic rate of the furnace.  Duty cycle
(ratio of off time to on time) remains constant.  It is much more
comfortable to operate the furnace with a short cyclic rate, for 
instance, 5 minutes between turn-on times vs 10 minutes between
turn-on times, as the short cyclic rate maintains an even temperature.
My gut feeling is that the short cyclic rate is less energy efficient,
however (I have a gas furnace, with electric blower).  Does any
one know what the relationship between cyclic rate and efficiency
is?  A short rate should have some gains, in that less energy is
required to reheat the ducting every time the furnace turns on.
Any comments/suggestions?

			       Ron Wanttaja
			       (ssc-vax!wanttaja)