People often have a love/hate relationship with their thermostats. Why? Because some thermostats are easy to work while others are quite complicated. One thing they all have in common is telling you the temperature in your home. But is it accurate and are there some things that affect its accuracy? The resounding answer is YES!
Your thermostat is the main control of your HVAC unit. For the unit to know that more heating or air conditioning is needed, your unit MUST get that information from your thermostat. Depending on where your thermostat is located, could affect the registering temperature. If the thermostat is reading the temperature incorrectly, your unit can cycle on and off too often or simply short cycle. This causes your unit to use more energy than needed which can raise your electric bill.
Be Familiar with Your Thermostat
One of the most important things to do concerning your thermostat is to make sure you know how to work it correctly and how to set your thermostat temperatures properly. Depending on the complexity of your thermostat, you need to acquaint yourself with its features by looking over the manual. If you do not have a manual or cannot find yours, contact your local heat and air company (like us!) and we can try to find a copy for you.
Temperature Settings:
After you have gotten to know various features of your thermostat, make sure your temperatures are set correctly. Depending on the season, your daytime temperatures and nighttime temperatures may vary. The temperatures can also vary if your house is vacant or occupied during different times of the day. The best thermostat for someone who is gone for long periods over a day would benefit greatly from a programmable thermostat. You can program this type of thermostat to your own personal schedule so your unit is not coming on when it is not needed.
You never want to vary your temperatures more than 5-8 degrees when your house is not occupied versus being occupied. This is simply because your unit will have to work extra hard to heat up or cool down once you get home. If your unit is working too hard to adjust to a big temperature difference, the savings you could have gotten, fly out the window. Although we realize that everyone has their own idea of a comfortable temperature, we recommended certain temperatures for maximum efficiency on your unit. The following temperatures are based on the occupancy of your home:
1. Unoccupied: Winter: 65° Occupied: 70°
2. Unoccupied: Summer: 78° Occupied: 73°
Other Heat Sources:
Another aspect to look at if you don’t think your thermostat is registering the right temperature is if there is another heat source going in your home. Things like space heaters, fireplaces, ovens, and any other heating device can affect the temperature in your home and cause your thermostat to be incorrect.
Battery Powered, Hard-Wired, or Simply Dead:
Yet another issue that seems to be popular with thermostat issues are batteries. Did you even know that your thermostat could have batteries? Some units are hard-wired in, but not all, so that is an important must-know in your home. If you question your batteries, change them. Thermostats are like anything else that is electronic and they can wear out after a while or get hit with a power surge. If your thermostat is stuck or completely blank, it might be time for a new one.
If none of these thermostat issues seem to be the problem, then it might be time to call a technician.
For more information on thermostats, please feel free to call us. 405-372-COOL
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