How to Get the Most out of your Programmable Thermostats

Most programmable thermostats are either digital, electromechanical, or some combination of the two.  It’s a personal preference as far as which one you’ll be more comfortable with.  Digital thermostats offer the most features, such as multiple setback settings and overrides, but these units may be difficult for some people to program.  Electromechanical systems are relatively simple to program.

Programming your Thermostat
When programming your thermostat, think about your daily and weekly routine.  For example, if you prefer to sleep at a cooler temperature during the winter, you might want to start the temperature setback ahead of the time you actually go to bed.  Also consider the schedules of everyone in the household.  Is there a time during the day when the house is unoccupied for four hours or more?  If so, it makes sense to adjust the temperature during those periods.

In winter, you can easily save energy by setting the thermostat to 68°F while you're awake and setting it lower while you're asleep or away from home.  Simply by turning your thermostat back 10°–15° for 8 hours, you can save about 5%–15% per year on your heating bill!  This means savings of as much as 1% for each degree if the setback period is eight hours long.

In the summer, you can follow the same strategy with central air conditioning.  As a guideline, you should keep your house warmer than normal when you are away, and lower the thermostat setting to 78°F (26°C) only when you are at home and need cool air.  Programmable thermostats eliminate the need to remember to adjust the temperature, as they automatically keep the air comfortable based on your schedule.

One note about these units:  Many people wonder if their furnace works harder than normal to warm the house back to a comfortable temperature after the thermostat has been set back.   This misconception has been dispelled by years of research and numerous studies.  You still get savings by setting back your temperature, mainly because the fuel required to reheat a building to a comfortable temperature is roughly equal to the fuel saved as the building drops to the lower temperature.  You save fuel between the time that the temperature stabilizes at the lower level and the next time heat is needed.  So, the longer your house remains at the lower temperature, the more energy you save.

Programmable thermostats give you more control over both your energy bill and your home comfort.  For more information, check out our Home Comfort Solutions Guide to learn more about programmable units.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about saving money with programmable thermostats and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Solutions Guide.

Rodenhiser Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning serves the Route 495/128 area of Massachusetts. To get started, check out our website or see our current promotions.