Use Our Cheat-sheet to Help You Decide

Your thermostat is an integral part of your heating and cooling system. It not only helps you control the temperature in your home, but it’s also key to keeping heating and cooling costs manageable. So it’s important that your thermostat is working well.

Most thermostats last about 10 years or so. After that, they can become less reliable. While a thermostat usually can’t be repaired, sometimes the problem is with another part of your heating system, and often, it’s an easy fix to get you up and running again. But sometimes, it’s not. Here’s your guide to know when to repair and when to replace.

When to Repair

• Check and replace the batteries, and double-check that you haven’t blown a fuse or tripped a breaker.
• If your furnace/boiler or air conditioner won’t start, it may be a wiring problem. Loose wires can disconnect your thermostat from your heating and cooling system. Burt’s pros should be able to fix this problem without replacing the unit.
• If your air conditioner won’t shut off, it could be a similar wiring problem, or it may be compressor trouble. (The compressor is the outdoor component of your central air conditioning or HVAC system.) Either way, our pros should be able to take care of it without replacing the thermostat.

When to Replace

• If problems and funky display issues persist after you replace your thermostat batteries, you may need a new thermostat.
• If you’re experiencing noticeably uneven cooling or heating in your home you could be experiencing a cycling problem (that is, your system turns on and off too frequently). One common cause of cycling? A broken thermostat.
• If your thermostat does not respond when you change the settings, and it’s not the batteries, it may be time for a thermostat upgrade.

Ready to Replace? Think “Smart”

If you still have the classic, mechanical type of thermostat, you can replace it. But for a relatively small investment you can upgrade to a programmable thermostat or even a smart thermostat and reap a lot of benefits.

A programmable thermostat is the next step up from the old-school units, and can help you improve efficiency and save money. These affordable and easy-to-use controls allow you to set different temperatures throughout your home on a daily and even weekly schedule.
Smart thermostats take controlling the HVAC system in your home to the next level. They work with WiFi so you can adjust temperatures remotely, using your phone or a smart home device such as Alexa. They can also “learn” your preferences and adjust automatically.

The bottom line is that, used properly, any thermostat can help you improve efficiency and lower your energy costs by as much as 10%. But upgrading to a smart thermostat makes it easier—you don’t have to think about making adjustments, so you’re more likely to achieve maximum efficiency. We recommend the Ecobee models because they use multiple sensors throughout your home to monitor the temperature in every room, as well as motion detectors to sense when someone is using a room and adjust accordingly.

Ready to upgrade your current thermostat to a Wi-Fi or smart thermostat model? We can help. Contact the heating experts at Burt’s Reliable today to get a FREE, no-obligation estimate on a smart thermostat for your North Fork or East End, LI home!