# Thermostat



## zen (Nov 15, 2006)

I have a thermostat for my furnance, I have a seperate self contained roof AC. My question is the furnance thermostat is pretty beat up, can I get a digital themoeter for a home, from a store like home depot?


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## DL Rupper (Nov 15, 2006)

RE: Thermostat

I don't think so.  Most RV furnaces run off 12V.  They usally have a product/brand specific power board under the thermostat cover.


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## Kirk (Nov 15, 2006)

Re: Thermostat

There are home thermostats that will work. As DL says, you do need one that operates from 12V but very few if any home thermostats have 120V power to them. If your present one is one of the old mechanical type that unwind a metal strip when they warm up and rewind when cooling, those are still available and any of them will work. Look to see how many leads there are to the present thermostat. If there are only two, then you need one of the mechanical thermostats as the two leads are the control leads. If you have one of the newer, solid state thermostats, then it becomes more complicated as you will have leads for 12V power, ground and at least one signal line. In this case you need to do some research, but there are some that do work.


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## DL Rupper (Nov 15, 2006)

Re: Thermostat

Today was a good day.  Learned something new.


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## s.harrington (Nov 16, 2006)

Re: Thermostat

Actually the digital home models are usually 24vac.  Usefull in park models but not in motorhomes and travel trailers.  Honeywell used to make a 12 volt model but I haven't seen one lately.


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## zen (Nov 16, 2006)

Re: Thermostat

The only reason I said a digital one is because I have a new one I was going to install, until I found another one that was more suitable for my needs. Oh well I'll return it and look to see if they have a 12v one. Thanks for the info guys, always helpful.


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## zen (Nov 16, 2006)

Re: Thermostat

Oh yea, Happy Birthday late Dl Rupper, God bless the Marines. How old are they now? I'm probably wrong but is it 112yrs :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:


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## DL Rupper (Nov 16, 2006)

Re: Thermostat

Hey Zen, 231 years old (1775) and getting better.  I was in Boot Camp 46 years ago today celebrating, well it wasn't exactly celebrating, but the food and cake were good.  The "Old Corps" was great, but the new Marine Corps is better yet.  The new Marines are fantastic.  My thanks go out to them and their families as well as to all men and women of all the Services.
SEMPER FI.


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## zen (Nov 16, 2006)

Re: Thermostat

Man I was way off......Im not much of a military man. If I had to fight for our freedom I would do the job, Im just not too diciplined, and the Marines themselves would most likely kill me. But I do look up to all sevice men young and old, wars past and present, and as a country I think we need to give MORE credit where credit is due.


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## hamdave (Nov 23, 2006)

RE: Thermostat

I have installed a number of thermostats to work on heating systems, and most of the ones I have done are nothing more than two wires that complete a control circuit when the temperature is too low. Many are mercury operated (the mercury is the switching contact). I see no reason such a device won't work in an RV unless the 'power' current actually goes through the thermostat and it exceeds the current rating of the switch. I suspect that is not the case.
I'm getting ready to check out my new(used unit) and if necessary will install a simple control themostat exactly as described above.


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## ndnparts (Dec 4, 2006)

RE: Thermostat

I just converted my furnace and AC to a Hunter digital thermostat and id works fine. The reason is, they have batteries which actually power the thermostat, so the 12 volt power wire is not used. The wiring is slightly different between a Dometic or Coleman AC unit, but still very simple and the thermostat only costs around $25 at your local Home Depot, Lowes, etc.. There are several articles on this, but here is one that I used for reference. Good luck. Stan

http://www.rverscorner.com/articles/hunterstat.htm



> zen - 11/15/2006  1:29 PM
> 
> I have a thermostat for my furnance, I have a seperate self contained roof AC. My question is the furnance thermostat is pretty beat up, can I get a digital themoeter for a home, from a store like home depot?


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## ronnie48 (Dec 20, 2006)

RE: Thermostat

I agree with Hamdave, I have an electronic degree and have installed a digital one before with Battery backup and all it does is complete the circuit. You want to make sure it also has an on/off swith on the side for when the rig in;t in use so that the furnace won't run.


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