For many hours a day you’re off at work, or perhaps at school. Yet your heating or air conditioning continues to run, without anybody home. This uses a ton of energy and costs you money. You can significantly lower this cost by changing the thermostat up or down as you go to work and setting it back to your desired temperature when you come home. But how much should you adjust the temperature?
Here’s what the Department of Energy suggests about thermostat settings:
You can save around 10% a year on heating and cooling bills by just adjusting your thermostat down 7°-10°F for eight hours a day rather than its normal setting. The percentage of savings from setback is better for buildings in more temperate climates than for those in more extreme climates.
The smaller the contrast between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the less expensive your complete cooling bill can be. You can easily save energy during the winter by setting the thermostat to around 68°F while you're awake and setting it lower while you're asleep or away from home. In the summer, you can use the same strategy with central air conditioning by keeping your house warmer than normal when you are at work and tweaking the thermostat to a setting as high as you can manage comfortably when you are at home and want cooling and to provide humidity control if needed.
You could have been informed that doing these adjustments are not worth it because your heating and cooling has to work even harder to return to your favored temperature, using up your savings, but the energy department puts that notion to rest, especially for heaters: “A common misconception associated with thermostats is that a furnace works harder than normal to warm the space back to a comfortable temperature after the thermostat has been set back, resulting in little or no savings. In fact, as soon as your house drops below its normal temperature, it will lose energy to the surrounding environment more slowly.”
Programmable and Smart Thermostats
Even with the benefits of adjusting your thermostat every time you leave for work, it’s easy to overlook in the rush of getting ready and on your way. This is one perk of programmable and smart thermostats. You can direct your thermostat to automatically move to another temperature across your average work hours. And with a smart thermostat, you can adjust the temperature (or the programming schedule) from anywhere. This is very helpful if you’ve neglected to change the setting before going on vacation.
Always Remember the Pets
If you have a pet, consider their comfort as well. Cats and dogs with heavy fur won’t be as happy with high temperatures. And pets with less fur might not be pleased with cold temperatures. The same applies to tropical birds, fish and reptiles. Since temperature tolerances vary universally by breed and species, look them up for your pets.
More Perks of Setting Your Thermostat for When You’re Away
- Carbon emissions - The harder you use your heating and air conditioning, the more carbon emissions you generate. Conserving energy minimizes air pollution and greenhouse gasses.
- HVAC Longevity - Demanding too much from your HVAC system can reduce its longevity and cause increased maintenance to be necessary. It also means the air filter will clog up sooner, making your air less clean.
If you have any ideas about your air conditioner features, or if you need HVAC repair or maintenance, get in touch with the specialists at Peachtree Service Experts, a big company with local heart. We’re enthusiastic about making the world a comfortable place to live. Whether we’re keeping things warm, cooling things down or making the water run, we have a lot of pride in keeping our customers and communities comfortable and content.
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