"Could this really just be a crappy thermostat or a bigger problem?"

Either or both. To name a couple that are pretty common, loose wires,defective relay. There's not much I can suggest unless you understand electric circuits and decide to tackle the problem on your own. One thing does come to mind that could prove very important to the life of your system. When this random clicking is takeing place,station someone near t-stat so they can hear,another next to outside unit so they can hear if it clicks or attempts to run. Be in contact through shouting or on cell phones. If the outdoor unit clicks and/or attempts to run each time t-stat clicks,that is very hard on compressor and you should have them install a "time delay on break"device on outdoor unit.

what kind of thermostat is it? Brand / model number?

(it could be anything almost related to control of the system.)

I don't know the model# at this time, but it is an Emerson.

Next time it does it I'll make sure to double check the outside unit (old 60's house, all in one unit outside, not the kind that has outside and an inside part)

I want to say the outside is not kicking on, but I rather double check that. It won't be hard for just one person. When the thermostat starts it's funky clicking it is every so many seconds so if anyone just stood next to the unit for a few minutes they would should know.

While t-stat is under warranty, I would like the company to bother with it, but if they don't/won't the online videos of changing a T-stat does not look that complicated and I will give it a shot.

In all honesty we never program the thermostat (to kick on at certain times of the day ect,) part of me wonders if going back to old fashion thermostat could be better... No idea though, have not read up on what beyond being able to set up diff temps at diff times a programable tstat has. (Husband works from home, so it's not like we are gone all day and want it to start cooling before we get home)

My big fear is that it is a wiring issue in the house, but they updated something when installed bc we got a bigger tonage, so would hope that is not the problem, but again old 60s house, we get all kinds of problems.

Also hope it's not a bigger issue with the unit, we have several more yrs to pay on it... Geez in Florida should have HVAC insurance which includes gap insurance! It's been super hot lately and almost everyone I know has been having AC issues!!!

I'm not sure this information will help you but the stat might be designed to operate at different voltage/watts than your ac unit has. "Clicking"make's me wonder if contact points are burning/oxidizing due to improper wattage rating. Seem's possible since 2 stats have failed in similar period of time with same symptoms. Might be worth having tech double check to make sure unit voltage/amps is compatiable with stat. My knee jerk about going with a basic t-stat is that it sound's like a good decision. I only say that because it might be easier for your installer to troubleshoot. I'm sure the installer would be happy to furnish the cheaper stat.

Thank you, yes this is helpful! I know it could be an issue of just a faulty Tstat, a bad design/product (although the other one was different, but could have been same maker) but I rather get to the root of the issue, even if it is an issue of cheap parts, what is stressing it?

I did once have a Chevy Malibu that was almost lemon lawed, anything and everything broke on that dang thing, starting 3rd day I had it, it was a car the dealership would use to run errands in, had only 5k, no other owner, I thought I was getting a good car at a good price, my parents had 3 chevys, no problems... mine was the car from HELL!!! There is no way I could of as an owner done anything to cause all the problems, but it was constantly in the shop!!! I know sometimes ya just get a lemon. But if there is a stressor, would like to correct it and have some peace and sanity (and cool air) back.

A thermostat is merely an elaborate switch controlled by the temperature of it's surroundings. They can fail just like anything else.

It should be proven that the thermostat is calling but power is not being sent to unit to turn it on. Sure you could just change the thermostat and get lucky, but that would be like going to the doctor and letting him guess if you have cancer or some other cootie type infestation.

What happens if you change the thermostat and the unit still does not work?

Anything is easy if you know what you are doing. You wouldn't believe how many times I heard... 'It looked easy when I first started.' I get there and the system in in pieces. Guessing leads to more guessing.

That thermostat is a decent brand with very low failure rates. You should prove that it's failed, unless of course you like chasing your tail.

I would check the voltage going to the thermostat. Perhaps a voltage drop is occurring when the relay closes. Electronic thermostats operate within a limited voltage range. If the voltage is too low it becomes anyone's guess what they will do.

The tech came out last night, showed them the video of the thing clicking and clicking (it had been working during the day, stopped for a while at night - a short while - then the clicking stopped and was working again by the time they got here.) It was 11pm (24hr service) the tech said he wanted to put in a new Tstat since we have been having so may issues (daily now) with it but since it was so late he needed manager authorization (said techs have been giving so many new thermostats lately, new rules in place - ours is still under warranty so this will not be a purchase!)

The tech looked at hubby like he had 2 heads when he asked about wattage to the Tstat. I tried to look up thermostat wattage online and everything i found quickly talked about furnaces, base board somethings, or heaters- I dont know anything about that, I am in Florida!!!! Although we do use the heat every winter, just normally not more than a few days in a row, just while a cold front is moving by! :o) I'll have to do some more reading and google voltage instead of wattage.

Hubby called the company this morning to ask what was the final outcome now that managers are in and they set an appt to put in a new Tstat tomorrow.

I wonder if I should have hubby ask whatever tech shows up tomorrow about voltage to Tstat / voltage drop - although why would the techs not think of this? Even if the unit is not acting up for them, you guys came up with this idea and y'all have not seen the clicking in action - maybe they have checked it already - I know they fiddle with things when they check out the system.

It would be nice if changing the Tstat fixes this...but we shall see!

Thanks guys, it is helpful to have some better ideas and terms when talking with the techs. Hubby has been handling the all the phone calls/ techs at the house so I have been feeding him the information. I have not wanted to bother my father since as of right now we were still dealing w/ the AC company, but if I got fed up and went rouge I would have gotten him on the phone, he is actually very good w/ all this kind of stuff, I just did not want to worry him w/ anything yet. (hubby is horrible w/ this kind of stuff)

Me too!!! I will hope that the old adage, third time's a charm, will be at play!

I am gonna bookmark this post so when I am yelling a big one I can vent to this post again; 1st lasted about 2 yrs, this one 10 months, so really to stay on schedule I should be looking at about 4 months... FML

Homeowners are not expected to understand these things and there isn't an online forum where they can "download"everything they want to know so that they do understand. The best that can be accomplished online is a limited amount of reading between the lines. What I am reading between the lines is A. The tech doesn't have proper training to once and for all find your problem. B. Why should you trust the techs judgment if his boss require's him to run it by the boss instead of making calls in the field? C. This company has been making this same mistake with other installations for quite a while ( " techs have been giving so many new thermostats lately, new rules in place "). Last but most important,if your dad is indeed " actually very good w/ all this kind of stuff",call your dad. If my daughter was being jerked around like this I would expect her to call me before digging the hole any deeper. You can not ask 500 pound questions be educated overnight,if it were that simple techs would become experts by simply spending a few hours online. BTW,watts is simply volts x amps and it take's an expert less than 5 minutes to find out how many watts is being carried through a wire and how many it is supposed to be carrying.

Intermittent problems are the worst... so if the system isn't having the problem at the time your AC company is there it's a tough call. I've been in the situation many times and all I can say is that you can't trouble shoot a ghost.

It's not a confidence boost when a tech says 'been giving so many new thermostats lately...' this points to guessing and not actually proving the problem.

If you guess at this at some point they may be guessing when your money is on the line. Not a good thing.... you're paying for technical expertise, not guessing.

I totally hear what you guys are saying, it's why I came on here, not feeling good about what little the techs could say and how no one could make it out here to catch it in action, although it's a big enough company that each time it is a different tech.

A tech came out and changed the Tstat, hubby said that when he was taking out the old one he said something about a part was doing something weird, but at that point my husband has just been so fed up with it not working, he did not ask more questions. He works from home so the on and off A/C, all the phone calls to the place, and appts w/ different techs, plus the heat has been a frustrating distraction all while he is supposed to be working. I get it, I am just about over it too.

So,are you just leaveing us in suspense,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,? I for one am interested to hear if the new stat cured the problem.

shocker shocker.... nope. We had a great night, but woke up this morning to it clicking!

Yesterday before the install the clicking would start even while unit was still blowing air - when it started weeks ago, the clicking would start but unit would be off/not blowing and would not turn on until the clicking was done. This morning the unit has been turning on and off while in minutes of each other. The unit has a 5 minute restart delay, so it should not be doing this I think... I would think that is what a restart delay is. (I want to turn the whole thing off, but hubby wants to keep it on b/c how will anyone be able to fix it if it is always working just fine when they come out. They had said in past to keep the unit on until they get there. (but that is when it was clicking but nothing blowing) Maybe once we have someone on the phone and give us a time frame for when someone will come out we can turn it off. I told him make sure you say the time delay does not seem to be working!!!)

I realized I dont think we registered the unit w/ manufacturer so i sent an email to Frigidaire this morning to see if I can find out if the company did and if so if we can change a/c companies and still have the manufacturer warranty. When I was reading about our unit it was saying it has 10 yr warranty, but you have to register it. The a/c company has reminded us that we have to keep up regular maintenance to not void the warranty so I am thinking it is registered...

I would like to go w/ another company, but if the only way we have a warranty is by staying with them I think our hands will be tied, we still owe too much money on the unit.

I have the news on and the sun is not up yet but it's 80 degrees already.

I would be even more surprised if you called another company and the tech they send you is any better. Part of it at that point is: you want another company to warranty the work of another. ( It will cost you something most likely.)

The financial crisis ruined quite a lot those techs before with all that experience left the field... this is why buyer beware of who you choose to install new HVAC equipment.

I know this is hardly a consolation now, but this fully describes the importance of decisions of this nature.

Does the equipment run at all now? Worse than before? Any symptom changes or are they the same?

Just because a thermostat clicks doesn't mean the thermostat is bad. Emerson thermostats tend to click more than the Honeywell variety but this doesn't make them any less reliable. This is why I said 'if there is a call, by the thermostat, it must be proven that the equipment is receiving the call.'

The techs of today... good luck. If you want my opinion the vast majority are parts changers. You'd get more mileage out of a magic 8 ball. With that said, there are good techs out there... your chances of finding one is extremely thin.

You have a tech who knows how to use a voltmeter.

SMC-Z9,this put's me in mind of a 3 legged potato sak race combined with gossip and your team has 3 contestants with legs in sak. Much is being lost in translation(tech to hubby,hubby to you and you to us). Then of course going back the other direction. If you were an average handyman or accomplished diy homeowner we could have helped you fix the problem 3 days ago. I'm not bashing,as I said earlier,homeowners can't be expected to understand nor speak repair lingo. Based on what you said in your last post,the 5 minute delay has been removed/by passed. That can shortly destroy a compressor when the stat is acting like this. Your fist inclination might be to say you hope it does so that you get a new one that works right. Warranty often does not cover labor and the replacement labor is several hundred dollars. Hopfully you have good news from Frigidaire but Frigidaire doesn't cover the stat and possibly labor on anything else (read the warranty). If Frigidaire can't help,you need to lay the law down to the service provider. Fix it right today or I hire someone that will. If you don't reimburse my cost within 10 days I'm takeing you to small claims to collect not only what it cost to hire professionals,the cost of renting a place to sleep for xx nights plus other damages I've suffered. Failing all of that,get a friend that knows how to use a vom,let them post and we can tell them how to get it up and going.

Austin Air "Does the equipment run at all now? Worse than before? Any symptom changes or are they the same?"

If she accurately stated the facts,the delay has evidently been by-passed. She says stat clicks while unit is running. She is probably hearing fans but compressor has gone off in overload or is being pounded to death.

I wish I had better answers for y'all.

It might have been just the fan that was still blowing, might not have been the compressor, I thought a time delay would delay the the unit from coming on all together. When I heard air, it scared me.

It has been fine since late this morning.

Tech came out this afternoon, but it was pouring rain, we have a package unit so everything is outside, can't get much looked at with thunderstorms barreling down.

While they waited around hoping the storm would pass the tech took the batteries out of the thermostat, said when it starts acting up again make note if the screen goes blank or not.

so the saga continues.

You need to check and see what the outside package unit is doing when the thermostat starts doing this clicking thing.

If you can't determine anything that way... you need tools and diagnosing skills.

If the system is working normally... you can't diagnose a ghost. With that said, I have been known to scare a few ghosts out of units... but a lot of times it's not easy.

It's unlikely to get to the bottom of this problem from a forum board.

'you just had to be there... you never would believe what I found...'

New day new problem, worked all night and just as we were fixin'to to leave to help friends move it clicked a handful of times, we could hear fan going but zero air moving through vents.

Since we know no one would be able to come any time soon, we shut unit off wait a while turned back on and same thing happened, so after ten minutes and still no air while fan was going we called.

Unit is off and we are helping friends move if that damn thing works when we get back when tech it out. I am gonna flip!

Update ya soon.

And yes I agree, not going to get the bottom of the problem via the forum. Even originally when I started post I was mostly looking for ideas of what kinds of things could lead to intermittent thermostat clicking and a/c failure. Just spitballing ideas maybe someone knew reasons beyond the norm and I could confirm with tech, was the blah blah checked, ect.

I was reading about a float switch that gets triggered when there is a clogged in the condensate line, but having a single package unit, I have not been able fully determine if we have one. I'll ask tech today.

"maybe someone knew reasons beyond the norm and I could confirm with tech, was the blah blah checked, ect."

If this is what it take's to fix your ac,you definatly need a different outfit working for you. You obviously don't buy the potato sak analogy so let's try this. Do you believe it possible to learn music from a person with zero music background if they relay what they read on the net to student? You stand the same chance of teaching techs to work on your ac.

Ok I get it.

I am not sure why this upsets you so much.

I am sorry that my questions have been offensive in sort of way, not my intentions.

For anyone who may read this in the future. I will continue to up date on the status in case the information could some how be helpful for anyone.

New tech is here now and checking things out. I am the one with the tech as hubby is still helping our friends move. The tech did not know the history on our unit, but I was able to find the carbon copies from all the previous techs.

Now that unit is no longer blowing any air at all I am hoping whatever was breaking is now broke and they can resolve the issue.

So the unit never did start blowing air, not when I got back from helping w/ the move and not when the Tech was here.

End result - new Defrost Board is being ordered.

I had said I found carbon copies of the previous notes, hubby never told me we had notes! I thought the techs had some sort of tablet device and would pull up costumer accts to read notes.

Since I have them I can give run down of previous calls

6/30: Checked system, all vitals good; Amp drew heavy. but it is (cant make out this word - word might be not or hot) in home; cycled tstat several times, all working.

(side note, the clicking happened about a week prior to 1st call, but was short lived, so did not call - there was another time when we cancelled a services call after this 1st one b/c it was working and figured what was the point on having some one look at it when working, and another time when I was not having it (it was bed time), I turned off unit, waited 15 mins turned it back on and it worked, l was in zero mood to just let the system be while we waited until next day for a tech and most likely it would just randomly start working again anyway, but once it started doing it daily we called each time it started acting naughty)

7/11:Double checked all low voltage wires, they read fine - unit was working and cycling off/on upon arrival. Mgmnt to decide next course of action, not available this time of evening.

7/13: Replaced Tstat

7/14: Couldn't re-create fault, suspect defrost board. Running and cooling upon arival. (this was the day it was pouring and tech could not inspect the unit)

Then there is today when the fan would run, but no air would push.

7/15: Defrost board in package

Unfortunately it wont come until Monday morning, so I guess tomorrow will be a day at the movies to help keep cool.

Today's tech is not a fan of our A/C, Frigidaire, I told him it was his company who recommended and installed the system, he said that is why he said "hate to say it, but..." He was a really nice man, so I am hoping his skills match his kindness.

FWIW, our model is Model: Q7RD-042K

You say the fan runs, but you have no air thru the vents?

Which fan runs? When you post on a forum board we can only guess from what you tell us. This is why I said 'you have to go out and see what the outside unit is doing'

You do realize that if a fan runs, this indicates the Thermostat is sending the call?

But your system doesn't just have 1 fan. You still want us to guess after all these posts?

Your posts aren't offensive, just lacking proper information. I just now learn this is a heat pump package unit.

Magic 8 ball has now stopped talking to me...

No, need to guess, they said the Defrost Board in the package unit is bad, new one has been ordered.

I hate to say this, but I think your HVAC techs are the ones doing the guessing. I hope I am wrong, but based on what on the history from your first post I don't think a new defrost board is going to solve the problem.

Mike, I am nervous about that too!

Ok we're no longer guessing after replacing the thermostat that didn't fix the problem and we're nervous?

The bad news is that a heat pump has a lot more parts they could change out. Good for them... bad for you.

It's an all parts warranty, hope we don't have to put that to the test!

Normally I dislike the fact that our little 60's house does not have the living room addition tied into the central air, but this weekend having a wall unit has been a life saver!

Regardless after this part is installed, we will be looking for a new company for future cleaning and repairs, One of the techs said yes they register all new units so I feel much better about us being able to use anyone and still having the manufacturer backing the parts!

Well that can be a blessing and a curse... warranty repairs are the least desirable of jobs and even more so for equipment that company 'b' didn't put in.

Company 'b' doesn't have anything to gain. A tech gets paid less to do warranty work. Time is money, not only for the company involved but also the tech they send.

Because their company didn't install the equipment, this will likely give you the feeling of getting a run around. This type of mentality is very common in my area of service... I've never run service in Florida, but I suspect it will be quite similar.

Plan on getting a run around going this route and it very well could wind up being just as bad or worse than what you've already experienced with your current service provider.

With that said, I'm different because if you live in Katy, Texas I won't send you a tech. I will come myself. In many cases that is a huge difference.

Hi sorry! literally same thing is happening with your AC... they installed a time delay yesterday and now Tmstat is clicking on and off and compressor is shutting off and on. Did the defrost board replacement fix the problem?

I am sorry this is such a late response to this but I am having the same problem with a clicking thermostat that causes the compressor to start and stop repeatedly in response to the clicking t'stat. Did you every get it fixed?

Start a new thread identifying your need for help you'll get more and better responses - and delete your post here in this four year old thread!