If you own an older RV, one of the things that you have to keep in mind is that things are going to break.
As of this writing, the Grizz is 15 years old. While the coach is in great shape, there are items that do break down from time to time, such as the blinker switch that had to be replaced recently.
In some of our recent trips, we've had to use the furnace in the mornings, just to warm up from the overnight lows. Unfortunately, the Coleman Mach thermostat seems to have developed a bad contact in the slide switch that controls the heat pump/furnace selection. If you select heat pump, nothing would happen, or it would come on for about a minute. The action of walking away from the thermostat would cause enough vibration to jostle the switch, deselecting the heat pump. This is an opportune time to replace the thermostat with a MicroAir EasyTouch RV.
After walking through the wizard on their website, I was guided to the EasyTouch RV 356, a direct drop-in replacement for the existing Coleman Mach thermostat. The ordering process was painless, and the staff was able to answer my pre-sales questions. I noted that the initial delivery estimate was 8-10 weeks, but I received my thermostat in less than two weeks.
Installation was straightforward. Be sure to turn off all power before installing. You don't want to be burning out your shiny new thermostat, right?
After double-checking the power was removed, I was able to simply pop off the cover of the existing thermostat, remove two screws, and slowly pull the base of the old thermostat from the wall. I did it slowly because I needed to pull the existing wiring with the unit; I didn't want to lose the wires behind the wall. I then carefully unplugged the cables from the thermostat and secured them to the wall with some painters tape.
Using the supplied screw template, drill out a couple of pilot holes in the wall, on either side of the hole in the wall. Or you can (like I did) use a couple of command strips to hang the new unit. Before mounting the unit though, plug in the wires from the wall into the appropriate receptacles on the EasyTouch.
After ensuring everything was plugged in correctly, I mounted the unit on the wall, covering the hole from the previous Coleman Mach thermostat. The new one is a bit smaller than the old one, but it covered the hole nicely. At this point I powered the coach on, switching the appropriate breakers back to their operational positions.
Since I was not plugged in to shore power, I also fired up the generator at this time for testing the new thermostat. The extra power is not needed for the thermostat itself, but to power the air conditioning, furnace, etc.
After setting the equipment in the unit (under settings), I was able to fire up the furnace with no problem, and the heat pump worked as expected.
I was impressed with the simple, almost plug-and-play installation of the thermostat and think this would be a good investment for anyone with a compatible HVAC system.
The only complaint would be the phone app. Not really the app itself, but I think the problem actually was a lack of range for the bluetooth connectivity problem. If you got more than 6 feet away from the thermostat, connectivity between the phone and the device would be lost, and you have to walk back over towards the thermostat to get reconnected. Not a deal breaker, at least not for me. I need all the extra calorie burning opportunities I can find.
Overall, easy fix and upgrade for a faulty thermostat.