3 Tips before Installing your New Smart Thermostat
When it comes to maintaining your home or apartment, but especially your residential house, one of the most vital aspects that homeowners forget all too often is proper plumbing work. Despite how vital plumbing is to the proper overall function and quality of life in someone’s home, it is a subject that is all too often, simply forgotten about. Plus, one of the most interesting aspects of homeowners not only forgetting about their plumbing duties, until of course something goes wrong, has to be the fact that many have no idea at all that our homes heating and air conditioning (central AC in particular) are some of the most vital aspects of our plumbing system. According to the team at Elite Plumbing, known for the Best Plumber Suffolk County has to offer, one of the most vital pieces of our heating system is our thermostat. The problem is that when it comes to a thermostat upgrade Long Island residents are relatively clueless, and many have no clue that it ever needs to be repaired or changed or pretty much anything at all. And now with smart thermostats, upgrades have become extremely necessary. However, before your next smart thermostat upgrade Long Island experts at Elite Plumbing are here to educate you on all the ins and outs and what you need to know.
· Low Voltage System
The devices most commonly called “smart thermostats”, such as thermostats from Nest, Ecobee, Honeywell, etc., are only compatible with “low voltage” 24v HVAC systems. When it comes to such a thermostat upgrade Long Island residents need to make certain that their HVAC is compatible before you try to hook up a smart thermostat. “Low voltage” HVAC is often called “central heat” or “central air”. According to Elite, home of the best plumber Long Island has to offer, a good giveaway: you have one single thermostat in your house (or multiples if you’re multi-zone) that controls a large furnace that’s tucked away in your basement or garage (there might be additional accessories such as a heat pump, too). The wires are thin and multi-colored. Likewise, there are lots of systems that are not compatible at all. For example, if you have a thermostat and heater pair in every room of your home, you probably have line voltage systems (which are not compatible with the popular smart thermostats available right now).
· Enough Wires
Just because your HVAC system is compatible doesn’t necessarily mean you have enough wires. According to the team at Elite,home of the best plumber Long Island has around, for most upgrades or thermostat repairs Suffolk County with the use of smart thermostats, including the Nest, you’ll likely need a wire to plug into the C-terminal to provide continuous power to the thermostat. (Maintaining a WiFi connection requires more power than your programmable or mechanical thermostat likely needed.) This may not be present on the thermostat you’re replacing. The next thing you should do, once you determine your HVAC system is compatible in the first place, is to determine if you have a sufficient number of wires for your upgrade or thermostat repair Suffolk County homeowners need a C-wire for most of the popular smart thermostats available today, but there are many ways to deal with the absence of a C-wire.
· Take Good Photos of Your Wiring
Yes, this step is included in every smart thermostat installation manual but it’s easy to get excited and take just one or two blurry photos (or skip this step entirely).According to the team at Elite, known to offer the best thermostat repair Suffolk County has to offer, your photos should be good enough to help you put your old thermostat back into service. Obviously, no one wants to think about having to put the old thermostat back on the wall, but if something goes awry during the smart thermostat installation, you’ll be glad you can quickly “undo” and go back to what you had before. Also, if you end up having to call support, they’ll likely want to know how the old one was wired.
For more information on all there is to know about your plumbing & heating be sure to contact Elite Plumbing & HVAC today.
