5 Ways to Tell if Your Thermostat is Malfunctioning
If you live in an area of the country where the climate changes from season to season you understand the purpose of a well-functioning heating and cooling system in your home. When it is working correctly it will heat and cool the Louisville home correctly during the winter and summer while also help save money on utility bills each month.
When you have issues with your HVAC system the first thing you usually think to check is your furnace or your air conditioning unit. While these two things are often the cause of many problems with your heating and cooling system, there is another culprit that could be affecting the effectiveness of your HVAC system, the thermostat.
It is true that most programmable thermostats do have their own set of problems and when they have problems they can have a disastrous result on the HVAC system in your home. This is why you should always be sure that your thermostat is working correctly to heat and cool your home while not wasting money on your monthly utility bills.
Here are some things that you should look for to make sure that your thermostat is working at an optimum level at all times.
The furnace is not cycling correctly.
If your furnace is turning on and off more than it should or not staying on as long as it should you could be having problems with your thermostat. A faulty programmable thermostat could be sending false readings to the furnace or air conditioning unit and cause it to have this problem.
Many people associate this issue as a problem with the furnace or the air conditioner themselves. In many cases, it can be a simple problem with the thermostat that is an easy fix.
Dirty Thermostat
Open the box on your programmable thermostat and look inside at the wiring and the components. If they are dirty or have residue on them they could rust out and not work correctly.
By regularly cleaning out your thermostat you can go a long way towards ensuring that it is working properly at all times. This isn’t something that needs to be done every day or even every week. Just a periodical cleaning of the unit should get the job done. It’s amazing what a little upkeep can do for your thermostat unit.
Incorrectly Calibrated Anticipator
You may not even know what an anticipator is. That’s okay. Most people don’t. The anticipator is the small metal tab that pokes out from your temperature gauge on the inside of your thermostat. Many people do not know what this tab does. It helps tell the thermostat how many amperes the furnace is using. Some problems can be fixed by just slightly adjusting the anticipator in either direction to reset it.
If the problem consists, you may need to consult your user’s manual to get it in the right setting. If that doesn’t work you may need to contact a licensed thermostat repair professional. They can usually fix any problem that arises with your thermostat, no matter how simple or complex it may be.
Where is the thermostat located?
Many homeowners overlook the location of their thermostat when trying to diagnose what the problem is with their HVAC system. Think about it.
The thermostat is basically the brain of your heating and cooling system. It collects information about the environment in the house and then controls the furnace and air conditioner to regulate the temperature in the home. If it is placed where it may be getting a bad readout on the temperature it is going to send incorrect information.
Thermostats that are placed in drafty or colder areas are going to cause the furnace to run more than it needs to and overheat the home. If it is placed in direct sunlight it may think the home is much colder than it is and cause the air conditioner to run when it doesn’t need to be on.
These problems can both be avoided by changing the location of your thermostat. You will almost certainly require the help of a thermostat repair professional in order to move your thermostat successfully.
The Interface
If your electronic thermostat is constantly turning off and back on there could be an electrical problem with the unit. This could be caused by faulty wiring or power issues like bad batteries. You can sometimes solve this problem by turning the unit off and back on again. If this doesn’t work try doing a hard reset of the thermostat. If neither of these troubleshooting methods solves the problem, you will need to contact a pro.
Luckily, most of these types of problems are covered by the manufacturer’s warranty on the unit as long as the problem wasn’t caused by human interference of some kind.
These are 5 of the main ways you can tell that your thermostat might not be working correctly. The thermostat is the brains of your entire heating and cooling system. It is important that it is functioning properly in order to properly regulate the climate in your Louisville home and prevent your utility bills from skyrocketing.
Many people overlook the thermostat when they are having issues with their HVAC system. Most of these problems seem to occur with the changing of the season as the furnace or the air conditioner unit is just being used for the first time.
If you are having problems with your HVAC system don’t overlook your thermostat when it comes to diagnosing the problem. Problems with the thermostat can often be easy to fix and sometimes you can just do it yourself. For bigger problems with your thermostat be sure to contact a thermostat repair professional in your area.
For outstanding thermostat repair services in your Louisville, KY home, call Tom Drexler Plumbing, Air, and Electric at (502) 456-5982.
