One of my favorite stories. I'm sure I read it in Earl Proulx's book. the Yankee Handyman. I looked for it later, but couldn't find it.
Earl had installed a furnace, for an old lady who'd never had a furnace. She kept calling to complain it was too hot, or too cold. Well, she'd think it was too cold, and she'd run the stat up to 95, and then think it was too hot, and back it down to 55. Finally, Earl pulled the sofa out, and ran a new wire, to a new stat, on the baseboard but hidden behind the sofa. Set it for 72, and left the old stat, not wired in. Problem solved.
When my sister was 21 or so, she and her boy friend lived in apartment, front of a building, second floor. The other upstairs guy had the thermostat, and he'd turn it way down before going to work. They would freeze all day, with no heat. They tried talking to him about it, but he kept turning it down. They asked me to pick the lock on his apartment, and make them a key, so they could turn it up while he was gone, and back down before he got home. I refused. I considered running a new wire to a fixed point stat in the common hall, but I never did (not my house, and didn't have permission from the landlord). Just like the old lady, leave the other stat abandonned.
Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus