when painting in the winter months does the thermstat have to be set at a certain degree for it to work?

Yes, it should say on the paint can what the temp should be. If it is too cold the paint will take forever to dry.

You should have adequate ventilation and the temperature should stay the same for 48 hours.

I can understand why you are disgusted. I'm not sure how to answer your question. If you are talking about painting the directions on the can usually tells you what temperature is ideal. Usually 50 F degrees or above. But reading your full text you might be talking about a specific product. "we used the bins on the drywall" is ambiguos to me. I'd advise reading the directions again to see if you missed something. If you can supply more detail I'd be happy to try to help. Good luck with your cat odor problem.

You write in the past tense saying that you have applied the product. On the covering label, specific application recommendations can usually be found. Otherwise, call the manufacturer.

As long as heating system maintains temperature in cold winter months, you should fine. Check paint can labels. What is bins on the drywall? Have you removed the odor? In some states you have some recource to be compensated if the seller did not disclose the odor problem to you.

I think that the amonia smell that you have may be one, or more, of the former owners cats having sprayed. You may want to spray around all areas with some odor eliminator such as "Odor B Gone" Lowes sells similar products that will remove the odor and there should not be any residual odor. Then you can put on the primer at any temperature 45 degrees on up. Just dries faster if warmer.