My $200 smart thermostat was a total bust in this old house

I got excited last summer and bought a fancy smart thermostat thinking it would save me money on my AC bill. But my house was built in 1952 and the wiring is all weird, so the thing kept losing power and resetting itself every few days. I spent like 3 hours on the phone with their customer support trying to fix it, but they just kept blaming my ancient furnace. After a month of checking the app every morning to see if it was still alive, I yanked it off the wall and put my old dumb one back in. The smart one is now sitting in a drawer, a $200 lesson in checking compatibility before buying. Has anyone else had trouble with smart home stuff in older houses?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowannelson17d ago

My buddy Mike put a smart thermostat in his 1920s house and it caught fire.

anthony_jackson18d ago

spent like 3 hours on the phone with their customer support" - man, that's rough, but I gotta disagree a bit here. I put a smart thermostat in my 1960s house and it worked fine after I checked the voltage first. Most of these things need a common wire or they act flaky, and your old house probably doesn't have one. A $15 adapter would have fixed your problem without any phone calls. You can't blame the thermostat for your 70 year old wiring setup.