Programmable Thermostats Are Great Energy Savers

Programmable thermostats are great energy savers that can make your life a whole lot easier.  The energy saving benefits of programmable thermostats are found in the owner’s ability to adjust home temperature.  Imagine coming home to a warm, comfortable home on a cold winter evening. Now imagine that same home, cooler and energy efficient, just hours before your return. With a programmable thermostat, it is possible to operate an energy efficient home with a small amount of effort.

According the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and The U.S. Department of Energy, proper use of a programmable thermostat can save homeowners about $180 a year in heating and cooling costs.  In fact, when you are away from home for 8 hours or more, setting your thermostat 10°–15° degrees cooler can result in a 5%–15% a year saving on your heating bill.

In addition to heating and cooling cost savings, programmable thermostats relieve wear and tear on your HVAC system. By using a programmable thermostat to turn your system off when not in use, the life expectancy of your system’s components increases.

In order to maximize the energy saving and money saving benefits of your programmable thermostat, we’d like to share some recommendations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Commerce.

• Programmable thermostats have pre-programmed set points designed to maximize energy saving.  Homeowners should keep the temperature of their home set to these set points when no one is at home, at night, and bedtime.
• You can adjust the temperature of your home without erasing the pre-programmed set points.
• Become familiar with the hold features of your programmable thermostat.  Do not use hold/permanent/vacation features unless you will be away from home for an extended period of time, like vacation.
• Attempting to quickly heat or cool your home by setting your programmable thermostat to extremely low or high temperatures won’t work and will only waste energy and your money.
• The easiest maintenance task you can perform on your programmable thermostat is to check and/or replace the batteries.