Faulty Room Thermostat: Replace with Digital, Analogue or not at all?

[potty]

My house has a gas fired boiler with an old analogue room thermostat and radiators with thermostatic valves on. The house is left unoccupied for extended periods and to meet the terms of our insurance policy the house should be kept to a minimum of 8 Celsius (47 Fahrenheit).

We have recently found that the old analogue thermostat is faulty and the temperature instead of being at 47 as set is at 63. So the question is do we replace the room thermostat with a new digital one, an analogue or don't replace it at all and rely on the radiator thermostatic valves.

If we replace the thermostat I wish to find one that can be surface mounted over the location where the existing one is currently situated to save making a mess of the wall etc. Any recommendations or advice please?

 

[PlumbBobBob]

i would just replace with another analogue thermostat.
oh and welcome to the forums.

 

[potty]

Thanks Steveb

Why would you go for analogue over digital please?

 

[stevetheplumber]

Anolouges are more reliable many digitals need batteries

 

[Bartdude]

The important thing is to get a thermostat with electronic temperature sensing instead of bi-metallic,that's what makes the stat more accurate,it's up to you if you want a dial type or a digital one. This selection shows the difference.

Horstmann HRT3 Room Thermostat [NU0670201003] - £12.77 : UK Plumbing, Online Shop

Danfoss Randall RET 230 Room Thermostat [087N700400] - £18.04 : UK Plumbing, Online Shop

Honeywell DT90E Digital Room Thermostat [DT90E1012] - £29.12 : UK Plumbing, Online Shop

 

[GrahamM]

If you are happy with your one setting analogue stat then replace with a similar model. If you would like a bit more programming control over the temperature pre-set for different times of day then look at digital programmable stat.

 

[Plumbcrazy56]

It depends whether your old one has been wired with a neutral , a digital one only needs 2 wires. Most analogue ones need a live a neutral and a switch live to be accurate.