What is lurking behind the walls in your home could cost you thousands of dollars if your not careful while installing your nest thermostat. We outline the costly mistakes you could make installing your nest thermostat and why it is worth every penny to hire a nest professional installer for installation.
Yes, it is true that the nest thermostat is one of the most well thought out smart home products on the market and it works great. You will find that almost every person that owns a nest will love it and be an advocate for adding the smart device to your home.
But there’s something that you most likely don’t know about your furnace and how it works with your nest thermostat that could cost you thousands. We’ll get to the silent furnace killer, but first we will outline the top mistakes home owners and unqualified nest installers make when installing a nest thermostat.
Mistake #1
TEST YOUR FURNACE-We work with a lot of nest professionals across the country and the number one mistake that can be avoided is very simple. Test your furnace. People don’t do this and end up blaming the nest thermostat for a problem that really is a problem with a furnace that hasn’t been serviced in years. This will cause headaches for you and the technician you eventually call out to fix your furnace for $500 on a weekend because you didn’t do something very simple. Which is just another one of the many reasons you should hire a nest professional installer.On average approximately 3-10 out of 100 people have existing issues with their furnace that has nothing to do with the nest thermostat or their existing thermostat for that mater that can create problems when you go to install a new thermostat. Most people that have these issues live in Condo’s or Multi-Unit buildings where adjacent units keep them warm and allow their furnace to limp along for years. The other set of people who have these issues are people who don’t service their furnace regularly and change their air filter at least every six months. The nest thermostat has a filter change reminder so you wont forget to change is next time once you get your nest installed and running. Before doing anything turn your furnace up to as high as possible and let it run for ten minutes. Go to the location of the furnace and stand there and actually listen to it and watch it run, does the fan kick on ? Great! Does the heat kick on ? Even better. Stand there and physically feel the vent pipe getting warm. Go to duct and put your hand in front to feel the hot air coming out. Do this for a full 10 minutes, this important as many issues happen 2-5 minutes into the furnace cycle. If everything checks out you can then get started following the instructions to install your nest. However if you have the following issues you should call a professional to service your furnace before installing your nest.
- Signs of Trouble:
- A continuous clicking sound that lasts for a few minutes.
- The furnace cycles and the fan turns on but the heat never heats up or only heats up momentarily.
- The blower blows and makes noise but the furnace never produces warm air.
- Your furnace squeaks and squeals like a pack of rabid squirrels stuck on a treadmill
Mistake #2
TURN OFF THE POWER-Yes this sounds incredibly simple but we work with nest installers across the United States and this is one of the primary reasons that they end up getting a call, with an average cost of over $200 per incident this is a costly mistake to avoid. Often an uneducated homeowner takes chance installing their nest and does not follow the very first instruction: TURN OFF THE POWER. Often times a home owner will go the circuit box and just start flipping circuits or flip the circuit breaker thinking that they have turned off the power to the right appliance because the lights have gone out near the furnace. This is a huge mistake that could cost you big bucks and could cause damage to your furnace and your well being. This is because when you go to the circuit breaker panel you are assuming that someone properly labeled your circuit breaker. Do you think that someone being paid minimum wage and building 100 houses in a week really took the extra time to make sure that every circuit in your house was properly labeled? Are you sure that English was the first language of the person installing your circuit breaker panel? If not it is probably a good idea to err on the side of caution and do the following things to ensure the power is off to your furnace before you start working To turn off the power and ensure that it its off we recommend that you follow the following steps.
1. Turn the thermostat up to high, and wait until it kicks on and is running. Now go to the furnace and look for a switch that should look like standard light switch that should be mounted near your furnace. With the furnace running turn off the switch. When you flick the switch the furnace should shut off and now you could safely work on your thermostat.
2. We are absolutely paranoid about safety and making sure things are done right so turn your furnace back on, go to the thermostat and turn it up to high. Now go to the circuit breaker and with a friend or family member have one person stand by the furnace and one person stand by the breaker panel. Look for the breaker labeled furnace and flip the switch. If it turns off the furnace, great. If not you may have a serious wiring issue. Call a professional.
3. With the breaker off go back to the furnace, turn off the switch on the side of the furnace and now you can begin work.
4. When you are ready to remove the old thermostat if you have a multi-meter you should use it to confirm the power is off to the terminals, specifically the Rc or Rh red terminals. This is just another added level of safety and is highly recommended. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this you should call a nest professional.
WARNING: IF YOU FAIL TO TURN OFF THE POWER AND YOU START WORKING ON YOUR NEST YOU COULD SHORT A WIRE, CAUSE A FIRE OR BLOW A FUSE. FAILING TO TURN OFF THE POWER COULD CAUSE SERIOUS DAMAGE AND IS MUCH MORE COMMON THAN YOU THINK.
FAILING TO TURN OF THE POWER COULD COST YOU THOUSANDS
3. Mistake #3
CHANGE THE FILTER-Sounds easy but many nest professionals report that home owners have not changed their filters in years or even worse report that the HVAC filter is missing entirely or is undersized. A nest professional always checks the filter during the installation and it is important because it is the last line of deference between your furnace and all of the dust particles that can accumulate in a furnace system. Failing to change the filter regularly stresses the system, is unhealthy, can cause your system to operate poorly, is a leading cause of premature furnace failure that can cost you thousands of dollars in repairs or require you to replace your furnace.
IN CONCLUSION:
AVOID THESE COMMON MISTAKES INSTALLING YOUR NEST THERMOSTAT AND JOIN THE SMART HOME REVOLUTION.
The most common mistakes installing the nest really have nothing to do with the nest and everything to do with how you care for your HVAC system and the diligence you take in following the instructions provided with your nest.
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