> Mercury switch thermostats were infinitely more reliable than their successors and many are still working today 50 years later in older homes. Oh come on dud

> Mercury switch thermostats were infinitely more reliable than their successors and many are still working today 50 years later in older homes. Oh come on dude. Those things are crap and if you somehow break it, you end up with mercury on the floor. I watched a mover do just this when I was a kid. They were too careless with the sofa and knocked the thermostat off the wall, breaking the mercury vial inside it. It was a stupid piece of crap that had an electromechanical timer that made a ton of noise anyway. The electronic ones are incredibly simple. The one in my house is probably 30 years old and still works fine.