For plenty of hours a day you’re away at work, or possibly at school. Yet your heating or air conditioning continues to run, with nobody home. This needs a lot of energy and wastes money. You can significantly lower this cost by adjusting the thermostat up or down when you head to work and setting it back to your preferred temperature when you come home. But how much should you adjust it?
Here’s what the Department of Energy says about thermostat settings:
You can save around 10% a year on heating and cooling by just setting your thermostat down 7°-10°F for eight hours a day rather than its typical setting. The percentage of savings from setback is larger for buildings in cooler climates than for those in more severe climates.
The lower the variation between the outdoor and indoor temperatures, the less expensive your total cooling bill should be. You can effectively save energy during the winter by setting the thermostat to around 68°F while you're awake and adjusting it down while you're asleep or away from home. In the summer, you can practice the same strategy with central air conditioning by leaving your house warmer than normal when you are gone and tweaking the thermostat to a setting as high as you can manage comfortably when you return and want cooling and to secure humidity control if required.
You might have been advised that making these adjustments aren’t worth the time because your comfort system has to work even harder to return to your desired temperature, reversing your savings, but the energy department puts that notion to rest, particularly for heating: “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
Regardless of the benefits of setting your thermostat every time you leave for work, it’s not hard to miss in the rush of getting ready and on your way. This is one benefit of programmable and smart thermostats. You can set your thermostat to automatically move to another temperature through your regular work hours. And with a smart thermostat, you can change the temperature (or the programming schedule) remotely. This is particularly helpful if you’ve neglected to fix the setting before going on vacation.
Always Remember the Pets
If you own pets, consider their comfort too. Cats and dogs with thick fur won’t be comfy with high temperatures. And pets with less fur might not be happy with cold temperatures. The same applies to tropical birds, fish and reptiles. Considering temperature preferences vary universally by breed and species, so it helps to verify the ideal temperature range for your pets.
More Benefits of Changing Your Thermostat for When You’re Away
- Carbon emissions - The more you use your HVAC system, the more carbon emissions you generate. Preserving energy decreases air pollution and greenhouse gasses.
- HVAC Longevity - Overusing your HVAC unit can reduce its life span and cause additional maintenance to be necessary. It also means the air filter can clog up more quickly, making your indoor air quality worse.
If you have any questions about your air conditioner settings, or if you require HVAC repair or maintenance, get in touch with the specialists at Calverley Service Experts, a big company with local heart. We’re passionate about making the world a cozy place to live. Whether we’re keeping things warm, cooling things down or making the water flow, we have a lot of pride in keeping our customers and communities cozy and satisfied.
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