I told the buyers to walk across the floor to the thermostat and switch it on.

Only cost me about $50 per baseboard, another $100 roll of pex, $200 for romex and breaker for box, and $25 thermostat.

HVAC guy just called me to let me know they had the intake vents covered with plastic and the thermostat set at 60 on the 1st floor.

(as opposed to installing inside the wall) Also, do you recommend remote thermostats to limit wiring?

Personally, I just carry all the finishing materials that I use over and over on every house:- Deadbolts, Door knobs- Light fixtures- Fans- Faucets- Mailboxes- Sinks- Switches, Receptacle- Switch Plates, Outlet Covers- Mini-Blinds- Thermostats- HVAC Registers, Returns- EtcThese things don't take up that much space.The one thing that I do keep in inventory (and buy in bulk) that does take up space is appliances.

So you might see some back-up heating system even with geothermal, if my hunch is on target.I vaguely recall something about thermostats being a bit different when they are operating with some of these alternative heat sources; you might check the model number of the thermostat and see what it leads to.Lastly, in my area the source of heat is part of the tax assessor records, so that you could look it up in the event of concerns about heating fuel source.

Did you hear Dave Lindahl's story about his tenants who'd put ice buckets on thermostat so that it would keep working 24/7.

Takes some playing with the hot water heater to get this into that range; I always try to take the reading just after the hot water heater has turned off from a heating cycle, since that is when the water has been heated to the thermostat setting.Sorry that I don't have much else to suggest on this; I suspect at some point you will end up evicting this tenant.

If we can find one with a thermostat.

Often times tenants are not mindful of being efficient with utilities, dressing up or down rather than keeping the thermostat set.