Unless you work as a contractor or repair home heating, air conditioning and ventilating systems (HVAC), you probably do not spend a lot of time thinking about your thermostat. The only reason this can cause you problem with that approach is that if you are experiencing thermostat problems and do not know about it you may have underlying problems with your HVAC system that you do not know about. Here are some things you should know about your thermostat.

1. Think about where you have placed it. The placement of your thermostat can have a lot of impact on both the comfort level in your home and in the bills you pay for heating and air conditioning. Your thermostat does not know that it is next to a freezer, under a light or near something else that puts out cold or hot air. It just knows that when it reaches certain temperatures, it needs to turn on. If you have in a spot where can be influenced by items around it, it may go on and off when it does not need to. Conversely, it may not go on when you need it to. If you are noticing your home is not as comfortable as you would like, take a look at where your thermostat has been placed. If you are finding your furnace or air conditioner is not going on when you need it to, look at this before you hall in an HVAC company.
2. You cannot get your furnace or air conditioner to turn on. This is never a good thing. Not only because it always seems to happen during the hottest and coldest parts of the year when every HVAC repair company in the area is swamped and cannot get out to fix your unit, but it can mean you need to replace your unit and that can be pricey. There are a lot of times when the problem is not really with the HVAC system but with your thermostat. If there is short in the wiring , it happens, you will have this problem. Have a certified HVAC professional come out and look at your system.
3. Your furnace or air conditioner refuses to shut off. This can feel as bad as when the system will turn on but is not quite as bad. This may be another problem with the wiring in your thermostat or there may be an issue with the way the thermostat has been programmed. One of the common thermostat problems is the programming. The good news is that this is one of the easier thermostat problems to deal with.
4. Make sure you keep your thermostat clean. A lot of people like to keep their hones very clean but they never think about taking the time to clean their thermostat. If you neglect the cleaning of the unit, you can cause yourself a host of thermostat problems. When gunk and dust collect in the wiring, they can cause it to break down. You should have a plan to check the air filters in your home, add a minute or two to check the inside of your thermostat at the same time. A short few seconds of wiping down its interior can save you a lot of money in the long run.
5. The screen on the thermostat is dark. The first two things you should try is this happens is to just turn the unit on and off (it is amazing how many electronic devices can be fixed this way). If that does not work, you may want to try having it reset to the factory defaults. If neither of those work to get the screen working again, you can have a thermostat technician come out to your home and see what the problem is.

The home thermostat is a really very simple tool that has changed over the years. New models that you can get today can be programmed to only heat and cool your home when people are going to be there, isolate some areas of the home to keep comfortable and these can be accessed remotely so you can check on your home when you are at work or on vacation.