You Could Have a Tripped Breaker

A tripped breaker (or a blown fuse, if your house still has a fuse box) could be the issue with your rebooting thermostat.  Check your HVAC system’s breaker and look to see if the breaker needs to be reset.

Breakers that continue to trip can be a hassle and have a few reasons for their unfortunate state. They can often trip due to bad wiring. A breaker will also trip, more commonly when the circuit is overloaded. 

Modern electrical code often requires home HVAC units to be on dedicated breakers, but older homes could be wired differently.  Many older homes used to wire extra circuits onto their HVAC breaker.

These electrical issues can be addressed by:

  • Check your wiring at the breakerEnsure that the breaker is seated properly on the electrical panel, or better yet have an electrician professionally inspect your system if you think the electrical wiring is suspect.If you have an older home, and there are too many electrical devices on the HVAC circuit, consider hiring an electrician to fix this problem if you are uncomfortable with doing this work yourself.

An HVAC system needs to have adequate power to run correctly, and you as a homeowner shouldn’t have to choose between running your thermostat correctly, or running your vacuum cleaner.

Your Thermostat Could Be Installed Improperly

In order to check to see if your thermostat could be rebooting because of improper installation, check for the following:

  • Make sure the thermostat is wired properly by pulling off the front display and checking the wiring blockCheck to make sure the wires look clean and free from any nicks.  If the wires look a little worn, make sure they aren’t touching each other.  There could be a small, imperceptible nick in the wires that could be causing a short.Make sure the pins on the back of the thermostat display are straight and not bent.  Bent pins could cause connectivity issues.  Carefully fix any pins you may see.  Seat your thermostat display properly. Carefully and with even pressure push the thermostat display back into the wiring base in order to make a good connection.

Such installation issues are often the biggest culprit and the result of certain conditions getting overlooked during the install.

Your Heating System Could Be Incompatible

You Could Have a Faulty Product

Final Thoughts

Before trying to correct any problems with your thermostat or any part of your HVAC system, ensure that proper precautions are taken and that the manufacturer’s guidelines are followed.