View SpecialsThe Ultimate Home Comfort Checklist: HVAC Maintenance. So by now you know how proper HVAC maintenance keeps energy costs low, and ensures a fail-proof system through the toughest seasonal changes.
This week, we’re heading right into the number three energy-saving solution on the home comfort checklist: Programming Your Thermostats.
Why Should I Program My Thermostats?
When you come home from work on a hot summer day, the first thing you do is crank your AC all the way down – you’re looking for immediate relief from the heat as you sit down for the first time all day.
But here’s how that immediate relief affects your energy bills: turning your AC on and off, or continually cranking your thermostat higher and lower, forces the system to work overtime in an effort to satisfy your heating and cooling needs. When your thermostat plunges from 80° to 68°, it takes much longer for your AC unit to power up and adjust to the drastic modification, resulting in higher energy usage.
Set It And Forget It
When you program your thermostat, you follow the always convenient, “set it and forget it” methodology. Programmable thermostats function around your daily work schedule and home-life habits, so you’re not using HVAC energy when you’re not home, when you’re sleeping, or when you simply don’t need it.
How Much Does A Programmable Thermostat Save?
According to the Energy Information Administration, about 42% of home energy costs go to heating and cooling. But a quarter of these costs go into the unused space and unspent time in your home.
When you program your thermostats, you integrate your ideal home temperatures into your daily schedule, essentially dictating to your HVAC when to power on and off. Programmable thermostats save you from 5% to 15% on your annual utility costs – the key is them correctly, or, in the way that saves you the most money.
Programming Your Thermostat: Summer
For summer air conditioning, don’t program your thermostat so high that it turns the AC off when you leave the house. Instead, set it just 5 degrees higher than your normal comfort level. When the temperature is set too high, your air conditioner has to run longer to reach the temperature setting – using up more electricity to cool your entire house.
Programming Your Thermostat: Winter
In the winter, program your thermostat the opposite way for your furnace – no more than five degrees cooler than your ideal home temperature. By turning your thermostat back 10 to 15 degrees while you’re at work, you save as much as 1% on energy costs every single day.
Avoid the urge to come home and crank your thermostat up or down – that may provide immediate comfort, but it also uses additional energy, which means you pay additional utility costs. When you program your thermostats around your daily schedule, your home heats and cools at a natural, routine rate, and your ideal temperature is established long before you arrive home from work – no additional energy use, no additional energy costs.
Ready to discover all five remaining tips right now? Click here to download your very own copy of The Home Comfort Checklist, and see how simple it is to cut utility costs while maintaining ultimate comfort in your home.
