How A Smart Thermostat Can Save Homeowners Money On Heating Bills
About half of your energy bills are from cooling and heating your home. It cannot be helped because heating and cooling are essential. Here at Fischer, we take care of our customers. So, we are sharing tips on how to save. One of the ways is to stop fiddling with your thermostat because it can lead to wasted energy. Resetting your thermostat when you are away from home or when you are sleeping can save money on your cooling and heating bills. You can either do this manually or install a programmable thermostat or an automatic setback.
With that said, you might be wondering what temperature to set the thermostat in winter.
What Is A Smart Thermostat?
You have heard of smartphones and smart TV sets and are probably the owner of one or both items. Smart thermostats are the latest to join the ranks. As the term implies, a smart thermostat is a remotely programmable device. It connects to the Internet so that you can program your heating system through your smartphone. With it, you do not have to wait to reach home to set your thermostat – you can do it anywhere you are.
The good thing is you can even buy a smart thermostat that can learn your routine at home and monitor your energy usage. Each brand available in the market works slightly differently than the others.
How Smart Thermostats Work
Typically, a smart thermostat has a WiFi chip, although there are some that communicate with another hub and use another communication protocol. You can either install a smartphone app or a web interface. The process is more straightforward than manually programming the thermostat by yourself.
With a smart thermostat you not only program the settings schedule. It has the capability to have learning algorithms so you can set more efficient schedules. Some models allow you to control the heating schedules and the thermostat through your voice. Thus, it is possible to remotely adjust the coolness or warmth of any room using your smartphone according to your needs.
The smart thermostat works through the boiler of your heating system, the thermostat’s central control. The app installed on your smartphone lets you control the temperature setting of your home or office.
High-end smart thermostats are able to learn your schedule and can detect if you’re about to reach your house by tracking you through GPS and setting the temperature accordingly. This type of smart thermostat adapts to your lifestyle and your schedule by learning your behavior so it can act automatically to make you comfortable when you’re staying at home. It can automatically turn off your cooling or heating system when you’re out of the house.
The features of a smart thermostat depend on the brand and model. Some models can give you a detailed breakdown of your energy consumption and keep a record. If you do not have a combi boiler, there are smart thermostats that can control the hot water availability.
The objective of the smart thermostat is to give you better control of your heating or cooling systems so you do not waste energy when the home is empty.
Some Of The Things To Be Aware Of
You must not set your thermostat higher to heat your home faster. Since your heater only works at a single speed, you will only be making your heater work longer to reach the new setting.
Do not leave your thermostat in the same setting all the time. ENERGY STAR says that you are wasting almost $200 a year just by leaving your thermostat in a particular setting. What you should do is change the setting whenever you are going to be out of the house for longer than eight hours.
What temperature to set the thermostat in winter? When you’ll be out of the house for more than eight hours, set your thermostat about 10° to 15° lower. When you get back home, set the thermostat higher so you’ll feel warmer. The U.S. Department of Energy says that you save between 5-15% on your energy costs annually by doing this.
Don’t change your thermostat settings constantly. Such practice makes your furnace (or your air conditioner, for that matter) stop and start, leading to inefficient performance.
Let us say that in winter, you have already set your thermostat at 68 °F (20 °C). The heating system runs until it reaches the temperature you have set, and then it shuts off. But somehow, you still feel cold, so you increase the thermostat setting by a few degrees more. By doing this, your furnace will turn on again to achieve the new temperature setting.
You’ll realize savings when you reset your thermostat when you are sleeping or when you leave the house. What temperature to set the thermostat in winter is a thought many homeowners are pondering as soon as the fall season begins. Why not? It could mean an increase in energy bills if they are not careful. Here are some helpful tips on what temperature to set the thermostat in winter.
You have to remember that specific temperature depends on the family’s heating requirements, so we are going to give you general suggestions.
- If you’re at home during the day, set your thermostat to 72 °F or 22 °C. However, it is better to shoot for 68 °F or 20 °C.
- If all of you will be leaving home during the day or when you’re going to sleep in the evening, it is suggested that 66 °F or 19 °C to 62 °F or 17 °C is what temperature to set the thermostat in winter.
Preparing For Winter In Seattle
Keep in mind that temperature preferences in each home are different. However, it is not efficient if you set the thermostat to a particular setting and leave it at that all the time is not cost-efficient.
So, what should an indoor temperature setting be for the Seattle region in the winter season? Be sure to set the thermostat at a specific high temperature. But once you and your family get used to the Pacific Northwest's cooler weather, it’s advisable to lower the temperature weekly by one degree.
According to Energy.gov, lowering the temperature by one degree for even just eight hours can already give your energy bill a 1.0% reduction. When you lower the temperature and maintain that lower temperature for longer, your savings increase. Because your body has acclimatized, it is possible that you are not going to notice the temperature change.
Whether you are in Seattle, Bellevue, or one of the many eastside, north, and south side neighborhoods, our qualified and licensed technicians can also help determine what temperature to set the thermostat in winter so that everyone in your family would feel comfortable. They can also help you decide whether an automatic setback of a programmable thermostat would be a wise investment for you.
Contact Fischer Heating for any additional questions you may have, or give us a call today at 206-202-9499 to have an energy audit performed to help determine how you can save on energy bills.