If you’ve ever looked at your thermostat and seen the word “Hold,” or noticed that your home suddenly isn’t warming up or cooling down the way it normally does, you might assume something is wrong. It can feel like your thermostat has stopped doing its job altogether. But in reality, the Hold feature is working exactly as intended. It’s designed to override your regular programmed schedule and maintain a set temperature of your choosing.
Most thermostats follow a daily or weekly pre programmed schedule. For example, your schedule might be set to 20 °C at 6:30 a.m., 18 °C when you leave for work, 21 °C in the evening and 17 °C overnight. When you turn on Hold, you are temporarily locking in the current temperature so the thermostat does not follow that normal pattern.
As a homeowner, it’s always helpful to understand how Hold works, how to turn the Hold function off and warning signs to be aware of to keep your home feeling comfortable and warm.
Types of Hold on Your Thermostat
There are a few common types of Hold:
- Temporary Hold: Keeps your new temperature until the next scheduled change. For example, if it is 3:00 p.m., you turn the temperature up to 22 °C, and your next scheduled change is at 5:00 p.m., the hold will last until 5:00 p.m. After that, the thermostat goes back to the regular thermostat schedule.
- Timed Hold: Allows you to pick how many hours you want the thermostat to stay at the new temperature. You might choose two, four or eight hours. When that time is up, the normal schedule resumes automatically.
- Permanent Hold: Keeps the thermostat at the chosen temperature until you manually cancel it. The pre-set schedule is ignored completely.
- A vacation or away Hold: Typically this is set up with a start date, an end date and a specific temperature that is safe and energy saving. The thermostat stays at that setting while you are away and then returns to the schedule when you come back.
It is important to know that Hold locks in the temperature setting, but does not override the fan setting. Fan options like Auto, On or Circulate are often controlled separately on smart and programmable thermostats.
Should You Use the Hold Setting or Run?
Run is used to describe the regular schedule your thermostat is usually set to, and the short answer is that Run is usually the best choice for everyday life. Hold mode is better for exceptions, special circumstances and problem solving, especially when there is an active change in your routine.
When you let the thermostat follow its schedule, it can automatically warm or cool the home when you need it and reduce energy use when you do not. That means it can turn the temperature down while you sleep or when you are away at work and bring it back up in time for you to be comfortable. Many smart thermostats include features like Smart Recovery that learn how long your home takes to heat or cool so your chosen temperature is reached at the exact time you set.
In many Ontario homes with gas furnaces, small temperature setbacks of about 1 to 2 degrees at night or during work hours are enough to save energy without making the house feel noticeably colder or straining the HVAC system.
The Hold function tends to make more sense when your routine changes. That might be a sick day, a work from home day, or a visit from guests. It is also very helpful during extreme cold snaps in an Ontario winter. If you are concerned about frozen pipes, a vacation or away Hold set at about 12 to 15 °C is a common safety choice for cottages or homes that will sit empty.
Hold is also useful for parties or big gatherings. Extra people and cooking can add a lot of heat to the home. You may want to hold the temperature a bit lower than usual to keep everyone comfortable.
In many cases, too frequent large reductions in temperature may not actually save energy. For example, if you have a heat pump with electric resistance backup, very large temperature reductions can lead to the system relying more heavily on that backup heat, which is expensive. A steady Hold at a moderate temperature can help you save money and keep things more efficient and comfortable, rather than big frequent dips.
How to Take Your Thermostat Off the Hold Function
Even though different brands use different wording, the idea is the same. If you want to cancel a current Hold, look on the screen or in the app for options like Cancel Hold, Run, Run Schedule or Resume Schedule.
On an ecobee smart thermostat, you can usually tap the temperature slider and, if Hold is displayed, tap Resume or Follow Schedule. In the app, if you see that it is currently holding, tap Resume. Ecobee often gives you choices like “Hold until next transition,” “Hold for X hours” or “Until I change it.” Any of these can be cancelled if you simply press Resume.
Honeywell Home and Resideo thermostats have slightly different layouts depending on the model. If you see Hold on the screen, there will usually be a button labelled Cancel, Cancel Hold, Run or Run Schedule. On older non touch models, you may press the Hold button again and then choose Cancel.
Nest uses a feature called Hold temperature or Eco. On the thermostat or in the Google Home app, you open the thermostat, choose the Hold setting and then select End Hold or stop the Hold. Bear in mind, that if you manually adjust the temperature without explicitly setting a Hold, Nest may interpret that as a preference and start to learn it as part of your schedule, depending on your learning and Home/Away Assist settings.
If you do not see a clear cancel option, the thermostat may be locked, especially if you use a child lock or partial lock. In that case, open the Settings or Advanced menu and check for a Lock setting that needs a PIN or code.
If you still can’t take your thermostat off Hold, contact your thermostat’s manufacturer or check the user manual for model-specific instructions. Be wary of resetting your thermostat, on your own if it appears to be stuck on Hold, as doing so can come with its own safety concerns.
Will Using Hold Increase Your Energy Bills?
The effect of Hold on your energy bills and whether it will help you save money or waste energy depends on how you use it. A short temporary Hold, for example raising the heat by one or two degrees for a few hours, usually has very little impact. Leaving a permanent Hold at a higher heating temperature for weeks may increase the costs of running your HVAC system.
Interested in learning how much you could be saving on your energy bills? Take the quiz here to discover your savings.
For Ontario homes, it also helps to think about your system type and our climate. Heat pumps, radiant floors and cottages sometimes benefit from steady Holds and gentle changes, while homes with gas furnaces often perform best with smart schedules and modest setbacks during the winter.
A Few HVAC System Safety Notes
If your heating or cooling does not start right away after changing a Hold or doing a reset, give it a few minutes. Many systems include a five minute delay to protect the compressor. If your furnace is flashing an error code or keeps locking out, do not keep resetting it. This can point to a combustion or safety problem and should be checked by a licensed technician.
If you perform a factory reset, always confirm that the thermostat is set up correctly for your equipment, including whether it is gas, electric or a heat pump, how many stages it has and how the fan is controlled. Incorrect configuration can hurt comfort and even damage equipment over time.
If you need help fine tuning an older model or need a new thermostat for your home, reach out to us today at Red Seal Mechanical. We can help you install and set up your home heating, troubleshoot drafts or uneven heating, and configure your programmable or smart thermostat settings for both comfort and efficiency.
