any hvac / electrician peeps here?

jT · Post by jT » Sat Sep 20, 2008 5:42 am

figured there may be someone out there that can answer this ...

my apartment's thermostat that controls 3 baseboard heaters stopped working at the end of the last cold season... and it's getting around to be F'ing chilly now so i'm sure the heat will be on pretty soon..

anyways.. is it really as simple as just getting a new thermostat and connecting the 3 or 4 wires?

do i have to pay any attention to thermostats that say they are for low voltage applications, etc.. the thermostat that is installed right now isnt even made any more (similar replacement models but not the exact one) and if i remember correctly i think it said it was a low voltage model ...

when looking at some online stores i see low voltage things, universal baseboard heater thermostats for any voltage it seems, single pole, double pole (wtf is that?) etc.. a few different options..

also could there be any underlying problem that isnt related to the thermostat because one of the times that i was taking the thing off i dont know what happened but the light came on as if it were working but then went off and it still doesnt work... almost like a power issue or bad connection.. ive played with it and dont get any reaction like that again...

its going to be a bitch and a half to get the landlord to do anything about it so i figured id just replace the thing myself... just dont want to fix the wrong thing..

actually i just did a little more reading .. and i guess i want a double pole line voltage thermostat.. since mine has an off switch to completely cut power thats where the double pole comes in..

http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-Thermos ... 801&sr=8-2

this one says it all except for the line voltage

LilSparkPlug · Post by **LilSparkPlug** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 7:43 am

I don't know much about HVAC unless its in a car. However, I would replace it with a newer model that has the exact specifications that it has to prevent any problems electrically.

jT · Post by jT » Sat Sep 20, 2008 10:32 am

except that i dont know what the exact specs are because theres no information about the exact model thermostat on the manufacturer website (actually i think it was a combination of no model # on the thermostat, and none that looked like it on the website)

plus we didnt like this thermostat in the first place because it would turn off at night or when there was no light to activate it -- it was a light sensing one -- so when we get up in the morning it would be an ice box.. so newer model from this manufacturer is not preferred

superdan · Post by **superdan** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 1:18 pm

ok two winters ago our heater literally blew up inside its self when were not home. After calling an electrician/hvac guy to come check it out he basically replaced what broke on the actual heater and replaced our thermostat with a brand new one. thus what he told us was that the newer thermo was more efficiant and with prevent the same thing from happening. Also im going to school to be and electrical engineer so i would say get a new thermo and i assume thats all you do is just connect those wires. Just make sure they have a good connection.

superdan · Post by **superdan** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 1:18 pm

ok two winters ago our heater literally blew up inside its self when were not home. After calling an electrician/hvac guy to come check it out he basically replaced what broke on the actual heater and replaced our thermostat with a brand new one. thus what he told us was that the newer thermo was more efficiant and with prevent the same thing from happening. Also im going to school to be and electrical engineer so i would say get a new thermo and i assume thats all you do is just connect those wires. Just make sure they have a good connection.

superdan · Post by **superdan** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 1:18 pm

ok two winters ago our heater literally blew up inside its self when were not home. After calling an electrician/hvac guy to come check it out he basically replaced what broke on the actual heater and replaced our thermostat with a brand new one. thus what he told us was that the newer thermo was more efficiant and with prevent the same thing from happening. Also im going to school to be and electrical engineer so i would say get a new thermo and i assume thats all you do is just connect those wires. Just make sure they have a good connection.

superdan · Post by **superdan** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 2:00 pm

wow why did i triple post? sorry

Wenuden · Post by **Wenuden** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 3:04 pm

if you live in an apartment, why are you thinking of messing with the thermostat? Wouldn't that fall under the responsibility of the management company to maintain the utilitys?

Adionik · Post by **Adionik** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 4:26 pm

Nothing like getting your point across with a triple post

Post by **racer12306** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 4:46 pm

The heater doesn't work. Its against the law for the landlord to not properly maintain the property. Especially when it comes to heat.

Time for the landlord to step up and fulfil his obligation to the property.

60trim · Post by **60trim** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 5:16 pm

jT · Post by jT » Sat Sep 20, 2008 5:29 pm

yes it is his responsibility, but trying to actually get him to do anything is more of a problem than its worth--- the very first week we moved in he was supposed to send someone down to look at / fix one of our ceiling fans--- that was almost 2 years ago (never happened)

when we spoke to him last year about the thermostat his excuse was that he didnt have the money for it or something like that... didnt really press him on the issue because the heat was being turned off anyways and we just used a space heater the few times we still needed it..

might give him a call now and see what he says....

jT · Post by jT » Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:05 pm

as a follow up to this... the season finale to my drama on this matter....

i bought the new thermostat.... went to put it in today and what i didnt see before because i never pulled the old one out all the way was that HOLY SHIT MY HOUSE COULD HAVE BURNED DOWN.

all of the wires were frayed / bare / exposed / some were BURNT........ but the good news is that it stopped working probably because one of the wire connections came apart .. put that back together and i bet it would work!

called the landlord up and he will get his electrician out asap ... if i had done that in the first place i guess i wouldnt have wasted $25 on a new thermostat

oh well whatever..

i can only imagine what the wires look like behind the box inside the wall......