Recognizing Common Summer Thermostat Problems

When it’s summertime, the living should be easy, but that’s not the case when you have problems with the air conditioner in our climate. A good many things can go wrong when you use the A/C continuously as we do in Corpus, and among them is the thermostat.

Some homeowners feel competent to tackle thermostat issues themselves, but as these devices grow more sophisticated, that’s probably not a good idea. If something goes wrong with your programmable or smart thermostat, you’ll want to call a technician for help. Even with analog and simple digital models, you might want to get a technician to look at it to make sure it’s calibrated right and working as it should with your system.

Let’s take a look at a few common thermostat problems.

1. Unit won’t turn on. This could be about the thermostat, but check the power supply first. Are you getting power? Is the unit turned to “on”? Is the thermostat set lower than the indoor temperature so that it will come on? Try all these things, and if it still won’t come on, read on.

2. No power to the thermostat. If your unit is battery operated, you can try changing batteries. If it is wired to a power source, it’s best to call an HVAC technician. Electricity is dangerous, and a trained professional is your best bet for correcting the problem safely.

3. Smart thermostat freezes. This can happen during a software update. A note about smart thermostats: If you have a “learning” type smart thermostat, you may have some performance issues due to the location of the sensor. If the sensor is located in a part of the house where you seldom pass by, the thermostat may “think” that you’re not home a lot more than actually occurs, and tell your HVAC system to deliver less heating and cooling than you would like. You may need to have the thermostat moved.

If you’d like to discuss how an HVAC technician can help you with common thermostat problems, contact CCAC. We serve the Coastal Bend area.