Your Thermostat Is Lying to You
And Please Stop Buying Nest Thermostats
Your thermostat says 76°.
You’re hot.
Your wife says she’s hot.
The bedroom is hot.
The dog has relocated to the tile floor.
You have now walked past the thermostat approximately 37 times hoping the number will have changed.
It hasn’t.
So you do the only logical thing.
You turn it down to 68°.
Nothing happens.
Fine.
65°.
Still nothing.
Okay, asshole.
60°.
There.
Now it knows you mean business.
Unfortunately, your air conditioner does not.
Welcome to one of the most misunderstood devices in your house.
That little box on the wall isn’t measuring the temperature of your entire home. It doesn’t necessarily know whether your bedroom is comfortable. It doesn’t know that your wife is threatening to move back north.
And on most conventional HVAC systems, setting it to 60° doesn’t make your air conditioner cool any faster.
It’s basically a temperature sensor with authority.
And sometimes, frankly, too much authority.
“But the Thermostat Says 72°”
Yes.
Right there.
At the thermostat.
Your thermostat measures temperature where the thermostat is located.
That’s it.
It doesn’t have tiny representatives stationed throughout your house reporting back from the master bedroom.
If your thermostat is in a central hallway with good airflow while your bedroom has poor airflow, a large west-facing window, closed doors, inadequate return air, or duct problems, the thermostat may be perfectly happy while you’re lying in bed sweating.
The thermostat isn’t necessarily broken.
It’s just reporting what it sees.
And what it sees is approximately three square inches of hallway.
Your Thermostat Might Actually Be Off
Thermostats aren’t laboratory instruments.
Sometimes we’ll put our temperature probe next to a thermostat and discover that the thermostat and our calibrated measurement don’t agree exactly.
A small difference doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong.
But location matters too.
A thermostat mounted near a heat-producing appliance, exterior wall, supply register, doorway, direct sunlight, or other unusual condition can be influenced by its surroundings.
That’s why thermostat placement matters.
The thermostat is supposed to provide a reasonable representation of the space you’re trying to condition.
Put it in a bad location and you’ve essentially appointed an unreliable witness to run your HVAC system.
Humidity Is Why 75° Can Feel Great or Terrible
This is especially important in Florida.
Temperature is only part of comfort.
Humidity matters enormously.
A home at 75°F with controlled indoor humidity can feel very comfortable.
That same 75°F at high humidity can feel completely different.
That’s because your body’s ability to cool itself depends partly on evaporation.
It’s also why simply chasing a lower thermostat number isn’t always the solution to a comfort complaint.
Sometimes the better question isn’t:
“Why isn’t my house 72?”
It’s:
“What’s the humidity?”
This becomes especially important with equipment sizing, airflow, runtime and variable-capacity systems.
Comfort is more complicated than one number on the wall.
Turning It Down to 60° Does Not Make It Cool Faster
We need to discuss this.
You come home.
It’s 80° inside.
You want 72°.
So you set the thermostat to 60°.
Why?
Because somewhere deep inside the human brain is the belief that the air conditioner will see that number and say:
“OH SHIT. HE’S SERIOUS.”
It will not.
On a conventional single-stage air conditioner, the equipment is basically being told:
We need cooling.
The compressor doesn’t suddenly find another 40 horsepower because you’re angry.
It’s already cooling at its designed capacity.
Setting the thermostat dramatically lower usually just means the system will continue running after it reaches the temperature you actually wanted—assuming you forget to turn it back up.
Two-stage and variable-capacity systems are more sophisticated and can adjust capacity under certain conditions.
But even then, violently pressing the down arrow isn’t an HVAC performance upgrade.
And Now We Need to Talk About Nest
Oh boy.
We know some of you love them.
We’re happy for you.
We would also respectfully request:
Please stop buying Nest thermostats.
Not because every Nest thermostat is terrible.
Not because they can’t operate an HVAC system correctly when properly selected, configured, wired and installed.
They can.
Our problem is what we see in the field.
HVAC technicians encounter thermostats every day.
And there are certain thermostats that make you walk into a house, see what’s on the wall and immediately think:
Of course.
For us, Nest is one of them.
“My AC Was Working Fine Yesterday.”
It’s 94° outside.
The homeowner says the AC isn’t cooling.
We start troubleshooting.
The outdoor unit works.
The air handler works.
Refrigeration looks fine.
Electrical looks fine.
Then we look at the thermostat configuration.
And somehow…
Somewhere…
For reasons known only to the thermostat…
We’re configured wrong.
Or the equipment type isn’t set correctly.
Or the staging isn’t behaving the way we expect.
Or something changed after setup.
And one of our favorites:
The heat-pump configuration.
Nothing quite improves a Florida summer afternoon like discovering that the thermostat controlling your heat pump has decided we’re going to explore some new settings today.
It’s 96° outside.
The homeowner wants cooling.
And we’re standing at the thermostat thinking:
Why are we talking about heat right now?
Heat Pumps Make Thermostat Setup More Important
A heat pump isn’t controlled exactly like every other HVAC system.
Depending on the equipment, the thermostat may need to understand things like:
Is this a heat pump?
How many stages?
What controls the reversing valve?
When should auxiliary heat operate?
What type of indoor equipment is installed?
How should the fan be controlled?
A thermostat isn’t simply two wires that say HOT and COLD.
Configuration matters.
Get it wrong and you can have perfectly functional HVAC equipment behaving very strangely because it’s receiving the wrong instructions.
This is one reason we don’t love homeowners randomly replacing thermostats as though they’re swapping a light switch.
Sometimes it works perfectly.
Sometimes we’re at your house Friday afternoon trying to determine why your air conditioner developed a personality.
“But Nest Installed Itself!”
We know.
That’s sort of the problem.
Modern smart thermostats are designed to make installation accessible to homeowners.
That’s convenient.
But your thermostat is connected to a control system that may include a heat pump, multiple stages, auxiliary electric heat, variable-speed equipment, communicating controls, accessories and manufacturer-specific requirements.
The thermostat needs to know what it’s controlling.
And the person installing it needs to know too.
A thermostat can be beautifully mounted, connected to Wi-Fi, displaying tomorrow’s weather and controlling the HVAC system incorrectly.
But hey.
It knows it’s going to rain Tuesday.
The Thermostat Isn’t Always the Problem Either
Now that we’ve spent several paragraphs abusing the poor thermostat, we should be fair.
A lot of thermostat complaints aren’t thermostat problems at all.
“My thermostat says 72 but my bedroom is hot.”
Could be airflow.
“My thermostat keeps running.”
Could be the system struggling to satisfy the load.
“My thermostat says cooling but nothing is happening.”
Could be an equipment failure.
“My thermostat went blank.”
Could be a tripped float switch because the condensate drain is clogged.
“My thermostat isn’t reaching temperature.”
Could be ductwork, refrigerant, airflow, equipment sizing, building load or any number of other things.
The thermostat is often simply the messenger.
And homeowners have been shooting the messenger since Honeywell put the first one on a wall.
Smart Thermostats Aren’t Necessarily Smarter HVAC Systems
This distinction matters.
A smart thermostat can give you useful features:
Remote access.
Scheduling.
Energy information.
Occupancy features.
Temperature sensors.
Automation.
That’s all great.
But adding a Wi-Fi thermostat doesn’t magically make conventional HVAC equipment variable capacity or communicating.
Sometimes you’re putting a very sophisticated user interface on equipment that still ultimately needs:
Cooling: yes or no.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
Just understand what you’re buying.
And Some Equipment Really Does Need Its Own Thermostat
This is becoming increasingly important.
Modern inverter and communicating HVAC systems may use proprietary controls that do much more than simply turn equipment on and off.
The thermostat or controller may communicate operating information directly with the indoor and outdoor equipment.
It can be an integral part of how the system manages capacity, airflow, humidity, diagnostics and staging.
Replacing that control with your favorite smart thermostat may sacrifice functionality—or may not be appropriate at all, depending on the equipment.
Sometimes the thermostat that came with the system isn’t the prettiest option at Best Buy.
Use it anyway.
Your air conditioner doesn’t care about your home automation aesthetic.
So What Thermostat Should You Buy?
Here’s our boring technician answer:
The one that’s appropriate for your equipment.
Not necessarily the one with the prettiest screen.
Not necessarily the one your electric company is giving away.
Not necessarily the one your neighbor installed.
And definitely not necessarily the one that has the best app.
Start with the HVAC system.
What type of equipment do you have?
What controls does the manufacturer require or recommend?
Is it conventional, multi-stage, inverter or communicating?
Is it a heat pump?
Are there accessories involved?
Then choose the thermostat.
The equipment should determine the control—not the other way around.
But Seriously. Stop Touching It.
Your house is 74°.
You set it to 72°.
The system comes on.
Five minutes later:
Still 74°.
So you set it to 70°.
Seven minutes later:
73°.
Clearly we’re losing.
68°.
Your spouse walks by.
“Why is it set to 68?”
You explain that you’re helping it.
You are not helping it.
Let the system operate.
Air conditioners move heat out of a house over time. They don’t instantly replace all the air in your home with refrigerated air.
Especially during peak Florida conditions, bringing the temperature down can take time.
Your Thermostat Has One Impossible Job
Think about what we’re asking this little thing to do.
It’s mounted on one wall.
In one location.
Taking one temperature measurement.
And we’ve appointed it the official representative for:
The kitchen.
The living room.
The master bedroom.
The guest bedroom.
The upstairs.
The downstairs.
The room with six windows.
The room facing west.
The room where someone closed the register because they were cold three months ago.
And we’re furious when all those spaces aren’t exactly the same temperature.
Your thermostat isn’t omniscient.
It’s doing its best.
Unless it’s a Nest.
Then we’re still suspicious.
The Bottom Line
Your thermostat is one part of a much larger comfort system.
If the temperature on the screen doesn’t match how your home feels, don’t immediately assume you need a new thermostat—or a new air conditioner.
Look at the whole picture.
Temperature.
Humidity.
Airflow.
Ductwork.
Equipment operation.
Thermostat location.
Thermostat configuration.
And the type of HVAC system being controlled.
Sometimes the thermostat really is wrong.
Sometimes the thermostat is completely right and the problem is somewhere else.
Sometimes you simply need to give the air conditioner time to do its job.
And sometimes an HVAC technician walks into your house during a July heat wave, looks at the thermostat on the wall and quietly thinks:
Please don’t be a Nest.
Then we smile.
Grab the meter.
And figure out what the hell is actually going on. 😂
because nest homeowners are very defensive about nest… so lets use that
😂 YES. Don’t soften it. Make their defensiveness part of the joke.
The Nest section should start almost like we’re knowingly picking a fight:
And Now We Need to Talk About Your Nest
Before we continue, we’d like to address the Nest owners.
We know.
You love your Nest.
Your Nest has been installed for six years.
Your Nest has never given you a single problem.
Your Nest saved you $14,000 on your electric bill last Tuesday.
Your Nest raised your children.
Your Nest was best man at your wedding.
We understand.
Please stop emailing us.
HVAC technicians are allowed to dislike your thermostat. 😂
And we do.
Not because every Nest thermostat is bad. Millions of them operate HVAC systems perfectly well every day.
We dislike them because of what we encounter in the field.
There’s a particular feeling an HVAC technician gets when it’s 96° outside, the homeowner says the equipment has been acting completely insane, we’ve tested half the system…
…and then we walk down the hallway.
Oh.
There’s a Nest on the wall.
Of course there is.
“It Can’t Be the Nest.”
We haven’t said anything yet.
But you’ve already told us.
“I’ve had that Nest for five years and it’s never caused a problem.”
Okay.
We’re just looking at it.
“I installed it myself and it’s worked perfectly.”
Understood.
Can we touch it?
“What do you need to touch it for?”
😂😂😂
This phenomenon needs to be documented.
Nobody is more emotionally attached to an HVAC control than a Nest owner.
Honeywell owners don’t care.
You can tell a Honeywell owner:
“I think your thermostat is bad.”
They’ll say:
“Okay. How much is another one?”
Tell a Nest owner you might want to investigate their thermostat:
“ABSOLUTELY NOT.”
Sir, we’re not taking it behind the house and shooting it.
We’d just like to check the equipment configuration.
Because Sometimes the Nest Is Doing Something Weird
And this is where we become serious again.
The thermostat is part of the HVAC control system.
It needs to be properly wired and properly configured for the equipment it’s controlling—especially with heat pumps, multiple stages and auxiliary heat.
And we have encountered Nest installations where the configuration is simply wrong.
Which can create some wonderfully confusing service calls.
It’s the middle of a Florida heat wave.
The homeowner says:
“The AC is blowing hot air.”
Everything was fine yesterday.
We start testing equipment.
Eventually we get to the thermostat.
And somewhere along the way, the thermostat configuration isn’t what it should be.
Now we’re standing in a 90° house having a conversation about heat-pump settings in July.
Wonderful.
Exactly where we hoped the afternoon would go.
“But It Worked Fine for Five Years.”
And that’s useful information.
Seriously.
We want to know that.
It helps with the diagnosis.
But it doesn’t mean we’re forbidden from testing the thermostat.
Something working yesterday is not proof that it is working correctly today.
That’s actually why we’re at your house.
Your air conditioner worked yesterday too.
😂
So if your technician wants to check the Nest, let the poor bastard check the Nest.
We’re not judging you.
Okay.
We’re judging you a little.
But we’re still going to diagnose the system properly.
And if the Nest isn’t the problem?
We’ll tell you.
You may continue your beautiful life together.
We wish you both many happy years.
That makes the eventual callback at the end way funnier:
Sometimes an HVAC technician walks into your house during a July heat wave, looks down the hallway, sees that familiar little round thermostat and quietly thinks:
Oh no.
The homeowner notices.
“Don’t even say it. I love my Nest.”
We haven’t said anything.
Grab the meter.
It’s going to be a long afternoon. 😂
That’s MUCH better than simply “Nest sucks.” We’re making fun of the bizarre technician-vs-Nest-owner relationship, which Nest owners themselves will probably laugh at while simultaneously commenting:
“Mine has worked perfectly for eight years!!!”
Which, incidentally, will be the funniest possible comment section. 😂
Ok cool. give me the whole article and the seo
Your Thermostat Is Lying to You
Why the Number on the Wall Isn’t the Whole Story — and Please Stop Buying Nest Thermostats
Your thermostat says 76°.
You’re hot.
Your wife says she’s hot.
The bedroom is hot.
The dog has relocated to the tile floor.
You have now walked past the thermostat approximately 37 times hoping the number will have changed.
It hasn’t.
So you do the only logical thing.
You turn it down to 68°.
Nothing happens.
Fine.
65°.
Still nothing.
Okay, asshole.
60°.
There.
Now it knows you mean business.
Unfortunately, your air conditioner does not.
Welcome to one of the most misunderstood devices in your home.
That little box on the wall isn’t measuring the temperature of your entire house. It doesn’t necessarily know whether your bedroom is comfortable. It doesn’t know that the upstairs feels like a different climate zone.
And on most conventional single-stage HVAC systems, setting it to 60° doesn’t make the air conditioner cool any faster.
Your thermostat is basically a temperature sensor with authority.
And sometimes we give it way too much credit.
“But the Thermostat Says 72°”
It probably does.
Right there.
Where the thermostat is.
That’s what it’s measuring.
Your thermostat does not have tiny employees stationed throughout your house radioing back:
“Master bedroom reporting in. We’re three degrees warmer back here.”
It’s measuring the conditions at or around one location.
If the thermostat is in a central hallway with good airflow while your bedroom has poor airflow, a large west-facing window, closed doors, inadequate return air, duct problems, or a different heat load, the thermostat may be perfectly satisfied while you’re lying in bed wondering why you’re sweating.
The thermostat isn’t necessarily lying.
It’s telling you what it sees.
And what it sees may not represent the entire house.
Your Thermostat Might Actually Be Lying a Little
Thermostats aren’t laboratory instruments.
Sometimes we’ll place a temperature probe near a thermostat and find that our measurement and the thermostat don’t agree exactly.
A small difference doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong.
But thermostat location matters too.
Direct sunlight, an exterior wall, nearby supply air, appliances, doors, drafts, and other environmental factors can influence what the thermostat senses.
That’s why thermostat placement matters.
You’re asking one sensor to represent the comfort of an entire house.
At least give the poor thing a fighting chance.
75° Isn’t Always 75°
Welcome to Florida.
Temperature is only part of comfort.
Humidity matters. A lot.
A home at 75°F with well-controlled humidity can feel fantastic.
That same house at 75°F with high indoor humidity can feel completely different.
That’s because your body’s perception of comfort isn’t based solely on dry-bulb temperature. Humidity affects evaporation from your skin and therefore how warm or cool the environment feels.
This is why we sometimes walk into a house where the homeowner says:
“It’s 73 degrees in here and I’m still uncomfortable.”
And they’re absolutely right.
The thermostat might be accurately reporting 73°.
But if the humidity is high, lowering the thermostat another three degrees may be treating the symptom instead of figuring out why the house isn’t comfortable.
Equipment sizing, airflow, runtime, ductwork and equipment operation can all affect humidity control.
Comfort is more complicated than one number on a screen.
“I Turned It Down to 60 So It Would Cool Faster.”
We need to talk about this.
You come home.
It’s 80° inside.
You want 72°.
So you set the thermostat to 60°.
Why?
Because somewhere deep inside the human brain is the belief that your air conditioner will see 60° and say:
“OH SHIT. HE’S SERIOUS.”
It will not.
On a conventional single-stage system, when the thermostat calls for cooling, the equipment operates at its designed cooling capacity.
It doesn’t see 60° and unlock SPORT MODE.
Setting the thermostat dramatically lower generally just tells the system to continue cooling until it reaches that lower setpoint.
If you want 72°, set it to 72° and let the equipment work.
Two-stage and variable-capacity systems are more sophisticated and can change capacity based on their controls and operating conditions.
But even then, angrily pressing the down arrow 14 times isn’t a performance modification.
And Now We Need to Talk About Your Nest
Oh boy.
Before we continue, we’d like to address the Nest owners.
We know.
You love your Nest.
Your Nest has been installed for six years.
Your Nest has never given you a single problem.
Your Nest cut your electric bill in half.
Your Nest raised your children.
Your Nest was best man at your wedding.
We understand.
Please stop emailing us.
HVAC technicians are allowed to dislike your thermostat.
And many of us do.
Not because every Nest thermostat is bad.
They’re not.
There are plenty of Nest thermostats controlling HVAC systems perfectly well right now.
Our relationship with them comes from something different:
What we encounter in the field.
“It Can’t Be the Nest.”
We haven’t said anything yet.
We’re literally just looking at it.
“I’ve had that Nest for five years and it’s never caused a problem.”
Okay.
We’re just checking it.
“I installed it myself and it’s worked perfectly.”
Understood.
Can we touch it?
“Why do you need to touch it?”
There is a fascinating emotional relationship between Nest owners and their thermostats that deserves further scientific study.
Honeywell owners don’t do this.
Tell a Honeywell owner:
“I think your thermostat might be bad.”
They usually say:
“Okay. How much is another thermostat?”
Suggest to a Nest owner that you’d simply like to investigate their thermostat:
“ABSOLUTELY NOT.”
Sir.
We’re not taking it behind the house and shooting it.
We’d just like to check the configuration.
Why HVAC Technicians Get Suspicious of Thermostats
Your thermostat isn’t just a thermometer.
It’s part of the control system.
Depending on your equipment, the thermostat may need to know:
Is this a heat pump?
Is it straight cool?
How many stages of cooling?
How many stages of heat?
Is auxiliary heat installed?
How is the reversing valve controlled?
How should the indoor fan operate?
What equipment is actually connected to it?
These settings matter.
Especially with heat pumps.
A perfectly functional air conditioner can behave very strangely if the device telling it what to do is giving it the wrong instructions.
Our Favorite: Heat-Pump Shenanigans During a Florida Heat Wave
It’s 96° outside.
The homeowner calls because the air conditioner is doing something insane.
We arrive.
The house is hot.
The outdoor unit is capable of operating.
The air handler is capable of operating.
We’re working our way through the system.
Eventually we get to the thermostat.
And somehow, somewhere, something about the heat-pump configuration isn’t what we expect.
Wonderful.
Exactly what everyone wanted during a Florida heat wave:
A conversation about heating.
We’ve encountered enough strange thermostat configurations and heat-pump control issues over the years that when a system suddenly starts behaving completely backward, the thermostat absolutely makes the suspect list.
That doesn’t mean it’s guilty.
It means we’re going to investigate it.
“But It Worked Fine for Five Years.”
That’s actually useful information.
Seriously.
Tell us that.
It helps.
But something working yesterday doesn’t prove that it’s operating correctly today.
That’s sort of why we’re at your house.
Your air conditioner worked yesterday too.
If your technician wants to check the thermostat, let him check the thermostat.
If it isn’t the problem, we’ll tell you.
You may continue your beautiful life together.
We wish you and your Nest many happy years.
“But Nest Installed Itself.”
And this is one of the reasons smart thermostats became so popular.
They’re designed to be approachable.
The app walks you through installation.
The thermostat asks questions.
You connect it to Wi-Fi.
Everything looks beautiful.
And sometimes everything works perfectly.
But here’s the part that’s easy to overlook:
You’re connecting that thermostat to an HVAC control system.
That system may include a heat pump, multiple stages, auxiliary electric heat, accessories, variable-speed components, or equipment with specific control requirements.
Installing the thermostat physically is only part of the job.
It also needs to be configured correctly for the equipment it’s controlling.
You can have a thermostat beautifully mounted on the wall, connected to your phone, displaying the weather…
…and controlling the HVAC equipment incorrectly.
But hey.
At least you know it’s going to rain Tuesday.
Sometimes the Thermostat Is Completely Innocent
Now that we’ve spent several paragraphs abusing thermostats, we should probably defend them.
A lot of apparent thermostat problems aren’t thermostat problems at all.
“My thermostat says 72° but my bedroom is hot.”
Could be airflow.
“My thermostat won’t satisfy.”
Could be an HVAC system that isn’t keeping up.
“My thermostat says COOLING but nothing is happening.”
Could be an equipment or control problem.
“My thermostat went completely blank.”
Could be a loss of control power or a safety switch opening—such as a condensate float switch responding to a drainage problem.
“My AC keeps running.”
That might be perfectly normal depending on the equipment, indoor conditions and outdoor load.
The thermostat is often simply the messenger.
Homeowners have been shooting the messenger for a very long time.
A Smart Thermostat Does Not Necessarily Make Your HVAC System Smart
This distinction is important.
A smart thermostat can offer genuinely useful features.
Remote access.
Scheduling.
Energy information.
Occupancy features.
Remote sensors.
Automation.
Those can be great conveniences.
But putting a smart thermostat on conventional HVAC equipment doesn’t magically turn the equipment into a communicating, variable-capacity system.
Sometimes you’ve installed an extremely sophisticated touchscreen that ultimately tells the air conditioner:
ON.
or
OFF.
Nothing wrong with that.
Just understand what you’re buying.
And Sometimes You Should Use the Thermostat That Came With the Equipment
This is becoming increasingly important as HVAC technology changes.
Modern inverter and communicating systems can use proprietary controls that do considerably more than simply turn components on and off.
Depending on the equipment, the controller may participate in managing capacity, airflow, staging, humidity control, diagnostics and communication between components.
That means replacing the manufacturer’s controller with whatever smart thermostat you happen to like may sacrifice functionality—or may not be appropriate for that equipment at all.
Sometimes the thermostat that belongs with the system isn’t the prettiest one.
Sometimes it doesn’t have your favorite app.
Sometimes you saw something much cooler at Home Depot.
Use the appropriate control anyway.
Your air conditioner doesn’t care about your smart-home aesthetic.
So What Thermostat Should I Buy?
Here’s the extremely boring HVAC-technician answer:
The one that’s appropriate for your equipment.
Start with the HVAC system.
Do you have a heat pump?
Straight cool?
Single stage?
Two stage?
Variable capacity?
Communicating equipment?
Auxiliary heat?
Manufacturer-specific controls?
Figure out what the equipment requires and what functionality you want to preserve.
Then choose the thermostat.
Not the other way around.
A thermostat should be selected to properly control the HVAC system attached to it.
Not because it looked cool in an Instagram ad.
And Please Stop Touching It Every Five Minutes
Your house is 75°.
You want 72°.
You set it to 72°.
The air conditioner comes on.
Five minutes later:
Still 75°.
Clearly something has gone terribly wrong.
70°.
Seven minutes later:
74°.
This is unacceptable.
68°.
Your spouse walks past.
“Why is the thermostat set to 68?”
You explain that you’re helping it.
You are not helping it.
Air conditioners remove heat and moisture from your home over time.
They don’t instantly replace all the air in your house with refrigerated air.
During peak Florida summer conditions, pulling a home’s temperature down can take time.
Set the temperature you actually want.
Then let the system operate.
Your Thermostat Has an Impossible Job
Think about what we’re asking this little device to do.
It’s mounted on one wall.
In one location.
Taking one temperature measurement.
And we’ve appointed it the official representative of:
The kitchen.
The living room.
The master bedroom.
The guest bedroom.
The upstairs.
The downstairs.
The room facing east.
The room facing west.
The room with six windows.
The room where Uncle Bob closed the supply register in February because he was cold.
And then we’re furious when every one of those spaces isn’t exactly 72°.
Your thermostat isn’t omniscient.
It’s doing its best.
Unless it’s a Nest.
Then we’re still watching it.
The Bottom Line
Your thermostat is only one part of a much larger comfort system.
If the number on the screen doesn’t match how your house feels, don’t immediately assume you need a new thermostat—or a new air conditioner.
Look at the whole picture.
Temperature.
Humidity.
Airflow.
Ductwork.
Equipment operation.
Thermostat location.
Thermostat configuration.
And the type of HVAC system being controlled.
Sometimes the thermostat really is wrong.
Sometimes the thermostat is completely right and the problem is somewhere else.
Sometimes nothing is broken and your house simply needs time to recover during extreme conditions.
And sometimes an HVAC technician walks into your house during a July heat wave, looks down the hallway, and sees that familiar little round thermostat.
The homeowner notices.
“Don’t even say it. I love my Nest.”
We haven’t said anything.
We look at the thermostat.
We look at you.
We grab the meter.