Do-It-Yourself Tips
Daylight Saving Time
Don’t forget, Daylight Saving Time ends once again this weekend. The clocks are set to fall back one hour overnight Sunday. The time change begins at 2 a.m. local time in the Toronto Area. Fire officials are also reminding people to change the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.
Now would also be a good time to change the batteries in your programmable thermostat as well.
If the fall is the time of year that you normally have air duct cleaning done in your home, then take a look at our current specials and a duct cleaning coupon that is available.
How To Install a Programmable Thermostat
Installing a programmable thermostat in your home or office can save you up to 15% of the energy that you are now using for your HVAC system.
This is one of the most cost-effective energy decisions that you can make for your home, and the cost of doing so is relatively inexpensive. We have found in the past that many people have considered having one installed but never got around to it either because they thought it would be an expensive undertaking, or else they wanted to do it themselves but weren’t really sure how.
A programmable thermostat will automatically set back the temperature in your home at desired times, and will turn down the heat or the cooling to whatever temperature you program in. It’s basically something that you can set and forget, and then your energy savings will add up by themselves.
This is something that most homeowners can do themselves with some simple instruction. The job itself should take no more than an hour. Let’s go over the procedure of the actual installation, but first, I’d like to mention that City Duct does supply and install programmable thermostats, and we can also install your’s for you if you’ve already bought one yourself.
If you would like more information on this service then please contact our office. It is also more cost-effective to have this service done in conjunction with your annual furnace cleaning and inspection, or when we are already in your home doing your air duct cleaning.
For this demonstration, we will be replacing a typical White Rodgers heat/cool thermostat with a Honeywell Pro4000 model. You can use whichever model you choose though, and the installation will still be pretty much the same.
The first thing you should do is to test the operation of the entire HVAC system by first turning the furnace fan on by the switch on the thermostat. Just turn it to ON, and as soon as you know that the fan comes on, then turn it off. Next, check the cooling. Set the temperature to its lowest setting and then select “cool”. You should hear your outdoor unit and your furnace fan come on immediately.
Once you know it can work then change the system switch to the off position and wait for everything to stop. Next, turn the heat all the way up and then using the system switch again, turn it to heat. Once you know that the heat works, then you’ve just tested everything that your current thermostat can do, and you now know that everthing works for sure. You next step is to go downstairs and turn off the furnace power switch.
Most people tend to skip the initial testing procedure because its their home, and they are already confident that everything will work. But when I go into someone’s home to do this job I always like to test it all first. It only takes a few minutes.
Now we will begin by first removing the cover of the old thermostat. That’s the part that has the temperature dial on it. Just pull it off, and inside you will see a secondary plate which should look similar to the picture below. You will need to unscrew the plate to access the thermostat wires and the thermostat mounting screws.
Did you ever realize how much dust can accumulate inside your thermostat?
