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