Troubleshooting Remote Heater, Furnace, And Fireplace Systems

Smart home systems or older remote-controlled thermostats can be a bit tricky to control. Whether it's because of interference, blockage, or different expectations for how the system should work, you may see a few performance issues that don't quite add up. These troubleshooting tips can help you get around many of the more confusing parts of modern heating systems:

Irregular Weather Patterns And Insulation Problems

Heating and general air conditioning systems have encountered an old, but much more drastic and potentially expensive problem: maintaining comfortable temperatures during rapid weather changes.

Although weather patterns are constantly changing, many areas are experience sharp differences in weather compared to past decades. There have always been oddly unseasonable days within a season, but multiple summer-like days within a winter that just had record-breaking snowfall is strange.

In some cases, it means having more mild days that don't require heating or air conditioning. Unfortunately, some households find themselves constantly in a cycle of heating and cooling, which means more money thrown at the power bill.

The main counter to these problems is better building insulation materials, better weatherproofing techniques, and a more flexible thermostat/temperature control device. This means making that insulation is installed properly and in good order, checking for holes and other damage in the building that could lead to the outside, and having a thermostat that can turn on and off with a wider range of temperatures instead of struggling against a single degree of difference.

Remote Sensor Problems

Remote control technology relies on a line of sight. Although some remotes seem to work around corners or with indirect pointing, this is because the laser is less of a point and more of a spread beam.

Much like a flashlight, the end result of a remote control's beam is spread out to hit multiple areas. In most cases, getting any of that wide beam area will work well enough to turn the system on or off.

Unfortunately, there are some issues that get in the way. If your fireplace insert is dirty, the sensor could be blocked enough that an already weak and distant beam won't be able to reach the system behind the sensor.

Clean off the sensor with glass-safe cleaner. Although not all sensor covers are glass, you want to avoid using abrasive cleaners, as they may scratch or erode the sensor to the point of making the beam harder to see.

Has your sensor been damaged? If the plastic or glass piece covering the sensor has been dented in, you may not be able to send and receive a decent signal.

This is because either a deep enough bend is causing the remote beam to go into strange directions, or because your remote's beam isn't hitting any of the sensors. The sensor cover acts as a way to amplify the beam, but it can block the beam if pushed in or dented.

If the room with your fireplace insert has a lot of objects around sensor height, the beam could have been blocked. Make sure to move any furniture, clothing articles, drapery, or other objects that could be getting in the way of the beam. Contact a company like Custom Comfort for more information and assistance.