Thermostat Installation in Augusta Township, Michigan

Houses in Augusta Township have thermostat wiring from every era of the 1960s–90s rural ranches and newer acreage builds on former farmland that fill Washtenaw County. Two-conductor cable to a round mercury dial in the older blocks around Paint Creek, four conductors in the colonials that got central air in the 1980s, and five or more in the subdivisions near Willis Road corridor where the builder ran enough wire but the installer never used it. What your Augusta Township house needs for a modern thermostat depends on which of those you have, and that is what we check before recommending anything. Temprasure installs Ecobee, Nest, Honeywell Home and Sensi units, plus plain digital thermostats for people who want nothing connected, and we quote the whole job flat-rate.

Augusta Township houses and what that means for thermostats

Augusta's housing is a long timeline laid out along the roads. The 1860s–1920s farmhouses have Michigan basements, two or three additions and forced-air systems that were added long after the house was built, usually with ductwork that never reached the upstairs properly. The 1960s–80s ranches and split-levels that make up the biggest share of the township sit on crawlspaces or shallow basements, with furnaces in hallway closets or utility rooms and ductwork under the floor that has collected decades of moisture and rodent traffic. Newer acreage homes and the subdivisions off Whittaker and Bemis Roads are 1995–2015 colonials and ranches on full poured basements with 80 or 90 percent furnaces, many on propane, and condensers sized by the builder's rule of thumb rather than a load calculation. Manufactured homes with package units or small furnaces are common on the back roads. A good number of properties also have a pole barn or shop with a hanging heater we end up servicing.

The common wire problem is the one we solve most in Augusta Township. The 1960s–90s rural ranches and newer acreage builds on former farmland homes around Willis Road corridor were wired with four-conductor thermostat cable when central air was added, and a smart thermostat needs a fifth conductor for continuous power. Without it, the thermostat steals power through the furnace circuit, the screen goes blank during a heating call, the Wi-Fi drops, and the furnace board sees pulses it interprets as calls and starts short-cycling. On a Augusta Township install we open the furnace, find an unused conductor if one exists, land it on the C terminal at the board, and if there is nothing spare we fit a power extender kit at the furnace or fish a new cable where the wall allows. The thermostat then has real power and the furnace sees a clean call.

Our trucks are in Augusta Township most weeks, because Washtenaw County is where a large share of our work is and 48191 is a short run from Ypsilanti. The 1960s–90s rural ranches and newer acreage builds on former farmland that line the streets near Rawsonville Road south of Bemis and Lincoln High School have usually been through two or three furnaces and at least one air conditioner, often installed by different companies with different ideas about ductwork, and sorting that out is what a whole-system visit is for. We check the furnace, the coil, the condenser, the thermostat and the ducts as one system, because in a Augusta Township house they fail as one system.

Local details we plan around in Augusta Township

• DTE gas mains follow Whittaker Road, Willis Road and a few others, but a large share of the township's homes run on propane, and we size and set up equipment accordingly.
• Septic systems serve nearly every home, and condensate from a high-efficiency furnace should be neutralized or routed away from the septic line.
• High water tables along Stony Creek and Paint Creek flood crawlspaces, and we find rusted-through duct trunks and water-damaged furnaces in those areas after wet springs.
• Augusta is low, flat and open, and the land along Stony Creek and Paint Creek holds water well into spring, so basements and crawlspaces in the township's middle run damp for months. Winter wind crosses the fields with nothing in the way, and the exposed north and west sides of farmhouses and acreage homes carry heavier heating loads than their square footage would suggest. Summer humidity is high across the creek bottoms, and shade is scarce outside the older farmsteads with their windbreaks.