In article ,
FDR wrote:

"Bob Vaughan" wrote in message
...
In article ,
FDR wrote:

"Bob Vaughan" wrote in message
...
In article ,
FDR wrote:

wrote in message
glegroups.com...
I was just wondering if there were any tamper proof thermostats widely
available for residential use? I'm talking about possibly a digital
readout that would require a code so that others cannot alter the
settings. Please post any links or info, Thanks!


They do sell locks to place over the meter. Used to use them when we
had
tenants.



what sort of tenants? If it is a roommate/shared housing situation,
then cooperation is in order to find a mutually agreeable temprature.

If its not a shared housing situation, what gives you the right to
dictate the temprature of your tenants living quarters?

The law here says what the minimum heating temperature is.



What exactly does the law say?

I suspect it says something along the lines of "must be capable of
sustaining a temprature of XX degrees", not that you must force your
tenants to live at a temprature of XX degrees..

It's been a while so I don't recall the exact temp., but it's to the effect
that the temperature can't be lower than 60 degrees. So the thermostat
get's set to xx degrees.


I know that If I was renting a property, and the landlord tried
restricting
what temprature I could set the unit to, I would be complaining very
loudly until the issue was resolved. I would forcibly remove the
security cover if necessary.

Well, this is the reason we don't rent anynore. You aren't the one paying
the heating bill. We are. If you think that you can set it to 90 and we
should lose money then you're mistaken.


My concern is being able to set the thermostat to a temperature that is
comfortable to me. If you are paying for utilities, and try locking the
thermostat, we are going to have problems.

If the temperature is too high, You are going to end up heating the
outdoors as I open windows to cool off. If it is too low (and we are not
talking 75+), you are going to be paying for the power to run the space
heaters necessary to keep the environment at a comfortable temperature.
Either way, you are going to be paying more than if you simply allowed me
to control my own environment.


For what it's worth, I tend to set my thermostat slightly lower than a lot of
people, and I like to turn it down when I go to bed. I have been in a
number of places where the temperature was set too high, and where it was
uncomfortably warm as a result. Paying to live in an environment that is
uncomfortable to me because the landlord won't allow me to control the
temperature is simply unacceptable, and grounds for complaint, and possible
legal action.


No, I don't like frost on the floor when I wake up, but nor do I like
sweating in bed because the room is too warm.


For the record, I do rent, and I pay the utility bill, and for most of the
year, we simply turn the furnace off, as it is not necessary. We don't
have A/C, so we open windows if it gets too warm.


It sounds like you do not have good relations with your tenants, and are
acting like a control freak as a result. I would suggest that good
communications might work better. If you implement draconian measures without
proper communication, do not be surprised when the tenants defeat those
measures, especially if they are unreasonable in the first place.


Note that there are ways of adding additional thermostats to act as limit
switches to limit minimum and maximum temperature, but those limits need to
be set to reasonable settings sufficient to prevent property damage,
or excessive energy use, without excessively limiting the tenants control
of their environment.


If you are offering to pay utilities as part of the rental contract, you
need to be willing to accept that some people like to live in different
environments than others, which means that some people are going to want
to set the thermostat higher than others. Setting the thermostat to the
absolute minumum is not what I consider to be a friendly action. If you
have problems with people heating the space to 95 degrees, install a
limiting sensor to restrict it to 75, or renegotiate the rental contract,
and have the tenant pay for their own utilities.





If I am comfortable at 60 degrees, I am going to set the thermostat to
60 degrees.. ditto for 75 degrees..

I can see not wanting the temprature to drop below freezing, which can be
acomplished with a second thermostat set for a low limit, like 50 degrees,
in parallel with the first, but I can see no valid reason to restrict the
tenants choice of the temprature of their environment.

--
-- Welcome My Son, Welcome To The Machine --
Bob Vaughan | techie @ tantivy.net |
| P.O. Box 19792, Stanford, Ca 94309 |
-- I am Me, I am only Me, And no one else is Me, What could be simpler? --