For many hours a day you’re away at work, or perhaps at school. Yet your HVAC system continues to run, with nobody home. This uses a ton of energy and costs you money. You can dramatically scale back 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 says about thermostat settings:
You can save around 10% a year on heating and cooling by just turning your thermostat down 7°-10°F for eight hours a day compared to its usual setting. The percentage of savings from setback is greater for buildings in milder climates than for those in more dynamic climates.
The lower the difference between the both temperatures, the less expensive your complete cooling bill can be. You can effectively save energy in the winter by setting the thermostat to around 68°F while you're awake and adjusting it lower while you're in bed or away from home. During the summer, you can practice the same approach with central air conditioning by having your house warmer than normal when you are gone and adjusting the thermostat to a setting as high as you can manage comfortably when you're home and want cooling and to provide humidity control if necessary.
You might have been advised that these kinds of adjustments won't be worth the time because your HVAC has to work even harder to go back to your favored 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 changing your thermostat every time you leave for work, it’s very easy to forget in the rush of getting ready and on your way. This is one advantage of programmable and smart thermostats. You can set your thermostat to automatically move to a higher or lower temperature during your standard work hours. And with a smart thermostat, you can increase or decrease the temperature (or the programming schedule) from anywhere. This is very helpful if you’ve forgotten to adjust the setting before going on vacation.
Don't Forget the Pets
If you have pets at home, think about their comfort too. Cats and dogs with thick fur won’t be as happy with high temperatures. And pets with less dense fur might not be comfortable with cold temperatures. The same is true of tropical birds, fish and reptiles. Considering temperature preferences differ widely by breed and species, look them up for your pets.
Other Benefits of Adjusting Your Thermostat for When You’re Away
- Carbon emissions - The more you run your HVAC system, the more carbon emissions you produce. Preserving energy minimizes air pollution and greenhouse gasses.
- HVAC Longevity - Demanding too much from your heating and cooling can reduce its longevity and cause more maintenance to be needed. It also means the air filter will clog up more quickly, making your air less clean.
If you have any ideas about your air conditioner settings, or if you need HVAC repair or maintenance, contact the professionals at Komfort Air Service Experts, a big company with homegrown heart. We’re enthusiastic about making the world a comfy 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.
Experts — it’s in the name and vital to our business. We work hard to help each technician or installer learn to be a skilled professional. We work with the best and offer training, opportunities and support, so our staff can learn, improve and be equipped for any kind of challenge they're faced with.
Our combined business strength and people make us special. With more than 4,000 team members collaborating on making you comfortable, we can deliver and innovate more effectively than the competition. Our enthusiastic, family-friendly attitude fuels our collaboration and helps us get the job done in a timely manner, and right — the first time.
Our blend of company size and unique expertise means we can accomplish more with the next great idea … which can come from anywhere and anyone. We are reinvigorating the industry by harnessing each team member’s best ideas. That means our teams and customers can rest assured we’re moving, innovating, delivering, and in it for the long haul, through the busy times and beyond.
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