Programmable Thermostats: A Comfortable Way To "Turn Down" Utility Bills

For budget-conscious homeowners, the days of manually "cranking" a thermostat up and down are over. An electronic programmable thermostat is now considered the key component for getting the most out of today's heating and cooling systems.

HOW A PROGRAMMABLE THERMOSTAT WORKS

Thermostats do two things: (1) Compare the thermometer reading of a room's temperature to the "ideal" thermostat temperature you select. (2) Give start-and-stop commands to the heating or cooling system in order to achieve an indoor temperature that is as close to your "ideal" thermostat setting as possible. By doing those two things, a thermostat plays the role of a "comfort detective" in your home.

The big advantage of a programmable thermostat is that you can program many "ideal" temperatures for different times of the day or night, or for different days of the week.

SETBACK: A BREAKTHROUGH FOR INCREASING EFFICIENCY WITHOUT SACRIFICING COMFORT

Thermostat setback is simple: when you need heating or cooling, you program the thermostat to order your system to work achieving the ideal temperature. But when you don't need as much heating or cooling, you program the thermostat to "setback" the ideal temperature for awhile.

On a winter night, for example, you and your family are comfortable under blankets and don't need the whole house heated to 72 degrees. So you'd program your thermostat to setback the temperature to say, 65 degrees from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., then bring it back to 72 degrees so the bathroom floor is nice and warm when your bare feet hit at 6:15. Just that simple nighttime setback can save you up to 15% on your fuel bills!

And you can achieve the same kinds of savings with summer cooling setbacks when the house is empty during the day, or after you've fallen asleep in your cool, comfortable bedroom.

WHAT TEMPERATURE IS IT, ANYWAY?

While programmed setbacks make the most measurable differences in energy costs, a programmable thermostat saves in other ways as well. Newer electronic thermostats are far more accurate than older, manual thermostats. An older thermostat could allow temperature variations of up to five degrees. New electronic thermostats can be accurate to within a half a degree. That means less wear and tear on your furnace and air conditioner from too much turning on and off.

WHICH THERMOSTAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

There are lots of different programmable thermostats with different features. Talk to an expert and get the one that's right for your system and has all the features you want without making you pay for the one you'll never use.