Keep The Savings – How to Program Your Thermostat to Save Money
It’s a beautiful 65 degrees in Kennesaw, Ga. But to you there is still quite a chill as you wake. You go to the thermostat and crank up the temperature so the heat kicks on as you take a shower and get ready for your day. 1 hour later with coffee in hand you are headed out the door on your way to start your day. Meanwhile, your heat is still on, while no one is home.
Sounds familiar? You just wasted energy and paid for it. Finding the right thermostat for your home and programming it to the schedule of your family is easy! Studies show that monitoring the temperature in your home can save you 5-15% on your energy bills, per the Department of Energy. Now’s the time to start thinking of ways to program your thermostat to save money.
The “set it and forget it” concept works great with a programmable thermostat to save you time, money and keep you comfortable. Here’s what an average schedule looks like in many homes:
6:30 a.m.- Wake up time to prepare for the day
7:45 a.m – Everyone is out of the house to school and work
3:30 p.m. – Children or 1 adult arrives home.
5:30 p.m.- The whole family is home and preparing for evening activities
6:00 p.m.- Sports practices, dinner, evening meetings/activities
8:00 p.m Home and preparing for the next day/bedtime
10:00 p.m. Time to wind down and sleep/prepare for sleep
Does this schedule look somewhat familiar?
If you have a standard thermostat then you are turning your system on and off, and running it for hours at a time. However, you can see that there may be gaps in your schedule that don’t require the use of energy to heat/cool your home when it is vacant. Here’s where to start:
- Make a rough daily schedule of when your home is occupied or vacant.
- Review the various options and perks of a programmable thermostat. Do you you want regular reports? Sleek styling? Do you want your thermostat to communicate with your HVAC equipment and smoke detectors?
- Once you have decided on the type of thermostat you are looking for, and had your professional HVAC experts install it, it is time to get to programming.
Here is what a program would look like in relation to the schedule above during the winter months:
6:15 – turn the temp to 68 degrees (or your personal comfortable temp)
7:45 – the temp goes down to 60 degrees
3:15 p.m. – the temp is programmed back up to a comfortable 68 degrees (or your personal comfortable temp)
5:45 p.m – the temp goes down to 60 degrees
7:45 p.m.- the temp goes back up to 70 degrees
10:00 p.m. – the temp goes down to 65 degrees (or your comfortable sleeping temp)
How Does a Program Save Your Money?
By setting the thermostat back for 8+ hours a day, you can save anywhere from 5-25% on your energy costs. The common misconception is that bringing your home up to a temperature is where the energy costs are. In actuality, keeping your home at a set temperature for hours of the day is where your system is utilizing the most costs. Turning your temperature down to where it uses minimal energy is the best way to save.
Don’t forget to change your program as your schedules change. For example, during school breaks or changes in your work life. This will assure you stay comfortable while keeping extra funds in your wallet.
Rule of Thumb
- Set your thermostat back 10-15 degrees during the times that you are not home.
- Program each day
- Don’t forget to change your program as your schedule changes
- Set the thermostat to turn on 15 minutes before your arrival so your home is comfortable when you arrive
- Don’t forget to review your energy bills before the replacement of your thermostat.
- For 8 hours of lowered temp time – You can expect 1% per 1 degree of lowered temperature.
- Ex) 8 hours temperature is reduced from 70 degrees to 60 degrees should save you 10% on your energy costs
- Goal: winter set high temp 68 degrees / summer set cool temp 75 degrees
Which Programmable Thermostat is Best?
There are a variety of great options to installing a programmable thermostat option. Some are more complicated to set, others have a handy phone app that allows you to quickly program your schedule. More basic options strictly run the program while others can be connected to your carbon monoxide and fire alarms. This allows them to shut down your gas furnace if there is a potential carbon monoxide hazard present.
We favor the nest thermostat. As a nest Pro, we are fully skilled at installing the nest line of products. One of our favorite features is the connectivity and functionality. The nest thermostat is easy to program via your app. What’s the best part? It connects to your cell phone and knows when you are home and LEARNS your schedule. It is a learning thermostat! For the first week or two you manually program the thermostat each time you come home to your temperature. The nest thermostat learns your schedule and makes a program based off of it. It knows when you arrive via bluetooth connection.
What’s even better than a learning thermostat? The nest line of products can connect with one another. For example, the nest Protect is a smoke and carbon monoxide detector. If you have the nest thermostat and the Protect and carbon monoxide gas is detected, the nest products “speak” to each other and turn of your gas furnace. What a great feature to keep you and your family safe!Regular reports are sent to your email or phone app and the nest Protect tests itself repeatedly throughout the day!
Take Advantage of the Cost Savings
Maybe a high tech option is too robust or complicated for your needs? No worry! Guardian offers our Cobb County customers a variety of programmable thermostats that will fit your wants and needs. Our HVAC experts provide Guardian customers with guaranteed 5 star service, affordable pricing, and even go above and beyond by teaching you how to use your thermostat!
Contact us today at 770-727-1888 or schedule online to get your programmable thermostat installed.
