Lux Products Corporation is one of the oldest companies that have been manufacturing home products. Headquartered in Philly, this company was established in 1916 and is a leader in thermostat and smart home products.
A LUX thermostat embodies innovation and quality. You can choose whichever model that suits your interest and budget from the wide range of products they produce in the market.
In this article, we review one of its thermostats, the LUX ELV4.
This is a line voltage thermostat and can be placed in your home to control 120/240 V heating only systems and line voltage (120/240-volt) hot water systems with motors up to 1/4 horsepower.
This mercury-free thermostat does not only save you from heavy electric bills but is also environment friendly.
It is a certified energy saver thermostat with programmable memory. Being a 5-2 day programmable thermostat, this allows you to program two sets of schedules, one for the 5 weekdays and another one for the 2 weekends. It also comes with a vacay mode, which can be effectively used to reduce energy consumption, while you are away from your home for a short trip. It is one of the few thermostats which have an adjustable temperature swing setting.
For detailed information on its technical specifications and other features, read further. We have discussed some of them briefly below.
Design
LUX EL4 thermostat comes in a striking design, measures 1.8 x 9.5 x 7.5 inches, and weighs about 1 pound. It has a clean, white rectangular body, with control buttons placed just below the display screen. It is an ETL-certified 100% mercury-free thermostat. The front panel flips down to allow you to access the programming buttons and the LUX patented speed dial. You can access the up/down button placed near the display without removing the cover.
The digital display is quite simple and can be easily comprehended. It shows the time, set temperature, and other vital information.
The only drawback is that it does not have a backlight. You will have to switch the lights on of the room, every time you want to view the display in the dark. The small display is another drawback to its design.
Programming Modes
Like all other programmable thermostats, the main aim of the LUX ELV4 model is to cut down energy usage as much as possible.
The efficiency of the LUX ELV4 however, gets an extra point for its default heating schedule, which targets the savings to be up to 33%.
If you want to customize your schedule, there is a provision for that as well. You can program the settings as a group of two. One group consists of a programmed schedule for the weekdays, which are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The other group is for the two weekend days that are Saturday and Sunday.
For each group, you can set 4 on/off periods for Morning, Day, Evening, and Night. The temperature can be set to value anywhere between 45 to 90 degrees. Unlike the Honeywell thermostat, where only two temperatures can be set over the 4 periods, here you can actually set four different temperatures for each period.
The programming is made easy through the on-screen programming and the “swing” between temperatures and is adjusted easily. The LUX patented speed dial makes programming simple.
The extended flexibility of programming includes a vacation hold setting and a temporary temperature override for manual adjustments.
The relay clicking sound while the thermostat goes off and on is quite loud, this makes it unsuitable to be placed in the bedrooms.
Compatibility
If you want a thermostat for your heating-only system with a 20 amp circuit breaker, then opt for LUX ELV4. It has a universal design suitable for both 2 pole and 4 pole wire applications.
The devices which are compatible with LUX ELV4 include: line voltage heating systems like baseboard heaters, cable, and ceiling heaters.
For heating applications that have an inductive load, like a hot circular pump, it can be used only for motors with horsepower up to ¼ (for 120V) and ½ HP (for 240V)
Note: This thermostat CANNOT be used for your cooling system or if your heating appliance has both resistive loads such as an electric heating element and an inductive load like a blower fan.
Installation
The ELV4 LUX thermostat is easy to install and fits into a wall-mounted junction box. It is advisable to check for the line wires and load wires before you start installing, as relying on color codes for wires may not be suitable for an old wired home. Always call a licensed technician to install this product, to avoid unnecessary damage due to improper installation.
- The swing setting
The one distinguishing feature of this thermostat is its “swing” feature. It allows you to set the temperature before the heater/fan will cycle. This adjustable differential swing is a great plus of this product.
- Power Source
The LUX ELV 4, is hard wired to your 110vac house current, and batteries are needed as a backup so that the settings remain intact even in the case of a power failure.
Each unit needs 2 AA batteries and the company recommends using the batteries of only 2 major brands. These are non-rechargeable batteries and therefore need to be replaced every now and then.
LUX ELV4 is a certified energy-saving thermostat and is a great buy if you are energy conscious. Along with all these features, it comes with a heating on/off option, which enables you to turn off the heating during summers when heating is not required.
This boosts the energy-saving capacity of the thermostat.
If you consider the cost, it is quite fairly priced as compared to other company thermostats with similar features.
You can be assured of a reduced energy bill without compromising on your comfort.
Let me wrap up this review, highlighting the pros and cons of the product in a nutshell:
Pros:
- Simple and easy to use design
- Flexible programming option with separate customizable schedule for the 5 week days and 2 week ends.
- Four different temperatures can be set for a day.
- Heating Turn on/off option
- Battery Backup saves the program settings in the event of a power outage
- Temporary temperature override, for manual operations
- Front battery access
- Comes with a default program which can be used to save energy upto 33%
- Digital display is easy to read and understand
- Easy programming through the LUX patented speed dial
- Adjustable temperature swing
Cons:
- The digital display is small
- No backlight for the display
- Loud relay clicking noise every time the thermostat goes on and off in a day
- Cannot be used for heating/cooling systems.
