As a homeowner you discover many things through the process of updating and maintaining your home. Mainly you discover, everything is harder to do and takes longer than the instructions claim... The thermostat has always been an eyesore in the hallway of my home - I believe it is original to the building which is pushing 45 and when the house got a much needed makeover - the thermostat remained in its unsightly state. Being an HGTV junkie and first time home-owner, problem veteran, I decided it was time for a new thermostat.
Besides being absolutely hideous, the old thermostat was not at all accurate for adjusting the temperature - the old "lever" if you will was hard to move to an exact temperature...or even 5 degree ballpark. As the temperatures push record highs, I am in favor of AC usage, but not to the point of bankruptcy. The trip to Lowes to purchase said advanced thermostat involved the usual searching through aisles and feelings of utter disappointment at the employees incompetence. We chose a digital thermostat with the new fangeled ability to program the temperature and when it changes through the day, and were off!
The installation instructions warned of mercury in old thermostats and I was not surprised to find that the old one did indeed contain a vile of mercury. The warnings and instructions for mercury cleanup (should the vile break) where enough to make anyone paranoid...the cleanup tools spanned a massive list and listed among them were such things as: shaving cream, cardboard, ziplock bags, duct tape, etc. Lucky for me the vile did not break as we removed it with extreme caution as to avoid the hassle and apparently, health risk of the century. Now I am to contact the "proper authorities" to dispose of the mercury so they are on my call list for tomorrow. Interesting how extreme caution is needed from something that has been perched on my wall for decades - I will be glad to have it out of the house.
The new thermostat is pretty (as thermostats go anyway) and now controls the temperature in glorious accuracy. I feel like Bill Gates, being able to have the house begin cooling itself before my arrival home from work. Technology has most definitely spoiled me.
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