the joys of homeownership, part 23985

There's always something to do with a house, isn't there? If something's not broken, something needs to be painted, rearranged, changed, ectetera.

Our drama this week was our thermostat. Last spring when we were doing our major renovations, we bought a programmable thermostat because I was convinced that a) it would be a cinch to install and b) it would save us lots of money on our electric bill. CJ was not convinced of either, especially that he would be able to install it himself.

After much persuasion -- rather, nagging -- CJ finally installed the thermostat. We didn't notice much savings on our electrical bill (probably because I like to keep it a chilly 67 degrees in the summer), but he seemed to do it right.

Fast forward to fall.

Up until this week, the indoor temperature remained in the 70s, so I hadn't turned on our heat. I finally broke down a few nights ago and flipped the heat on. Within an hour, it went from 69 degrees to 79 degrees, when I had it set for 70. I figured I probably had it on the wrong setting, but I still couldn't get it to cool down, so I shut it off for the night. We waited a few days, turned it on, and it got up to 81 degrees in about an hour. CJ checked the owners' manual, which said for programmable thermostats with more than four wires (ours had seven), it was strongly advised that you have a certified electrician handle the installation.

Then came the big I told you so.

Thanks to Angie's List, CJ was able to find an electrician who came out this afternoon and was able to install a new thermostat (non-programmable, but he explained with our heat pump, we really wouldn't save much money with a programmable thermostat ... who knew we even had a heat pump?), hopefully saving our house from going up in flames.

Lesson learned? There are just some things you pay someone else to do. We're adding this to our growing list. And maybe through our pocketbook is the best way for us to learn.