Kilowatt Heating, Air Conditioning and Electrical Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Thermostats’

Signs Your Thermostat Is Making Your Home Heating Worse

Monday, January 23rd, 2023
thermostat

We’ve experienced an extremely wet winter here in Southern California. That’s great news when it comes to alleviating the drought, but it’s not so great when it comes to home comfort. You’ve probably run your heating system much more often than in previous years—and maybe you’ve noticed a few oddities about it.

Heating systems can malfunction in a variety of ways, but often the malfunction comes from outside the heater, such as from a faulty thermostat. The thermostat is essential for a heating system to operate at all, so even minor issues with one can throw off the heating in your home. 

We’re going to look at signs you have a thermostat problem. You’ll still need professional assistance to correct this, and our team is the one to turn to for service for thermostats and home heating in Los Angeles, CA.

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When the Thermostat Causes Heating Problems

Monday, January 27th, 2020
old-honeywell-thermostat

“He’s a renegade cop who doesn’t play by the rules … but he gets results!” An action movie cliché from decades ago, although it gave us some fun popcorn movies. But you don’t want a renegade thermostat that doesn’t play by the rules in your house … because the results it gets won’t be the ones you want.

Renegade is a tough language to describe a thermostat. But whenever a thermostat malfunctions, reads incorrect temperatures or fails to accurately operate the heating system, it can mean discomfort and wasted energy. It may even lead to heater repair in Studio City, CA. If the thermostat isn’t doing its job, call our experts to fix or replace it.

Below are some common thermostat troubles leading to poor heating.

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The Thermostat Setback Is Still a Way to Save on Cooling

Monday, August 27th, 2018

You’ve heard the advice before: to save energy cooling your home, setback the temperature on the thermostat (i.e. set the temperature higher) during times when you’re not home or during the evening when people are asleep. The standard recommended setback temperature is 8°F. For example, if you keep the thermostat set to 78°F during the day when people are in the house and awake (this is a setting the US Department of Energy advocates for the best combination of energy savings and comfort), then the setback temperature would raise it to 86°F. If you own a programmable thermostat, you can have the setback as the standard evening/away setting and then not have to think about adjusting the temperatures after that.

Thermostat technology has advanced rapidly over the last decade, and you may have heard contrary advice: thermostat setback isn’t useful and won’t save money. But this is wrong for a number of reasons. Let’s look at why the thermostat setback is still a basic way to save money on cooling costs.

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Help, My Thermostat Is Broken!

Monday, June 4th, 2018

hand-setting-thermostatYour house starts to heat up to uncomfortable levels as the outdoor summer temperatures soar. What do you do? You probably go to the central thermostat in your home to make adjustments to it. You set a comfortable temperature (we recommend 78°F as an energy-saving setting) and then let the AC handle the rest.

But what if nothing happens? The thermostat screen is blank, or the AC compressor/fan doesn’t turn on. If your thermostat is not working, you may need the assistance of HVAC professionals to take care of the problem.

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Beware the Mismatched Thermostat and Air Conditioner!

Monday, August 28th, 2017

hand-setting-thermostatHaving a working thermostat in your home is critical. After all, you can’t run your air conditioner or heater unless you have a way to communicate with it—and that’s the job of the thermostat. It’s also beneficial to have an up-to-date thermostat that can effectively run your HVAC system, even when you’re away from home. A manual thermostat can still do a decent job, but digital programmable models are helpful for managing air conditioner and heater operation even when you aren’t home. You can come back to a cool house without having the run the air conditioner all day—all it takes is a programmable thermostat.

However, we want to caution you and all other homeowners about a trap that’s easy to fall into when it comes to looking into the most cutting-edge of climate control technology. New “smart” home control systems are all the rage now, and they do offer some amazing benefits for energy savings and comfort. But… well, we’ll get into that below.

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Why Your Digital Thermostat’s Screen Has Gone Blank

Monday, August 10th, 2015

thermostatThe thermostat is a key part of your home’s HVAC system, although it is easy to take its operation for granted. But when something goes wrong with it, you won’t be able to control your air conditioner or your heater. For example, what if you go to turn on the AC during a hot day, and find that the screen on your digital thermostat is completely blank and none of the controls respond? You will obviously want to get the thermostat working again as soon as possible. Below, we’ll look at some of the reasons this problem might occur, and what you can do about it.

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SAFE Thermostat Disposal

Friday, June 19th, 2015

 

One of the services Kilowatt provides is the removal of old thermostats and the installation of new programmable thermostats. There are a wide variety of energy-saving and Wi-Fi thermostats to choose from. We can help you make a decision about the thermostat that will work best with your lifestyle.

Los Angeles Thermostat Service

honeywell-wifi-smart-thermostat

When upgrading to a new thermostat in Los Angeles , the proper disposal of the old thermostat is always a concern. Most old thermostats contain mercury. In the United States improper disposal of mercury thermostats results in about 9.6 tons or mercury released into the environment. Kilowatt is committed to properly dispose of mercury and keep it out of our landfills.

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In its elemental form, mercury exposure can cause symptoms such as tremors, insomnia, weakness, muscle atrophy, and migraine headaches. When released into the environment, this elemental mercury can be transformed into a much more dangerous form called methyl mercury. Methyl mercury exposure is extremely harmful to fetuses, infants and children and has been linked to birth defects as well as impaired brain and nervous system development (source U.S. EPA).

Presently, there are several collection sites known as S.A.F.E. CENTERS in the Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley where mercury thermostats can be properly disposed at no cost to residents.

These S.A.F.E. CENTERS were established by the Bureau of Sanitation and are open every weekend and provide a timely and convenient way to dispose of your residential, household e-waste including your old mercury thermostat.

Here are the SAFE drop-off locations in Los Angeles:

  • Northridge: Nicole Bernson SAFE Collection Center

    10241 N. Balboa Blvd.
    Northridge, CA 91325
    Hours of Operation:
    Saturdays, and Sundays
    9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m

  • Los Angeles: LOS ANGELES-GLENDALE TREATMENT PLANT

    4600 Colorado Blvd.
    Los Angeles, CA 90039
    Hours of Operation:
    Saturdays and Sundays
    9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

  • Playa del Rey: HYPERION TREATMENT PLANT

    7660 West Imperial Highway, Gate B
    Playa Del Rey, CA 90293
    Hours of Operation:
    Saturdays and Sundays
    9:00 am – 3:00 pm

  • Sun Valley: RANDALL STREET

    11025 Randall St.
    Sun Valley, CA 91352
    Hours of Operation:
     Saturdays and Sundays
    9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

  • West Los Angeles: UCLA

    550 Charles E. Young Dr. West
    Los Angeles, CA 90095
    Hours of Operation:
    Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays
    8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
    * This site accepts electronic waste on Saturdays only.

  • Los Angeles: WASHINGTON BLVD.

    2649 E. Washington Boulevard
    Los Angeles, CA 90021
    Hours of Operation:
     Saturdays and Sundays
    9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

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