DrMega wrote:
Hello group. I had a typical round mercury wall thermostat until a
drunk guy (no, not me :-) shoulder-planted into it and busted off the
dial. I'm thinking of replacing it with a battery-powered digital model
and a preliminary Internet search indicated it should be a pretty
simple two-wire job. But after reading some posts in here I'm a little
more concerned (I'm a fairly new homeowner and not super handy).
Questions a

- Do I need to cut the power to the gas boiler, the hallway, or both?
- I'm totally lost with voltage compatability issues - how do I
determine this?
- If I totally screw this up, how will I know (other than the
thermostat not working at all)?

Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

- Chris, home repair newbie

Hi,
You did not mention what kind of heating(and cooling?) system you have.
Installing programmable thermostat is good idea for energy saving.
Some needs batteries, some draws power from the furnace control power
source. Can't go wrong with any Honeywell brand. And they come with
installation, operation(programming) manual. When you work on them
turn the breaker off to the furnace. I installed Honeywell vision Pro
8000 commercial model in my house, downtown condo, and cabin.
This particular model can handle most any heating/cooling set up and
it is very easy to set up. Comes with 5 year warranty. You remove it
from base plate on the wall, program it sitting in your favorite chair,
when done plug it back onto baseplate. That's why it's called arm chair
programming, LOL!