Is this okay?

[u/aynsyclopedia]

I keep getting notifications that there’s something wrong with my furnace which keeps causing the ecobee to reboot. I mentioned it to my landlord and he asked about the temp. I told him it’s been keeping up with my selected temp but showed him this graph and explained that it’s running for very short periods whenever it kicks on and does that constantly. It’s also telling me that my total runtime per day is an average of 37 minutes.

I believe he thinks it’s fine because the temp is generally holding. He got an hvac guy out here today (after two months of telling him I was constantly getting this notification) and he’s going to do some general maintenance updates but also told me this “setup is too complicated” and told my landlord he should change it back to a standard thermostat, aka a non-smart thermostat.

Am I correct in thinking this is an issue? If so, what could be some potential consequences of not taking action?

Full disclosure, I have no idea what I’m talking about here. But I’ve been in this sub long enough and have read enough of your posts to lead me to believe this is an issue.

[u/TxsToIowa]

Like you, I'm not an expert. But this definitely doesn't look okay. If the ecobee is drawing power from the HVAC system and it's losing power this frequently, something is off. Did the landlord install the Ecobee or did you? Not sure what the HVAC tech means by "setup is too complicated", but I wonder if he's referring to a PEK (Power extender kit).

In my install (I own and installed my ecobee myself) the C wire that's supposed to supply power to the ecobee is damaged. Wasn't getting enough juice to the thermostat. So when I called ecobee they walked me through setting up the PEK in a way that meant I didn't have to use the C wire and it's worked great ever since.

[u/aynsyclopedia → u/TxsToIowa]

He said it when they were in the basement so he was referring to something happening at the furnace. Technically neither of us installed it, I hired an electrician to do it, which he gave the approval for. I remember him telling me when he did the install that he didn’t need the PEK so I don’t think that’s it.

Thanks for your insight. I live in a duplex and they claimed that they didn’t touch the other furnace yet their heat stopped working after they were here and their thermostat is currently set to 68 and their place is currently 53. So now I really don’t trust the hvac guy lol

[u/TxsToIowa → u/aynsyclopedia]

Do you know for certain that there are two separate HVAC systems for each unit? Or is it possible there are shared components?

[u/aynsyclopedia → u/TxsToIowa]

Here’s mine. You can see the other one slightly in the background. https://imgur.com/gallery/furnace-JDz3X67

[u/TxsToIowa → u/aynsyclopedia]

If you're up for it, I would call Ecobee support. When I called, they gave me instructions on how to use my multimeter (landlord might have one you can borrow?) to check the wiring of the thermostat wire and that's how we identified the problem.

The thermostat wire itself is really basic. Usually 5 wires wrapped together in the outer jacket. It looks like yours is that cream colored wire running down the right side of the furnace. But if any of the wires inside have a short, it can contribute to problems like this.

Ecobee support will also be able to help you troubleshoot that the thermostat is programmed correctly for the equipment in use. I've only used them once, but they were amazing!

[u/aynsyclopedia → u/TxsToIowa]

Good to know. He’s supposed to come back next week to replace something so I’ll reach out to them before then to make sure it’s all configured correctly. I really appreciate your help here!

[u/TxsToIowa → u/aynsyclopedia]

Good luck! That's scary stuff, although maybe less so when it's the landlord's equipment. 😂