Thermostats
If you live in Green Valley, you probably have a service contract with Green Valley Heating and Cooling. Labor is free; parts are not.
Thermostats eventually quit functioning. If you buy a new one from Green Valley H & C, expect to pay around $200. On the other hand, Home Depot sells several under $100, including one for $39.97. Pick the one that you want, then call Green Valley H & C and have them install it for free. You just saved $160!
Just remember to get a thermostat that works with heat pumps.
August 23rd, 2006 at 1:16 am
Rod–Two years ago I did precisely that after I decided I wanted a programmable “setback” system. I actually thought I could install it myself because I had done so in a house I owned years ago in Florida. But I discovered that the thermostat I bought at Home Depot was not compatible with the heat pump in my Esperanza Estates house. It turns out that there are a variation in the number of wires and so on going to different types of thermostats and, while heat pumps tend to be more complicated than regular air conditioning systems, there are actually several different types of heat pump systems. After some effort, I concluded it wasn’t possible to install the Home Depot thermostat in my home and called Green Valley Heating and Cooling. It took even them about 2 days and several different opinions (finally including that of “the boss”) to put in a new one–but it didn’t work. It worked for heating but not cooling. Ultimately, they had to run a new wire from the unit on the roof through the wall to the new thermostat and it was only practical to do that by relocating the thermostat from the hallway to the living room. Actually, it makes more sense having it in the living room because that’s where I spend most of my time (I spend almost none standing in the hall). After all this, I think it ended up costing me more like $150 than $200 but my meory could be faulty on that. I do know, though, that if you buy a thermostat from HD, make sure to hold onto the receipt so you can return it. And finally, the one GVH&C ultimately got working in my home is very nice–very small, relatively easy to program and quite flexible; better, truthfully, than the cheaper models at HD even if they work.
August 24th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
The $40 thermostat not only regulates heating and cooling, it is also programmable. Every day of the week, and even a special day can have up to four different time/temperature changes. One can also manual override the settings at any time.
I have installed many programmable thermostats, but when it comes to one for a heat pump, I’ll let someone else do it. Especially if the installation is free.
August 31st, 2006 at 12:42 am
My point was, they weren’t able to install the $40 Home Depot thermostat at my house, for free or any other way–not the right wires, not the right connections.