SunTouch SunStat Command Color Touchscreen Programmable Thermostat for Electric Floor Heating Systems, Multiple Background Color Options, Floor and Air Sensing Control, Energy Use Monitoring

A few weeks ago I finally managed to replace my old-school programmable house thermostat with one that was Wi-Fi enabled. It got me thinking about the thermostat for my heated flooring in my main bathroom. The existing floor thermostat worked mostly fine, although like my old-school programmable house thermostat, the scheduling function was very limited. It only allowed for two distinct programs (Mon-Fri and Sat-Sun). It also only allowed for four temperature changes during the day.It dawned on me that I might be able to replace the floor thermostat with one that was also Wi-Fi enabled, which I hoped could give me more flexibility in scheduling as well as the ability to turn it on and off online. My existing thermostat was by SunTouch and I will admit, I didn't see any reason to switch to a different company, especially when I had been very happy with the performance of the existing thermostat. Some online research and a couple of messages exchanged with SunTouch representatives confirmed that it would be very quick and easy to replace my existing thermostat without having to do any additional wiring.There are two different versions that are Wi-Fi enabled, CommandPlus and ConnectPlus. I originally had planned to get the cheaper one (CommandPlus) because I didn't really think I needed to be able to pair it with my Alexa units, but when I went to purchase it, the price difference was about eight dollars, so I upgraded to the ConnectPlus. In the end, I am glad I did as it seems like the free app offered by SunTouch (Watts Home App) actually still limited me to the same scheduling limits of the existing thermostat.In total, it probably took me about 30 minutes to swap out the thermostat, which included a few trips back and forth between the breaker box to make sure power was off and then on again. One of the hardest parts was maneuvering to get the wires attached into the new thermostat as the wires inside the electrical box were a bit short.Pairing it with my Alexa was a little tricky, mainly because the webpage with the instructions was a broken link, but I later found a different link that worked. After I got that linked, I was able to set scheduled "routines" for each segment of any given day of the week. I also have a routine for when I leave the house that changes the set temperature lower. I can trigger any of the routines in the Alexa app on my phone or by voice command in the app or on any of the Alexa devices around my house. I will be adding additional routines that can be triggered for when I am leaving on vacation or returning home.All in all, did I need to be able to connect my floor heating thermostat to Wi-Fi/Alexa...no. Am I happy to have this option...heck yeah! I do anticipate some minor cost savings as long as I am managing the temperature based on being at home or away. It probably won't equal the cost of the thermostat itself, but it will reduce my energy consumption and that's never a bad thing.As a side note, it is not clearly stated, but there is no "subscription" fee for either the free app or linking to Alexa. I believe it also works with Google Home. That was a nice bonus since a lot of these smart devices require an annual subscription to get real value out of the product.

I don’t come back to write reviews very often but this item deserved one! I was researching thermostats for my bathroom heated floor for days. Reading reviews from items ranging from $80 to $400. I landed on this one.I did the installation myself. I read some complaints in other reviews of not having enough room in the existing electrical box for wire nuts. Great thing about this unit is that there are screw terminals on the unit for making the connections. My old thermostat had hardwired pigtails coming out of the unit that forced the use of wire nuts.I turned the breaker on and the unit walked me through a few setup screens. It’s asked some technical questions about the floor but there is an “I don’t know” option and the unit figured it out! It was heating the floor right away!Mine has the WiFi option. I read some reviews where there was confusion on how to make the connection to the app. It is best if before starting the installation to download the app and create an account. That way, when you get to the setup screen to connect the unit to the app, you’re ready to do. I didn’t and then was getting an error message “cannot connect to network.” I turned the breaker off for 15 minutes, went back to the connect screen and it gave me the code to connect to the app.

My install incorporated an existing 8000 ohm imbedded floor sensor, as the in-tile heated wire system had failed. I used this thing to control "under floor joist heat mats", which are slow, but heat rises and my 8k to 12K sensor told the unit to cycle on and off perfectly. Most bathroom installations don't need a complicated digital timer to maintain a slow-responding chunk of tile, so the easy-set, easy read, no nonsense "up and down" temperature arrows are intuitive, the readout shows "actual floor temperature" and then "desired set-point". My tootsies love my constant warm floor in MI. AND the sweet part is it does NOT lose it's mind and temp settings if the power glitches like other brands!