On Sat, 06 Dec 2003 22:25:09 -0500, bargaindealsman
wrote:

We are having a company come over and inspect our gas furnace for
safety next week. Our current thermostat is old and the house is
heating very unevenly. It gets pretty cold before the heat kicks on
and then warms too much. I wanted to get a new thermostat installed
while he/she is here. Can someone please suggest a high quality
thermostat you are familiar with. I am still debating if I want a
programmable thermostat or not, so I would appreciate suggestions of
both types. When I looked thru the Honeywell web site, I saw some
thermostats don't require batteries and are powered off the furnace,
so I would prefer that because a pro will install it.

Thank you for any suggestions.

There are adjustments on most thermostats to correct the on-off cycle.
Your exisiting thermostat probably already has that adjustment.
Heating unevenly won't be cured with an expensive thermostat. I have
Honeywell Magic programmable thermostats, but there's nothing really
"magic" about them. They are good, and very easy to install. A
battery is no big deal--they tell you when the power is low when they
don't show the correct time of day.

A poor-man's idea...Plug in a timer connected to a 1 watt bulb
fastened under your thermostat that turns on at night. You can cover
the bulb with electrical black tape if you want. The heat from the
bulb will "fool" your thermostat and save heating costs. I did this
in an apartment years ago and it worked great.