Why Does My Amazon Smart Thermostat Keep Rebooting?

Smart thermostats are quickly becoming the norm in houses, and many companies have thrown their hat into the ring to design this gem of automated homes.  Amazon has recently unveiled its smart thermostat.  Although the thermostat is stable with plenty of troubleshooting documentation, it still may experience problems where the unit would reboot unexpectedly.

Amazon Smart Thermostats repeatedly reboot due to a tripped breaker, improper wiring, an incompatibility issue, or a faulty product.  Remove the Amazon Smart Thermostat display from the wiring base, check the wiring, reseat the display, and restart the thermostat.

The issue could be a simple one that can be fixed quickly, such as improper seating.  Continue on to find out why your Amazon Smart Thermostat keeps rebooting and more importantly, how you can fix it.

You Could Have a Tripped Breaker

A tripped breaker (or a blown fuse, if your house still has a fuse box) could be the issue with your rebooting thermostat.  Check your HVAC system’s breaker and look to see if the breaker needs to be reset.

Breakers that continue to trip can be a hassle and have a few reasons for their unfortunate state. They can often trip due to bad wiring. A breaker will also trip, more commonly when the circuit is overloaded. 

Modern electrical code often requires home HVAC units to be on dedicated breakers, but older homes could be wired differently.  Many older homes used to wire extra circuits onto their HVAC breaker.

These electrical issues can be addressed by:

• Check your wiring at the breaker
• Ensure that the breaker is seated properly on the electrical panel, or better yet have an electrician professionally inspect your system if you think the electrical wiring is suspect.
• If you have an older home, and there are too many electrical devices on the HVAC circuit, consider hiring an electrician to fix this problem if you are uncomfortable with doing this work yourself.  

An HVAC system needs to have adequate power to run correctly, and you as a homeowner shouldn’t have to choose between running your thermostat correctly, or running your vacuum cleaner.

Your Thermostat Could Be Installed Improperly

Improper installation can cause your Amazon smart thermostat to reboot.  Make sure to check the installation instructions through the Alexa app to ensure that your thermostat has been installed correctly.

In order to check to see if your thermostat could be rebooting because of improper installation, check for the following:

• Make sure the thermostat is wired properly by pulling off the front display and checking the wiring block
• Check to make sure the wires look clean and free from any nicks.  If the wires look a little worn, make sure they aren’t touching each other.  There could be a small, imperceptible nick in the wires that could be causing a short.
• Make sure the pins on the back of the thermostat display are straight and not bent.  Bent pins could cause connectivity issues.  Carefully fix any pins you may see.  
• Seat your thermostat display properly. Carefully and with even pressure push the thermostat display back into the wiring base in order to make a good connection.

Such installation issues are often the biggest culprit and the result of certain conditions getting overlooked during the install.

Your Heating System Could Be Incompatible

Compatibility issues will often cause problems for smart thermostats, and Amazon’s is no exception.  Make sure your current thermostat wiring is compatible with the thermostat.  

The Amazon Smart Thermostat cannot be used for higher 110-240 VAC systems, which include a variety of products such as baseboard heaters.  For these systems, you will have to find a different kind of thermostat to use instead of Amazon’s solution.  There are some smart thermostats on the market that can be used for high voltage HVAC systems.

In addition, some homes with older wiring will not work without a C-wire adapter.  This adapter provides a common wire to give your thermostat the power to continuously monitor the temperature.  To know exactly if you can use this thermostat and what you need, Amazon has a handy compatibility walkthrough online before you buy in the “Check Compatibility” bubble.

You Could Have a Faulty Product

If you have checked all other possible scenarios, then you could have a faulty product.  This can be remedied very easily, as Amazon is known for its easy return policy, especially for defective products.

The Amazon return policy allows you to easily return the defective product with Amazon sending you another one.  If you have a suitable packing envelope, Amazon will pay for the shipping to send your defective product back.

If your Amazon Smart Thermostat came from a third party, it is best to contact that third party for their replacement/return policy.

Final Thoughts

These potential issues can help you find out why your Amazon Smart Thermostat keeps rebooting and how to fix it. If all of these issues check out, and you are still stumped then contact your local HVAC contractor or Amazon directly.  

Before trying to correct any problems with your thermostat or any part of your HVAC system, ensure that proper precautions are taken and that the manufacturer’s guidelines are followed.