The Battery Went Out

[Pete]

Neighbor has a vacation home. He left the thermostat set to some above freezing temperature in the fall. There are cameras / alarm panel there. The alarm panel is not connected to the thermostat.

Cameras went out sometime in the winter. No calls from the alarm such that it was functioning fine. Pipes froze and burst. He went to see the home and there was water pouring out of the front door.

Personally I am not sure what type of thermostat he had but always thought that the thermostat battery was for the "memory" of the thermostat rather than its function.

As far as I can tell; if I disconnect all of the power to my thermostat and reconnect it; memory and programs stay intact. Never really paid much attention to it.

[langenet]

Wow!!! That's terrible...My worst fear in fact!

Kinda makes you wish you had one of those classic Honeywell mercury switch stats...

[sparkman]

Wow!!! That's terrible...My worst fear in fact!

Kinda makes you wish you had one of those classic Honeywell mercury switch stats...

My in-laws had a similar problem a month ago and had to cut their travels short to deal with the damage. For them it happened to be a blessing in disguise though as my mother in-law had a medical issue just after they came back and had it occurred in the 3rd world country they were travelling in, she likely would not have survived it.

Cheers
Al

PS You can wire a simple thermostat in parallel and set it at a fail-safe temperature.

[Rupp]

I wouldn't put anything other than a manual tstat in a vacation home. They are typically used so infrequently this is all you need and they are nearly fool proof. One of our neighbors sets there old round stat to 45 and tapes it in place when they leave. Was this house in such a remote location that the neighbors couldn't check on the cameras and such?

[ewkearns]

I don't understand..... I got into HA because I needed a remote thermostat. When I leave, it is set for a minimum of 40F and a maximum of 80. Even if HS goes down, I have it set. If I lose power, the thermostat comes back up. If I can't ping the house in really cold weather, after a few days it is time to investigate. But, then, it doesn't get all that cold in coastal NC. If you live too far up north, YMMV.....


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[Pete]

Was this house in such a remote location that the neighbors couldn't check on the cameras and such?

No. I guess never checked with the neighbors.

Same thing happened to a friend with a vacation home in Colorado. He had set his electric baseboard heat to around 45 degrees and thermostat quit working while he was not there. Pipes burst and flooded the first floor of his home.