Low budget furnace thermostat fix -- quick and dirty

[profdant139]

Our old-school analog thermostat died. No furnace. Which is not a huge problem, since we only run it during the evening shower time, for about 10 minutes total.

Of course, we will get a new thermostat, but what to do in the meantime?

Answer -- hotwire it! I pulled the cover off the thermostat, unscrewed the red and white wires, and touched them together. The furnace went on immediately.

At DW's suggestion, we bent each wire into a loop. When it is time to shower, the loops hook together, and the furnace is on. When we are done with the heat, we just unhook the loops.

Not elegant, but it gets the job done, at least for now.

[Sjm9911]

Lol, you fixed it good, you removed it. Old scool fix for a broken thermostat.

[BurbMan]

Out 5er has a Fantastic fan in the living room, and due to the height it's controlled by a mechanical wall thermostat. The t-stat went bad and the fan wouldn't come on...and I find out that FF no longer makes that t-stat since all the new fans have remote controls! Nobody makes a basic analog cool-only t-stat, so I replaced it with a wall switch!

[SJ-Chris]

Nice work MacGyver!

[wa8yxm]

Ok well as I said with a Furnace only... That el-cheapo mechnical MERCURY FREE T-stat.. is the actually what I recommend.

My rig originally the front Carrier A/C also controlled the T-Stat but we replaced with a COLEMAN (Like much better) it id not have the relay to fire the furnace so I added the ACE T-Stat with an in-line switch and an LED indicator (Not needed) The inline switch turns off the furnace for "Storage" mode or any other time it's not needed.. The LED was just let me know the switch was ON. it's not needed at all.

[profdant139]

wa8, yes, this was a furnace-only analog t-stat. My air conditioning unit is also very old school -- I just turn the knob on the a/c cover.

Almost everything in my 2012 trailer is strictly analog -- technology from the early 1950s, I think. Plain vanilla. Dumb as a rock. Propane fridge. No TV or radio. No clock. Flooded lead acid battery.

I light my stove with a long-barreled cigarette lighter.

My only 21st century upgrade has been LED light bulbs, which are great inventions.

[wa8yxm]

Actually the 20 dollar mercury free mechanical analog T-Stat From ACE hardware (What I used) may well be better than the electronic ones for use with the Furnace... I only used it for the furnace. (Mine was the "heat only" model)

For A/C you may need an electronic stat (or not depending on the A/C but for the furnace that 20 buck job is perfect.

I did add a toggle switch in series with it so that I could HARD off the furnace.

But I liked it better than the factory T-Stat.