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> We've moved to an new apartment (house) and we had to do a full renovation. It doesn't have modern insulation and I calculated that for the time being the ROI on insulation isn't worth it.

You calculated wrong, guaranteed. Most likely, you wildly underestimated fuel/electricity costs.

> After spending a few hours of understanding the setups that "experts" have recommended, I figured out edge cases where they would be either wasteful or uncomfortable (meaning: unnecessary and inavoidable temperature overshoots or undershoots, etc.).

Instead of thinking "the entire HVAC/heat industry are idiots who can't do any of this right", maybe you should take a look in the mirror and consider that your assumptions and/or criteria are wrong.

For example: under/over shoots in a modern HVAC or heating system will not cause any "waste" or discomfort. 1-2 degree F in overshoot does not mean the space will lose appreciably more heat than if it had perfectly regulated at the setpoint. You also don't want a system that responds instantly. Let's say you open the door to receive a package, and you're signing paperwork, etc. You close the door. The air in the room is substantially cooler.

Should the heat turn on?

I bet it does in your home...but the correct answer is no, because the air will warm up rapidly from all the objects that were at the temperature of the room. Thousand-plus square feet worth of surface area...



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