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This is an awesome thread, thanks! I do have a weird sort of question - I recently bought an Ecobee3 thermostat thanks to a Black Friday sale and a killer rebate from Georgia power. The apartment complex I live in encourages us to get power-saving thermostats, but now I've learned that they did not wire in a common coming from the A/C unit control board. Normally this would be fixed by the included Power Extender Kit that Ecobee sent in with the thermostat, but the utility closet is locked and the maintenance team literally told me "you're welcome to install a thermostat, but you're not allowed in the utility closet". When I told them I can't install a smart thermostat without a common line, the guy got confused amd just told me "it will work". Yeah, ok - really hard for you guys to unlock a loving door, or just as easily run a 5-wire setup for the 4 foot run from the HVAC unit to the thermostat that's on the other side of the drywall. No, we'll give our folks lovely knock-off digital thermostats that eat loving batteries like obese kids in a Doritos factory. Gah, I digress. Anyways - is there any way this thing may work without the common wire or am I just hosed? Need to send it back soon otherwise.
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Dec 6, 2016 21:14
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MRC48B posted:I would suggest bribery. Most apartment maintenance guys don't get paid much. Or if there is an HVAC contractor who does your common area equipment, ask/bribe them to hook up the common wire for the unit. Hooking up the wire isn't a problem, I could honestly probably fish some fishing line through the existing hole and stretch some 20 gauge wire in there in a matter of 15 minutes. Getting access to the drat HVAC unit to connect it is the big problem, as they literally have it behind a locked door. I'm actually kind of hoping that the water heater (also in there) explodes/develops a major leak while I'm here, so I can call the company and watch as my neighbors get their ceilings and personal poo poo ruined as the apartment complex scrambles to find a maintenance guy with a key.  Hell, I'd bribe them all day if I could find one of the guys around here, but they're rarely, if ever, to be found.
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Dec 7, 2016 01:49
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