My house is mostly steam heat, but prior owners put on a small addition and also turned an upstairs closet into a bathroom. These new rooms have electric baseboard heat.
Heaters work fine, but thermostats are crummy. Especially in the bathroom. It only functions as an on off switch at the moment so I want to replace that one.
I'm handy enough not to kill myself swapping it out, but not well enough informed to pick out a replacement.
The bathroom is heated by a single heater with a label indicating:
750W @208VAC
1000W @240VAC
The existing Thermostat has a label indicating:
125/250/277 VAC
22A Double pole
Attached are pictures of the the spec label on the heater (the bathroom only has one of the smaller baseboard units) and the existing thermostat.
I cant find these exact specs in a replacement thermostat. Specifically I'm finding sats rated for 240v, 3600W, and 15A So my question is: Can I use any line volt stat rated for greater than or equal to 1000W and 240V or are there other considerations? For a single 1000W heater, the existing 22A stat seems overkill, no?
Best Answer
Any thermostat rated at or above the heater ratings should work fine. 3600W is a good number because that is 15A @ 240V, which is also a common breaker size. My guess is that the original installer used the same thermostats everywhere, costing a little more but minimizing the number of inventory items. 3600W/15A also allows you to upgrade a bit in the future without replacing the thermostat.