Bad day, need advice on Thermostat

[LinuxRandal]

Tuesday, when doing all my running, I filled up with gas at a local warehouse store (company paid for it, for all the running). Truck sputtered, and I figured, I was low enough that I got some junk from the gas tank. Nope, water, fuel line now froze.
So I borrowed one of the company trucks, and came home to get a few things (expecting a bunch of snow, when that happens, fewer people show up to work, but we still get lot's of orders from companies, so I am crashing down the street at a friends).
Batteries were dead in my thermostat. House was at 45. This thing EATS batteries.

What are some good thermostats to use (won't eat batteries, programable).

Thanks
Frozen in KC

[jziegler]

I don't remember the model or anything, but I got one at HD a couple years ago that is still on it's original batteries. It has a featuer that if your furnace supplies a 24V AC (I think) line and return (3 wires for heat only, not only 2, would be more if you have AC as well) it can run off of the furnace power. Something to look into. I also had power turned off to the boiler all summer, and it was still fine this fall, time still right and programming there. It's whatever brand the cheap at HD programmable is. Plus, it's got different programs all 7 days of the week if you want.

I'll see if I can get the brand when I get home tonight.

Jim

[LJR]

Frozen in K.C., and your side of town gets most of the snow too, this time. I've had a Honeywell programmable thermostat for quite a few years now. Gave about $80 or $90 for it. Still running on original battery.

[scorrpio]

During recent overhaul, I installed a pair of RiteTemp 8030 thermostats. They are very nice, touch screen programmable, and I found them on ebay for $30 apiece. (HD sells for 50). Only peeve is no backlight.

These, like many others, can use 24VAC. Of course, the catch is you need proper wire. I had a plain 2-cond wire there, and I had to replace it. I ran 5-cond wires instead (solid 18ga thermostat wire). Standard scheme is white for heat, red for return(ground), yellow for cool, green for independent fan, plus a blue over which 24VAC is supplied by the zone controller. My system is hydronic, so cool and fan leads are sitting unused for now.

If 2 wires is all you got there, most modern thermostats are fairly gentle on batteries. They also give you ample warning when battery is dying. One clever option I saw is, if there is an electric wire running through same stud bay, tap into it, and install a 24V transfomer, and use it to power the 'stat. This of course, requires wall opening.

[LinuxRandal]

Thanks guys. Staying with friends the next few days, at folks house now (gonna wrap dad's router). Found out the batteries I had been using, were out of a batch that were picked up via our "junk" store. Mom had almost all of a package leak, so turns out the batteries, were junk.

Still probably replace the thermostat, as I don't know for sure if any battery juice got into the electronics, and I'd rather not find out the hard way.
Yes, I do have the old two wire, furnace only setup. I'll have to see if I can change that to.
Tuesday, vehicle will be in the shop, thawing, and probable fuel pump replacement. Thank goodness for all the tools I leave down there, it leaves me access to the lift, much easier then working outside in this.