Any type of hydronic heat (except steam) in your house, your money is best spent on an outdoor reset control followed by upgraded stats. This contoller will vary the water temp in your heating system to different temps depending on outdoor temp and design temp difference requirements. The idea is to only raise the water to the temp required to maintain desired temp in the house. Also the comfort is raised due to reduced temp swings in rooms from the radiators cycling with excessive temps. Most cast iron boilers need to see a minimum 140 however, they can still benefit. In addition most have warm weather shutdown (WWSD) that can keep the boiler from firing when it is at a temp desired outside. Keeps the kids and wife from cranking heat versus opening windows. LOL

Actually, z1700, I found some of the literature on my thermostat and discovered that it does have an "elective" EMR - ran through the program and sure enough, there it was. It was not enabled, so I did select it - but I have to say I wonder how much better that is than simply setting the thermostat to come on 30 minutes earlier than when I want heat (that seems to be about how long it takes the boiler to kick in to really producing heat)....What about when the temp is set to go down? Does the EMR also begin to drop early, so you'll be at the set temp at the scheduled time, or does it cut off at the scheduled time so the temp gradually reduces? Seems like if the EMR accelerates the drop in temp, I lose some of the benefit of the residual hear in the radiators, no? And spot90, that's a good suggestion to check the amount of gas I've used, rather than the cost, although since one month (or winter) can vary a lot from the next, that, too, has potential issues. Our gas bills do show the average daily temperature for the billing period as well as the same month the prior year, so maybe I can find similar months. It's worth a try, if I still have any of the older bills - it's been 3 years since the boiler was replaced, so I may or may not have those. Once again, thank you all for your input - it's much appreciated!

Regarding not reaching 70, I assume that the average temperature dropped in the house due to in=and-out activity that might also tend to distribute the mass of cold air from our less insulated rear porch. The next scheduled event is back down to 62 at 8:00 a.m. I couldn't find the American Standard install manual online, but the same thermostat is available from Trane. I have excerpted what I think are the relevant controls to play with. I did look at these once, but was frankly too put off by all the double negatives such as, "disables the 10 minute inhibit" and "Heating Aggressive Recovery can only be enabled if Aggressive Recovery is disabled." I'll be back home in two weeks and I can try to adjust these. Naturally, I will ask for advice here on anything I'm unsure of. Aggressive Recovery: This option disables the 10 minute inhibit anytime the thermostat sees more than a 2° change (such as moving from one program time frame to another). This applies to heating & cooling modes. Heating Aggressive Recovery: This option disables the 10 minute inhibit based on outdoor temperature in heating mode only. The value for outdoor temperature can be set from 0°��"70°. Heating Aggressive Recovery can only be enabled if Aggressive Recovery is disabled.There is a 10 minute “inhibit” period between first and second stage compressor as well as compressor heating & supplemental strip heat. This 10 minute inhibit period minimizes the cycling of higher capacity request due to drafts around the thermostat or marginal load conditions. Cycle Rate The cycle rate affects the cycle time of the system. With a 50% load value, a cycle rate of 3 will allow the system to run for 10 minutes and be off for 10 minutes; completing 3 cycles in one hour. A cycle rate of 5 would allow the system to cycle on and off at 6 minute intervals. The higher the cycle rate, the more often the system turns on and off. The actual amount of time the system will be “on” or “off” will be reflective in the load value of the home. Higher load value demands will increase system run time and decrease system off time. Lower load value demands will decrease system run time and increase system off time.Emergency HeatThe heat pump will be disabled and the furnace / heat strips are enabled any time the thermostat is set to Emergency Heat. Lockouts System lockouts will disable a certain function of the system under specific outdoor temperatures:Compressor Heating Lockout • ��" will lockout all compressor operation below a set outdoor temperature (from 5°��"70°). This value must be set lower than the auxiliary heat lockout. Auxiliary Heating Lockout • ��" will lock out auxiliary heat stages above a set outdoor temperature (from 40°��"70°). This value must be set higher than the compressor heating lockout. Defrost Heater Balance Point • for W1, W2 & W3 ��" will lock out specific auxiliary heat stages when above a set outdoor temperature. (W1 setpoint is from 40°��"55°, W2 & W3 setpoints are from 5°��"55°). This feature does not apply to dual fuel systems. Compressor Cooling First Stage Lockout • ��" will lock out the first stage compressor above a set outdoor temperature. (from 80°��"120°) Compressor Heating First Stage Lockout • ��" will lock out the first stage compressor below a set outdoor temperature. (from 0°��"50°) Furnace First Stage Heating Lockout • ��" will lock out first stage furnace operation below a set outdoor temperature. (from 15°��"50°) First stage lockouts are not available with zoning. Setpoint Dead Band This sets the temperature band between heating and cooling setpoints while in the auto mode. Here is a link that might be useful: Trane Comfortlink II Installation Manual

"My main question here is: Is it normal for a digital thermostat to show a temperature of 2-3F below (or above) the temperature setting? In my personal experience, I've never seen a digital thermometer register that far off the mark unless it was out of coolant. It was checked two weeks ago, so that can't be the problem." - If the reading on the t-stat is 2 to 3 degrees below the setpoint temperature, the auxillary heat strips will come on to try and raise the room temp to the setpoint. Have you measured the difference in temperature before the inside coil and right after the inside coil? This is called the split temperature. My new Goodman GSH 14 SEER heat pump puts out 95-degree air when it's 47 outside, 91 degree air when it's 30 outside (no aux heat running). If your heat pump puts out similar temps after the coil, the heat pump is not the issue. Sounds like you have air distribution issues. Good luck.