5 Common Symptoms that Your Thermostat Isn’t Working

5 Common Symptoms that Your Thermostat Isn’t Working

5 Ways to Tell if Your Home’s Thermostat is Malfunctioning

The discovery that your home’s heating and cooling system is having trouble can strike you with dread, and you may fear high heating and cooling system repair costs or unpleasant downtime until the problem is fixed. Thermostats are typically reliable devices, and they are designed to control the temperature setting for the HVAC unit. However, they can and do break from time to time, and a smart idea is to check your thermostat before calling an HVAC technician to your Reading neighborhood home. By doing so, you may be able to save money and fix the problem on your own.

Reading, PA thermostat-repair-2Check the Settings

You may suspect that something is wrong with your home’s heating and cooling system when the home grows uncomfortably warm or cold, and you may initially walk to the thermostat to make some adjustments. When you do so, check the settings to make sure that everything is how it should be. For example, if you want the AC to turn on, make sure that the setting is for “Cool” air and that the system is turned to the “On” position. Someone else may have come in behind you and made some changes to the thermostat without your knowledge, and there may be a very simple and easy fix to the problem that you are facing.

Turn the Unit Off and On

Another idea is to turn the unit completely off by switching it to the “Off” position. Count to ten, and listen for the system to turn off if it is currently running. After the system has been turned off for several seconds, you can turn the unit back to the “On” position. In some cases, this simple effort will address the concerns and will reboot the thermostat so that it operates effectively for you.

Raise and Lower the Temperature

Another idea that you can implement in an effort to see if your thermostat is functioning is to raise or lower the settings on the thermostat by several degrees. For example, in the summer when the air conditioner is on, lower the settings by a few degrees. In the winter when the heater is on, raise the settings by a few degrees. By doing so, the system should turn on for you. If you turn the thermostat all the way to the extreme end of the hot or cold spectrum and the unit does not turn on, there may be something wrong with your system.

Change the Batteries

Most programmable thermostat devices are battery operated, and you may not need thermostat repair or replacement at all. Instead, you may simply just need to replace the batteries. Some intelligent programmable thermostats have features that indicate when the battery power is getting lower, but others do not have this feature. You may need to replace the batteries to the unit by removing the face cover and finding the battery pack on the back of the unit. This simple step often is enough to restore the full functionality of the system, but it may take several minutes or more for the temperature to be restored to a comfortable level in the home. You can reduce the chance of this issue becoming a problem for you by making an effort to replace the batteries regularly every quarter or checking them when you replace your air filter.

Reading, PA thermostat-repairFlip the Circuit Breaker

If you think that your home needs thermostat repair, follow one last step before you make the decision to contact a heating and cooling specialist for assistance with your home’s system. A final step to take is to flip the circuit breaker linked to this device in your home as well as linked to your entire AC system. In some cases, a flipped circuit breaker may be a reason why your entire thermostat seems to have conked out.

If You Replace the Thermostat

If you have followed all of these steps and have not had any luck improving your system, you have two options. You could try to replace your HVAC system’s thermostat, or you could call a professional for a diagnostic and repair appointment. There are other things that could also be causing symptoms that you have noticed with your home’s heating and cooling system. Some Reading homeowners, however, may prefer to replace the thermostat before calling a professional to their home. This is your preference, and it may prove to be very beneficial to you. If you do replace your thermostat, pay attention to the quality of the device, and look for a product that is both affordable and reliable. Also, review the program settings so that you find one that will help you to save the most amount of money on energy costs.

If you need professional assistance with thermostat repair for your programmable thermostat, now is the time to contact The Plumbing Works in Reading, PA at (610) 929-8860. The Plumbing Works will send a technician right out to your property for an accurate diagnosis of the problem.