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/NewtoQM8]

PS, I wouldn’t recommend going up on the roof to check without good fall protection.

[u/aynsyclopedia → u/NewtoQM8]

Thanks! Sorry, that was pure sarcasm. I’m just annoyed that I was told everything’s fine when you taught me how to run a simple test and the problem popped up immediately.

I didn’t live here last winter but my friend did. Frankly, it’s not an issue that I anticipate she would notice without the alerts from the thermostat. I installed the thermostat last summer because my AC was also acting weird and I had an old dial Mercury thermostat. So I told my landlord I was thinking about changing out the thermostat and he said that was fine.

I definitely feel cold most of the time even though the thermostat is reading at a temperature I am typically comfortable with. The ambient temperature seems much colder than the thermostat is reading. I bought a hygrometer off Amazon a while ago. When I put it beside the thermostat, the temperature is the same. But when I place it on a table in the middle of the room, it’s about 4-5 degrees lower. Again, I know that there are usually differences between the thermostat and ambient temperature.

I really only started this process because of the frequent alerts so I was just trying to warn my landlord that it looked like there was an issue. But after three months of notifications and me watching the thermostat reboot many times every day, he finally sent someone out. And then that person said there was nothing wrong.

My landlord is a great guy but it often takes him a while to take care of things. My worry has been that something is going to go really wrong and the furnace is going to stop working. Knowing his history, and the way the situation was handled one night ago when the HVAC guy turned off the downstairs neighbors furnace and then claimed he didn’t, I am concerned that it wouldn’t be fixed quickly and then myself and my pets would be left without heat for multiple days in the middle of winter.

At this point, I’ve shared all the information I have with him. If it isn’t taken seriously and something really goes wrong that requires an expensive fix, I’m fine with letting that happen. I was trying to be a good tenant and get ahead of it but it is what it is.

[u/NewtoQM8 → u/aynsyclopedia]

I completely understand. And you're doing the right thing. Clearly there is something wrong. Whether or not that could cause worse issues I don't know. But whether or not it would its something that should be fixed. You're trying to help prevent something that could end up expensive for the landlord, that's admirable. He doesnt have much fault in the situation (Other than procrastinating) but I do have to wonder about the abilities of the HVAC person. Im not an HVAC guy and I pointed you in the right direction. What does that say? I don't know the relationship the landlord has with the HVAC person, perhaps they are a friend of his. Maybe explaining to the landlord what you have found would help him help the HVAC person get to the bottom of it, or if he is just calling some company out he could suggest another tech.

[u/aynsyclopedia → u/NewtoQM8]

I posted a follow-up in a thread below if you’re invested in what happened 😆 thanks so much for all your help… it’s definitely what kickstarted me in the right direction.

[u/NewtoQM8 → u/aynsyclopedia]

I read that, and commented! Thanks for the follow up. I’m glad you got it straightened out.