Most Common Issues with Your Thermostat

At Right Now Air, we provide reliable heating and cooling services to the residents of Las Vegas looking to manage the comfort of their homes and office spaces. We have a flexible 24/7 operation, giving all our customers the opportunity to take advantage of our skilled and friendly techs.We are so confident in our service that if we cannot make our clients happy they do not have to pay for the service. We believe the most important service we offer the Las Vegas community is education. We’re ready to advise everyone on the best ways to manage their heating and cooling systems so they don’t end up spending a lot of money on corrections later.We are going to look at the all-important thermostat. Without it, the comfort of your home is diminished. We’ll cover the most common issues and how to diagnose some of those problems.

• Never work on the thermostat or your systems with the power on. Some systems have a power switch that may just be turned off causing the system to not operate.
• Before looking at the thermostat make sure:
  • To check and see if all filters are clean on the unit.
  • The breaker is on and or the power switch if you have one.

• If you’re using a wireless system, check the batteries. Systems typically use lithium batteries. If your thermostat runs inconsistently, somehow the wrong kind of batteries may have been installed. A wireless system will drain regular batteries quickly, especially if it’s backlit.

• Location is also a factor. This is important because the device’s heat gain and loss is dependent on its location. Ideally, you want your thermostat to react to temp changes in the air. In a lot of cases, it could be reacting to temp changes in the wall.

• Thermostats exposed to sunlight, bright lights or installed near a door may react to these conditions and unnecessarily alter temps. Thermostats should be located where they can react to air returning to handlers for conditioning. Generally the thermostat is located when feet of the return air grill for proper operation.

• Thermostats should not be in the vicinity of cold or hot pipes, fireplaces, radiant heaters or other devices that produce heat.

• Holes in the wall behind the thermostat can cause the thermostat to sense the wrong temp and not operate correctly.If there are any gaps where cold air may be coming through the hole with the wiring a small piece of tape or insulation can be used to fill the gap.

• If you have a mechanical thermostat that has a mercury bulb it is very important that the T-stat is level for accurate operation.

• If you have a programmable thermostat that seems to frequently lose its programs, this could be the result of the device’s age. Older models use power from heating and air equipment. Every time power is lost, programs will be lost as well. We’ve also found many users have a tough time getting their thermostats programmed at all. The only practical and affordable option here is to replace the device with a modern unit that stores programs safely even if there were something like a power outage. In this scenario, should your heating and cooling equipment temporarily die, you won’t lose programs.

• If the light isn’t working on the thermostat, but everything else seems fine, it may be time to replace the batteries. If that does not work then it is time to replace the thermostat.

• If the base is loose, tighten the screws. Also, make sure terminal screws are secure.

• If you are working with an older thermostat that controls your system, consider getting a digital thermostat. It will increase the efficiency of your heating and cooling operations.

If you’re having any issues or want to get some answers regarding your thermostat, pick up the phone and get in touch with rightnowair.com. Our goal is to make sure you have peace of mind knowing your systems are making your environments as comfortable as they should be.