furnace auto vs. on button.

[sak4kat]

Can somebody please explain this to me?  We have our thermostat set to 70 and the switch is flipped on.  The furnace has an on and off switch too and it to is flipped on.  The furnace doesn't kick heat out unless we manually adjust the temperature to anywhere from 77 - 82 degrees.  Than we have to manually turn everything off because naturally we get to cold.   We've had some cold nights already here in Chicagoland so I asked the landlord why it's not working properly and he said switch the thermostat to Auto.  So I did and you know what happened. The thing ran off and on set at 73 for a couple hours.  Than it started blowing cold air.  I switched it back to on and began the manual thing again...So last night I though this is nuts.  I set it back to auto..for 70 degree's.  Woke up this a.m. and the house was warm and toasty...3-4 hours later it was still running but again blowing cold air...now I'm back to a cold house all over again.  What am I doing wrong?

[workmama]

At my house, I never use the 'On' button. I always have the thermostat  on Auto. I have central heat and air. The air conditioning is run by a cooling unit and the heat is run by natural gas. Your situation is hard to understand, but my husband said to never have the thermostat on the 'On' switch. That is probably what is causing your fan to run and blow cold air. Plus, it ups your utility bill. You can save money by keeping the thermostat on the 'Auto" switch.

Also, I have found through experience if I put my thermostat on 70 degrees in the Winter, the damn thing runs on and on!!  I set it to 68 degrees, which the heat will run until it is 71 degrees in the house. With air conditioning, I set the thermostat at 68 degrees too. The unit doesn't run all the time and my bill is low. 

Well, I am one of those people that are always hot, even in the Winter. On the other hand, my husband is always cold and it drives me crazy!!! lol
I will switch the temperature lower when he is not looking sometimes and we once had a fight about it. We laugh now and he knows my temper, so he just puts an extra layer of clothes on in the Winter! Haha!    My son, though is like me and is always on the warmer side.

Hope I helped you some!
Good Luck and Have a great day! (Cold or Hot)!! 

  ~workmama~

[sak4kat]

ha ha...you and your spouse are the exact opposite of me and my hubby.  Thanks for the tips...We had problems in the summer with the air conditioner (central) as well.  It would run till it ran out of freon than the landlord would have to come charge it...every 4-5 days or so...I wonder if that too had something to do with the auto/on switch?

[queenofnines]

I don't have the same setup as you, but I do know that thermostats can be tricky things. One degree can make all the difference in the world! It seems to be a matter of experimenting with the settings that make it run "just right". It could say it's 75 in the room and still be freezing, lol!

[duroz]

There should be two switches or controls on your thermostat (in addition to the temperature adjustment control):
One should be for the system itself, with 3 settings: *OFF, *Furnace (or heating), and *AC (or cooling) ON.

The other control or switch controls ONLY the fan - and should have just two settings: *ON, and *AUTO.
(This switch has nothing to do with heating, cooling, or the temperature. It ONLY controls the FAN).

Setting this to "AUTO" means that the fan ONLY will start automatically when the furnace (or AC) runs to heat or cool the house.

"ON" means that the fan will run continually.

[sak4kat]

Thanks - that was helpful!

[duroz]

Thanks - that was helpful!

You're very welcome!

I hope it made sense, and that it did help you, at least somewhat.