Home thermostat + twisty-tie(metal)

If it's like the several White-Rodgers models I know, they have a problem with bad connections in the posts on the removable part that insert into the wall part. They look similar to wire-wrap posts. Why they put this cheesiest possible mission-critical connector in a $150 thermostat, I don't know.

If the relay is clicking, the problem probably isn't with the despicable POS crappy White-Rogers stat. (Former Honewell guy here) Check the ignitor in your furnace.

You could also move to warmer Iraq where it is warmer, you can poop in a hole, wipe yer arse left-handed and hope for your 72 virgins. We have some expeditors there that might assist you in your pursuit, Allah willing or not.

No Iraq for me! Why suspect the furnace when the twisty-tie works every time? I suspect the relay that is probably one of those tiny yellow cubes on the pc board. My DVM says that there's no contact. I'll replace the thermostat and pull the pc and at least check it out. I'll bet it's a bitch to find a new relay. Makes sense that a mechanical part would fail.

The same thing happened to me last Saturday night. In my case the whole thing died, display and all. The next morning I cheated it "on" with a clip lead across the heater control pair. Home Desperate's top of the line Honeywell 7000 series made a good replacement. The new one is pretty smart. It "learns" what the delay interval is in your home and switches on in advance far enough of the set time so the house will be warm/cool at set time.

Bob Swinney

To enable selling you a new one? Of course, that MBA failed to grasp that you'd be buying a different brand in disgust.

If that is indeed the problem, perhaps it could be modified to act more like all the thermostats I've never had trouble with - ie, wires come out of the wall, you connect the thermostat to the wires (typical screw terminals, or perhaps wire nuts for a modification of something without screws), you hang it on the wall, no fancy-schmancy connectors involved.

My present "smart thermostat" came from the second hand shop for $5 - happened to be a model I'm familiar with, so I did not find it as daunting as someone who never met one might. Darned if I know why they took it out of service, it works fine. I removed a boring old Honeywell mercury-switch bimetal, which is sitting in the closet waiting for a purpose.

Post a link to a photo of the relay and we can see about that.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Ah, relay in the stat. You're right, if the twistytie works every time then the furnace is OK. As Spehro sez, if you post a good high-res photo of the relay we sparkypukes might be able to he'p.

There's an interesting story behind that. A little company in Ann Arbor devised that scheme some years ago, about the time when inexpensive microcontrollers were coming on stream. HON bought the whole company primarily for their patents -- and to eliminate that pesky competitor that was becoming a problem.

Hang on to that old T-87 for when your smart stat gets Alzheimer's. Those T-87's are reliable as gravity.

Don sez:

"> There's an interesting story behind that. A little company in Ann

Yeah. It works really well, too. This morning I got a good check on it. I had it setback to 62 degrees and for warmup to 73 degrees at 7:00 am. I heard the heat come on about 5:30 and stayed in bed until I figured the house was warm enough to get up in. I got up at 6:30 and noticed the temp was 70 degrees. At 6:45 it had risen to the setback temp of 73 and began cycling at that temp.

Bob Swinney

73? I keep the house at 64 and wear shorts and T's. what's your summer temp?

Those were just banned in Michigan starting on Jan 1, 2009.

It is interesting that they banned a simple and durable design that is difficult to replicate. We have one that has been in use since the house was built in ~1961 and still working fine. I doubt if Tom's fancy shmancy version has a similar amount of miles on it :)

"Public Act 492 of 2006 (formerly Senate Bill 124) bans the sale of thermostats that contain Hg(0) or a mercury compound beginning January 1, 2009."

For the pdf of the bill see:

So I would hang on to your old one too. Other states will probably fall in line and pass similar legislation soon...