Correct Thermostat for pole barn heater

[11555wally]

I have a Sterling overheat natural gas heater in my pole barn. I have gone thru a couple of thermostats in the last couple of years. I'm thinking the ones that I am using don't like the cold temps. Down to 4 degrees F last night. I don't heat the barn all of the time, only when I'm using it. I put in a thermostat today that I had taken out of my house during an upgrade and it says the operating ambient temperature is 40 to 110 degree. It is a Honeywell Digital LCD programmable although I only operated it manually. Works today. The one that went haywire yesterday was a mechanical 2 wire thermostat which is all I need. I was wondering what the experts here would suggest. Thank you for your advice. Larry

 

[PoorUB]

Some electronic thermostats will not read temps below a certain point, maybe 40F. Once the temperature drops below that point the thermostat "goes stupid" because the sensor is out of range so it does nothing. Other than that I see no issue with using an electronic thermostat in a shop.

We used to buy a cheap electronic thermostat for temp heat on construction sights. I remember setting them on the defroster in the service truck to get them above a certain temp so they would run the temp heat when we were in a cold building.

 

[gmcgeo]

I have a Sterling overheat natural gas heater in my pole barn. I have gone thru a couple of thermostats in the last couple of years. I'm thinking the ones that I am using don't like the cold temps. Down to 4 degrees F last night. I don't heat the barn all of the time, only when I'm using it. I put in a thermostat today that I had taken out of my house during an upgrade and it says the operating ambient temperature is 40 to 110 degree. It is a Honeywell Digital LCD programmable although I only operated it manually. Works today. The one that went haywire yesterday was a mechanical 2 wire thermostat which is all I need. I was wondering what the experts here would suggest. Thank you for your advice. Larry

just a thought, prob not an issue here, but have you checked to make sure mice are not chewing the wires?

 

[11555wally]

I think the thermostat that went bad yesterday is mechanical and it goes down to 55, then if I move the stting indicator to the left further until it clicks it shuts it off completely. I jumpered the 2 wires and the furnace came on and then shut off when it reached the correct setting. Later on during the day it worked as it should have, but when it got cold again it wouldn't work.

 

[txvwnut]

What is the voltage requirement for a thermostat for your heater. If it calls for a line volt t-stat and the thermostats you are getting are low volt then they are failing due to improper voltage. I wouldn't think a natural gas heater would require a line volt t-stat but anything is possible. I have electric heat in my shop and it requires a line volt stat so I bought the most basic of stats and haven't had any issues. Now I don't get as cold as your temps but last February we got down to low double digits and my shop is only heated when I'm in it and didn't have any issues.

 

[11555wally]

Mine takes a low voltage thermostat