Change Those Batteries and Avert Disaster!

Change Those Batteries and Avert Disaster!

Many of you may have programmable thermostats.  We've got several of them in our home.  Over the years as our thermostats have needed replacing, we've replaced them with the newest programmable versions.

Well, this weekend after being away from home overnight, we returned to a freezing house.  At first we thought our heat malfunctioned, but most of the upper level heating zones worked fine.  Our next thought was that it was a faulty thermostat.  We narrowed things down to the culprit.  Before going into a state of panic and calling in a plumber, hubby decided to check the batteries and it's a good thing that he did.

Within minutes after replacing the batteries, we were back in business with all systems working.    With the kind of frigid temperatures that we've been having it's a good thing we were not away for longer and that we quickly noticed the heat was off.  Just a few days without heat and you run the risk of frozen pipes and/or burst pipes with an expensive plumbing job to contend with.

Though we change our thermostat batteries about every two years, it seems the newer ones, with more bells whistles and settings may drain the battery sooner than that.

Lesson learned:  Do yourself a favor and change thermostat batteries once a year, even if you think they don't need it.  It's an easy and inexpensive maintenance chore that can help prevent an expensive plumbing repair.  Make it part of your home winter tune up.  It's basic home maintenance 101!  You'll be glad you did.