Purl's Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Thermostats’

Don’t Try to Install a Thermostat on Your Own! Here’s Why

Wednesday, April 21st, 2021

advanced-thermostat-on-hot-dayYou can probably go online and find instructions on how to do a DIY installation for just about anything. That doesn’t mean you should attempt all of them. It’s one thing to follow instructions on how to wire up your home’s new sound system. It’s quite another when it comes to installing a new thermostat.

We know what you’re thinking: “How complicated could putting in a thermostat be? Don’t I just have to wire it into the wall?” It’s more complicated than that, but there are other reasons why we don’t recommend going it alone on this. If you buy your own thermostat and then attempt to replace your old one with it, plenty can go wrong. Expensively wrong.

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How a Wireless “Tstat” Can Help You Save Energy and Money

Monday, March 12th, 2018

The technology behind climate control continues to improve each year. The top of the line thermostats today are advanced to a level where they’re essentially A.I. computers capable of handling home comfort on their own and maximizing energy use. The wireless or Wi-Fi thermostat is one of these fantastic advances in thermostat technology. This type of thermostat contains numerous features, such as “smart” programming and remote access.

You may be interested in wireless thermostats in Fresno, CA or elsewhere in the Central Valley as a way of boosting your household HVAC system. What are the advantages of going with a wireless “Tstat”? Let’s take a look at a few of the biggest ones.

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How You Can Benefit from a Wi-Fi Thermostat in Your Home

Monday, July 13th, 2015

Thermostat technology has come a long way since the days of the dial-and-slider manual thermostats. Today homeowners have an option to install digital, digital programmable, and “smart” thermostats. These thermostats come with features that not only make operating them more convenient and precise, but also permit greater energy savings from the home’s HVAC system.

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How a New Thermostat Will Help Your Heating

Friday, October 31st, 2014

100_0864_1It’s easy to take for granted the thermostat that runs the heating system in your home. However, a thermostat has a crucial part to play in the operation of a heater, and should it malfunction, it will mean a heating system that won’t turn on, won’t turn off, or provides uncomfortably high or low temperatures.

Even if your home’s thermostat is in excellent working condition, you may benefit from upgrading it to a more advanced unit. When you call home heating and cooling specialists to handle thermostat purchase and installation, you’ll receive a quality job that will live up to your expectations. Poor installation of thermostats can result in heating and cooling systems that run inefficiently—or may not run at all.

The NATE-certified technicians at Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning provide quality installation of thermostats to help achieve better residential heating. If you have an older model thermostat in your home, contact us today to find out more about options for upgrading.

Why a new thermostat can mean better heating

Although manual thermostat models are effective at controlling temperatures in a home, they lack the precision of newer digital models. The difference between a manual model and a standard digital model thermostat is small, however: a matter of a degree or two when it comes to temperature settings.

The big difference is when you upgrade from either of these two thermostat types to a digital programmable model. A programmable thermostat grants you control over your heating system even when you are not home. You can set the thermostat to turn the heater on a half hour before you return home, which means you can come in the door after a day at work and straight into an already warm house—without needing to waste money running the system throughout the day. This means greater comfort without a sacrifice on your heating bills.

There are different levels of complexity for programmable thermostats. Basic models usually have two program slots: one for morning and one for evening. More advanced models can allow different programming for each day of the week, and this will help you enjoy pleasant temperatures and energy-savings without needing to constantly manipulate the thermostat.

One of new innovations in thermostat technology is the Wi-Fi thermostat. These models allow you to control your heating and cooling remotely with a laptop or mobile device, from anywhere you have an Internet connection. This will help you further reduce energy consumption, and you won’t have to worry about accidentally leaving the heater or air conditioner running when you’re away from home.

Call Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning if you think your home will benefit from a more up-to-date thermostat. We will help you find the replacement unit that will give you better heating in Fresno, CA as well as increased energy savings.

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How Does a Thermostat Work?

Friday, August 16th, 2013

The thermostat serves as the control panel for your air conditioning system, allowing you to set the temperature and cool your house. Older thermostats used mercury switches to function, while newer ones are almost exclusively digital: allowing them to add convenient features like automatic activation. You may wonder how exactly they work, especially in an area like Fresno where temperatures climb during our hot Central Valley summers. The specifics depend on the type of thermostat you have.

Older thermostats placed several wires in a small vial which contained a measure of mercury. One wire stays in contact with the mercury at all times. The other two sit on either side of the vial and are attached to thermometer coils on the ends. When you adjust the heat or the cooling controls, the thermostat tips the vial, putting the mercury in contact with one of these wires and activating the heating or cooling cycle. The coils unwind until they tip the vial again, moving the mercury and shutting the system off.

Digital thermometers are much more complex, utilizing electronic components to perform the same function as mercury thermometers. Specifically, they use a device called a thermistor, which permits shifts in electrical resistance when the temperature changes. A microcontroller can gauge the level of resistance in the thermistor and convert that to an actual number. When that number is hit, the system turns the heat or the cool air on and off as needed. That allows users greater control over the process. For instance, they can set the thermostat to automatically turn on at a specific time, then turn off again when the goal temperature is reached.

When thermostats break down, it pays to call on an air conditioning professional in Fresno to enact repairs. The mercury in older thermostats is hazardous and requires a qualified air conditioning technician to approach properly. Newer thermostats may utilize a number of different components, and still require the proper know-how to properly connect to your air conditioning system. If you are experiencing problems with your thermostat, or you’d like to replace an older model with something more up to date, contact Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning. Our service technicians can travel to anywhere in the Fresno, CA area and can handle whatever air conditioning needs you may have.

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