Mama Bin Cranky

Late last week, I drove to the Home Depot 17 miles away.  My last tank of gas costs 3.63 per gallon.  I purchased a programmable thermostat for one of our heat pumps.  Pat myself on the back for possible carbon and money savings.  On Sunday, my husband and I started the process to install this thermostat.  The package says it will take 15 minutes.  It took us over 15 minutes to figure out that this isn’t the right one.  This was not evident prior to opening the package.  So, we hopped in the car (not one that gets 8 miles to the gallon, Pres. O) and drove back to the Home Depot 17 miles away to exchange it.  Got another at over twice the price of the original.  Back home.

Now it is Monday morning.  By myself, I attempt to install the thermostat.  It takes about 1 1/2 hours due to a few problems.  Frustrating to do as you are once again told by the packaging that this process should only take 15 minutes.  Finally install, programmed, and apparently working just before a torrent of unprintable words flow.  Keeping my fingers crossed that it will do the trick.  I am now pretty certain the two round trips and the higher priced model have negated any actual savings in my electric bill.