The Thermostat

OK, someone has to revive this blog site!  It has now been over 1 year since anyone posted something.  So, I will do it.  Thom and I were exchanging emails recently and he mentioned certain sounds he remembered while living in Flat Rock.  That got me to thinking about that, too.

What first came to mind for me was the sound of the really old thermostat turning on.  Not turning off - turning on.  Big difference.  I could remember on cold winter days sitting there in the living room and hearing a "clunk" from the thermostat as it signaled the furnace for heat.  The memory of that, of course, spawns memories of the sound of the furnace as it warmed up and came on.  If it was the first time the furnace had run in a long time, there was also a distinct smell of what must have been burning dust when it started pushing the warm air.  Sitting by the heat register in the living room (there was only one) was, I believe, the warmest spot in the house, since it was located right above the furnace in the basement.  A possible exception to that might be the heat register in the 2nd floor bathroom which could also get quite warm.


The picture above is what I remember the thermostat looking like.  It had a sliding temperature setting arm on the bottom.  I remember Dad turning down the temperature at night, and turning it back up in the morning.  When I was little I remember the temperature adjustment lever being strictly off-limits.  Then, as I got older, it was almost a rite of passage when Dad showed me how to do the down-at-night up-in-the-morning adjustment.

As time marched on, and we upgraded the furnace, we got more modern thermostats.  I think the next one was a dial one, and then finally a digital one.  The newer ones, especially the digital one, didn't make any characteristic "clunk" as they turned on.  But who cared?  We were a high-tech family!