Why Smart Thermostats Are Worth It
If you’re looking for a way to save money and energy in your home, it might be a worthwhile investment to research getting a smart thermostat. These devices can do everything from monitor when you leave the house, so that it doesn’t waste electricity heating or cooling a vacant home, to changing energy usage based on how many people are in a room or what time of day it is.
We’ll cover what a smart thermostat is, how it works and why it’s worth it to purchase one. We’ll also discuss how it can help you spend less money on your energy bills by reducing energy consumption.
What Is a Smart Thermostat?
A smart thermostat is a programmable device that allows you to do it all from adjusting your heating and cooling settings for various times of day, to monitoring when people are in the house, so it isn’t needlessly consuming energy by heating or cooling a vacant home. Most smart thermostats have learning abilities, which means they pay attention to how you change your settings and make automatic adjustments over time based on what they learn from you. A smart thermostat connects to Wi-Fi, so you’ll be able to change and keep track of your energy usage from just about anywhere.How Do Smart Thermostats Work?
A smart thermostat has learning algorithms and can hook up with other smart home technology, such as Google Home, Amazon Alexa and Apple HomeKit, for even better control over your comfort. They work with most systems, including home heating and air conditioning. Smart thermostat features consist of a temperature sensor that can detect when the home is empty, and then automatically adjust to an energy-efficient setting. Your smart thermostat may be able to geofence with your phone to know when you’re at home or away. A smart thermostat does tasks like adjust more for rooms that are occupied or have more people in them, as well as track what time of day it is so it knows how much heating or air conditioning should be used.Are Smart Thermostats Worth It?
For many people, the answer is yes. If you do a lot of traveling or are gone for many hours during the day, it may be worth your money to get one of these thermostats. You could save a significant amount, especially if you forget to adjust it when you leave for work or go out of town for the weekend. You won’t have to worry about whether your smart thermostat is on the right program, or if you remembered to adjust the temperature setting before you went out. It doesn’t require a lot of effort on your part, but you’ll notice it in lower energy bills.Smart Thermostats vs. Programmable Thermostats
Many homeowners have a traditional programmable thermostat, but 40% of them aren’t set correctly. This means you might be missing chances to save on heating and cooling expenses. Smart thermostats are convenient because they learn your schedule and automate heating and cooling to match. You can set a similar schedule on a programmable thermostat. But it’s more work to program your thermostat by hand. A smart thermostat automatically adjusts and progressively changes the temperature inside your home for the greatest energy savings. If you manually change a programmable thermostat, you can overburden your HVAC system and make it work harder to meet your adjustments.Do Smart Thermostats Save Energy?
Yes, since your smart thermostat will learn about your temperature preferences and day-to-day activities to make a schedule that reduces heating and cooling costs. You don’t have to do much as your thermostat does all the work for you while conserving money. You can acquire identical energy savings with a programmable thermostat, but it’s going to take a little bit more work than a smart thermostat. To set up a schedule on programmable models, we suggest following these guidelines from ENERGY STAR® to save energy.Suggested Temperature Settings for Your Heating System
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- Wake: Below 70 degrees.
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- Day: Set back at least 8 degrees, if no one is home.
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- Evening: Greater than 70 degrees.
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- Sleep: Decrease at least 8 degrees.
Recommended Temperature Settings for Your Cooling System
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- Wake: Higher than 78 degrees.
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- Day: Set up at least 7 degrees, if no one is there.
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- Evening: Lower than 78 degrees.
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- Sleep: Increase at least 4 degrees.
Do Smart Thermostats Save Money
Nest, one of the most popular smart thermostat manufacturers, provinces its smart thermostat saves U.S. households about:-
- 10-12% on your heating bill
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- 15% on your cooling bill
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- $131 to $145 on your energy bill annually
