No way to turn off furnace thermostat completely

[Jupp318]

I found when using Winnie in the cold last year was that I have no means of turning the heating off other than by removing the fuse.  I was sound asleep and woke to a bunch of noise, I then realised it was a fan and on investigation I found the heating had come on.  The thermostat was set to the lowest possible but it still fired up.  I have now fitted battery isolators to effectively disconnect the batteries whilst in storage.

Cheers Ian...

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

Normally, there is a on/off switch on the wall thermostat switch.

[sasktrini]

On mine, you put the thermostat to minimum

[RANGERRICK]

You need a Rv thermostat that has a off switch.You can buy these at a RV parts store.

[Jupp318]

Any chance of a part no. Being in the UK I don't want to order something that turns out to be the same as what I've got. Suburban RV Furnace Thermostat 161154 seems to be the sort of thing but I cannot find confirmation that OFF is OFF if you see what I mean.

[TerryH]

You may want to read through this re: digital thermostats.
Terry

http://www.classicwinnebagos.com/forum/index.php/topic,9026.msg49094.html#msg49094

[fasteddie313]

If you happened to want a cheap, easy, fast-now, solution and/or wanted to maintain the originality of your thermostat then instead of replacing your whole thermostat you could just add a switch to it..

Either of its 2 wires, doesn't matter, put a switch in there..
When the switch is open it is off, when it's closed it will be the same as before the switch was installed..
All the thermostat really does is jump those 2 wires when it wants the heater to run, open the circuit with a switch and the thermostat can no longer complete the circuit on its own..

Then again I too like the new digital ones..

[DRMousseau]

I like the electronic digitals. RV's can be subject to a lot of conditions that some components jus can't hold up to, extreme temperatures and rapid fluctuations, humidity, road and engine vibrations, and more. Modern solid state technology in thermostats is a huge improvement over previous electronic and older mercury-mechanical devices.

Many older devices, like my '87 Suburban thermostats, have a lever on the bottom with a detent that locks the actuating contacts. Not really a true on/off switch, it's much like others that have the detent built into the temp lever. On one, the detent is now faulty, and like yours it comes on at the minimum temp setting because nothing can lock it out. I live year around in mine, and it's really no issue for me. Coming on overnight when temps get too low, is kinda nice on the frosty mornings, and keeps things from freezing. But unattended in storage, this can be quite undesirable as you have experienced.

While modern solid state digitals do have an on/off switch, they STILL rely on a constant power need to maintain setting memory, although it is VERY minimal. This is either an internal battery, or hard-wired into the "house" supply. For those of us who live year around in our "home", either is jus fine in my opinion, we routinely replace batteries in detectors, flashlights and other items. But for seasonal use, you may have further considerations. Internal batteries don't like the extremes of heat and cold that a seasonal RV may be subject to, causing physical failure of freezing or bursting, and/or corrosion of battery contacts within the thermostat due to minimal use and oversight neglect. The flashlight left in the RV over winter may suffer the same,... unnoticed till you need it!

My ol' Winnebago had a 3-way switch in the furnace compartment built into the furnace,...
...battery power/off/converter power.
Adding a simple switch near your furnace compartment may be an option for you too. Even with the newer thermostat replacement shown in you post above (which is jus fine), the redundant switch can be a positive off for seasonal storage or when not needed.

[Froggy1936]

I installed a hunter digital (battery operated) Thermostate that when switched will run either the A/C or the Fully automatic furnace . For either just set it and forget it . Also has option for an additional switch for hi or low fan speed on the A/C . Frank