The thermostat at my house is up on the second floor, which in itself isn’t a huge deal (I don’t mind plodding up the stairs to adjust things). The problem is that my master bedroom is on the first floor, by the front door, so I frequently forget to adjust the thermostat prior to leaving the house (sometimes for a week for work).
The current thermostat is a moderately newer one-- programmable, but no crazy features beyond that. Would it be a tremendous pain to move the thermostat downstairs?
I know they sell fancy thermostats now that can be programmed via iPhone or computer-- that would be pretty awesome, but I imagine those cost a ton and have to be professionally installed, right? FWIW: I am a woman who lives alone and is not an electrician. That said, I can do basic stuff myself and I follow instructions fairly well. I’m also not above hiring someone if they pay off here will be worth it.
Thermostat wiring is pretty simple- connect the red wire to the terminal marked red, etc. And it’s low voltage so you’re not going to burn down the house or electrocute someone if you mess it up and can run it behind baseboards and under carpets and such. You can buy 4 conductor thermostat wire at any home improvement store, but the difficulty in running it from the furnace to the new location, or from the old location to a the new location all depends on the house layout. The fad now is for drywall ceilings in basements which makes this sort of thing a potential PITA.
They’ve recently started selling wireless home thermostats. Supposed to be a very easy installation. The base unit connects to your heat/air unit. Then it signals the thermostat.
You could mount the thermostat anywhere in the house. They are more expensive but the savings in not running wire in walls may offset the cost.
here’s one example
If you want to try to do it yourself, the wires are low voltage, so safe to do yourself. Make sure you take pictures of the existing wires with a cell phone or digital camera, so you know how to rehook them.
The hard part is running the wires. Apart from that, it’s just a screwdriver to undo the wires, then again to reconnect them.
Exactly. Routing the wires through the walls to your downstairs is likely to be a pain in the ass. Unless you have easy access through an attic or a closet or something, I’d go with the wireless method. I’ve got one, and it works fine. You do have to change batteries from time to time, but nothing more than a smoke detector or anything.
I’m willing to be corrected, but color me skeptical that a thermostat controlling the heat for a two-story house, even with electric baseboard heat, is carrying line voltage.
Although with electric baseboard it is typical to have each room have its own line voltage stat. Normally the A/C side of the system is using a 24V stat, while each room is controlled independently with a line voltage stat.
Depending what type of system you have, you may need more then 4 (and I would recommend never running less than 5 no matter what kind of system you have).
At $140 that’s a pricey but excellent option which is easy to install.
If there is a common wall below the current thermostat then it would be possible to poke a hole in the wall and pull them through from below. If it’s a house with a basement this should be obvious because of where the wires exit. If not then the remote sounds like the best option.
So to recap, if your thermostat is on a common wall on both floors then check to see if the wires exit into the basement at the same location common to both floors.
Is there a wall downstairs below the wall the thermostat is mounted on? If so, there is a good chance that if you cut a hole in the drywall directly below the thermostat, you will find the wires that run to the thermostat.
If the basement is unfinished above the furnace, it is quite easy to run new wires to to a first floor wall. Likely the wall has a double joist below it. You may need a long drill or extension to drill the hole. You have to drill through the subfloor and a 2 x 4. Cut a good sized hole the thermostat will cover where you want it. Keep it away from windows and other sources of heat or cold.
Most thermostats are quite obvious, white wire to the W terminal, yellow to Y, etc. Many have RC and RH. Some AC systems have their own transformer and connect to RC. Most systems you connect the red wire to one and run a jumper wire to the other. Wire the thermostat just like it was before.
Yes, turn off the power. If something goes wrong and nothing works, check the board in the furnace the wires connect to. It may have a little blade fuse.
