How Do Thermostats Work?

Here in Texas, we might make multiple trips to adjust our thermostat in the same day. With daily temperature fluctuations of more than 30℉ in some seasons, we’re constantly managing the regulation of temperature in our homes. If you’ve ever wondered how a thermostat works, you’re not alone. Understanding how does a home thermostat work can help you keep your home comfortable, efficient, and energy-smart. Without your handy thermostats, it would be much more difficult to achieve that goal.

Air Tech of Pasadena knows that accurately managing your heating and cooling system starts with understanding all the components. Have you ever asked yourself, how does a house thermostat work or how does a thermostat operate? It’s time to find out!

How a Thermostat Works: The Basics

At its core, a thermostat is the brain of your HVAC system. It senses the temperature in your home and signals your heating or cooling equipment to turn on or off based on a set target temperature. Whether you want to understand how work thermostat systems in older homes or how modern digital thermostats operate, the underlying principle is the same: measure the ambient temperature and trigger the system to maintain your desired comfort level.

Non-Digital Thermostats

Although most thermostats on the market are now upgraded to digital, they used to be created without any digital components at all. In some older homes or buildings, you may still come across a non-digital thermostat.

Non-digital systems utilize a tiny glass tube with mercury inside. A coiled piece of metal expands and contracts according to the heat in the space, tilting the mercury left or right. When the mercury reaches one side or the other, it prompts an electrical signal to be sent through wires to turn on the heat/cooling or turn it off. This is the simplest answer to how does a home thermostat work in its most basic form.

How Does a Digital Thermostat Operate?

Digital thermostats also rely on the basic principle of electrical signals, but they’re much more refined. These systems send electrical currents and measure the resistance of the current to calculate the temperature. If there is a variation between the preset temperature and the temperature calculated by the electrical current, the system knows that it needs to turn on the heating or cooling unit.

This is how does a house thermostat work in a modern setting — precise, responsive, and programmable. Digital thermostats answer the question of how does a thermostat operate far more accurately than their older counterparts.

The Main Advantage Of Digital Thermostats

Other than being more accurate and modernized for use in our homes and buildings, digital thermostats offer one of the most revolutionary aspects of temperature control: programmable temperature. We don’t have to rely on a piece of coiled metal to move the temperature up and down — we don’t even have to be home to direct the temperature!

By using inner clocks and timers, digital thermostats can be scheduled to turn on the heat or cooling components of your HVAC system. If you have a regular schedule of leaving for work at 7 and coming home at 6, you can program the system to turn off at 7 and back on at 5:30 to prepare for your arrival. This allows for more precise heating and cooling as well as energy-saving habits in your home. Why pay to cool a home all day that no one is in? Yet, you can still be comfortable after a long day because your thermostat started cooling the space before you arrived.

How Does a Thermostat Operate When Demand Is Too High?

It’s important to remember that the thermostat is simply the brain of your HVAC system. If you’re frustrated by the temperature in your home, check on your thermostat settings first. However, if your thermostat is set correctly, then the problem is rarely with its capabilities.

The thermostat can direct the HVAC system to run or turn off all day long, but it’s up to the heating and cooling unit itself to produce results. This is why it can be so damaging to put higher and higher demand on your thermostat. Your AC needs time to cool, transport, and spread the air you want — the results are not immediate. Extreme or frequent changes in demand don’t give your system enough time to do its job.

Need Thermostat Installation in Pasadena, TX?

If you’ve inherited an older non-digital thermostat system, it’s time to upgrade to digital. If your current digital thermostat is causing you problems, a replacement could make your life 10 times easier. Now that you understand how a thermostat works, call on Air Tech of Pasadena today to make your AC system precise and responsive again!