Ignoramus28269 wrote in news:bs9qob
:

Recently, one day before we had to go on vacation, our house
thermostat quietly stopped telling the furnace to turn on and quietly
displayed a LOW BATTERY warning. We noticed it because it started
getting cold. A change of battery took care of it.

I am mad as hell. What if such a thing happened while we were on
vacation? The house would freeze! (we are in northern IL) And then
pipes would burst!

So.

My question is, are there replacement thermostats that are more
reliable than that POS. Perhaps a thermostat with a solar battery
built in (like my watch), or some such thing.

There are thermostats that are "power stealing". They get their power
from the furnace. Honeywell T8600, for example:

http://content.honeywell.com/yourhom...tats/T8600.htm

It also looks like they have a T8601 that can be wired directly to an AC
power source. There may also be other options out there.

Changing the batteries regularly is probably a less expensive and just as
reliable option.


I want my house to be more proofed for things like temporary power
outages, etc, in case we are not around.

You're going to need an automatic standby generator and a reliable fuel
source (or one amazing UPS and a huge bank of batteries). The generators
start at around $3000 + installation and go up from there.

Doug

"Ignoramus28269" wrote in message
...
In article , Doug wrote:
Ignoramus28269 wrote in
news:bs9qob
:

Recently, one day before we had to go on vacation, our house
thermostat quietly stopped telling the furnace to turn on and quietly
displayed a LOW BATTERY warning. We noticed it because it started
getting cold. A change of battery took care of it.

now if the thing beep'd to tell you it was low/dead you would be posting
here telling us this damn thermostat won't shut up ........

"Punch" wrote in news:%Y1Gb.7254$d%1.1600823
@news20.bellglobal.com:


"Ignoramus28269" wrote in message
...
In article , Doug wrote:
Ignoramus28269 wrote in
news:bs9qob
:

Recently, one day before we had to go on vacation, our house
thermostat quietly stopped telling the furnace to turn on and quietly
displayed a LOW BATTERY warning. We noticed it because it started
getting cold. A change of battery took care of it.

now if the thing beep'd to tell you it was low/dead you would be posting
here telling us this damn thermostat won't shut up ........

And that still doesn't help when it starts beeping the day after you've
left, when the rechargable battery fails because it has never been
replaced, or the thermostat just plain fails.

All of the programmable/setback thermostats I've seen were powered from the
furnace control 24V power, with a 9V battery to save the clock and settings
through a power outage. I'd never buy (or keep) one that was battery only,
for just the situation the OP described.

On 23 Dec 2003 20:08:44 GMT, someone wrote:

In article , Doug wrote:

The thermostat that can fail without warning...
i

ANYTHING "could" fail without warning.

But your thermostat DID NOT.

In fact, it didn't "fail" at all. Neither did it give no warning.

Instead, it warned you that it had a low battery. How long were you
planning on going on vacation for? If it was only 2 weeks or so, it
probably would have still been saying "low battery" when you got back.

Do you get this hysterical about everything?

BTW, I note that your original post said something like you "had to"
go on vacation. Interesting passive aggressiv phrasing. Like to make
sure everybody knows you did nothing voluntarily, so therefore nothing
could possibly your "fault"?

-v.

"David W." wrote:

"Punch" wrote in news:%Y1Gb.7254$d%1.1600823
@news20.bellglobal.com:


"Ignoramus28269" wrote in message
...
In article , Doug wrote:
Ignoramus28269 wrote in
news:bs9qob
:

Recently, one day before we had to go on vacation, our house
thermostat quietly stopped telling the furnace to turn on and quietly
displayed a LOW BATTERY warning. We noticed it because it started
getting cold. A change of battery took care of it.

now if the thing beep'd to tell you it was low/dead you would be posting
here telling us this damn thermostat won't shut up ........

And that still doesn't help when it starts beeping the day after you've
left, when the rechargable battery fails because it has never been
replaced, or the thermostat just plain fails.

All of the programmable/setback thermostats I've seen were powered from the
furnace control 24V power, with a 9V battery to save the clock and settings
through a power outage. I'd never buy (or keep) one that was battery only,
for just the situation the OP described.

I'm sure that someone from the alt.hvac could respond to this, but I have been
in over 300 houses as a buyer of distressed property and also as a property
manager, and I have yet to see a thermostat with a 9v battery. The only "power
stealing" electronic ones I have seen are the Honeywell Chronotherm III (and
now IV) which cost upwards of $150.

That said, a decent set of batteries usually lasts me 2-3 years in the
thermostats in my rentals.

JK