If you have a programmable thermostat running your heating/air conditioner, before calling a service tech, check the batteries. A lot of customers do not know that they usually have 2 AA batteries that run them. You should change them every time you change the batteries in your smoke detector, that way you wont forget!
Source: I used to be a service technician.
By Everett from Hornell, NY
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I wish I had seen this post 3 days ago! I came home from work at 10pm to no heat and a blank thermostat, I thought it was electric, had NO clue it was battery operated! Thank God a friend stopped by and showed me what to do! I will take your advice and change the batteries once or twice a year. Thanks!
My poor husband has been called away at 3 in the morning as well as lots of other inconvenient times because someone called about their furnace not working and it was only the batteries in the thermostat! Now he asks them to check that first while he has them on the phone.
Everette, you are so right. I work for an HVAC company and get a lot of calls for this very reason. We don't always have time to explain it to them over the phone, but many times we do and will walk them thru it so they can avoid a $79 service call. Our techs explain this to the customers when we install them, but people forget or people have them installed by others and they don't get the explanation.
This tip could not be more timely for me,too!
Just last week, my DH was away on a business trip to Illinois ( average temp that week a snowy 30-ish) and I was home in S. Florida where we're up to fairly humid mid 80's.
Most of the winter our AC's been off, no need for it. But that week it was time to put it back on. The digital display on the thermostat was morphing from dark numerals to nearly transparent and the room temp was off by about five degrees, so the AC wasn't kicking on when it should.
When the hubby called me one night I told him what was going on and that's when I got my battery reality check. He said I was lucky he told me what to do because I'd been busting his chops about freezing up there in the snow while we were back to tropical mode down here.
Probably would have served me right, LOL.
Anyhow, Everett, great tip!
Thank You for the info never knew there was a battery in there!
I just changed the batteries in my thermostat but it is now saying 15 degrees and will not reset
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