The whole point of a thermostat is to allow you to regulate your heating and air conditioning. Realistically, you can use any old thermostat, but with the increased controls and features of a smart thermostat, there are more features to help you save money. You have to know how to use it correctly, though, for it to make a significant difference and for your savings to add up.
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How to Save Money By Using a Smart Thermostat
A smart thermostat works the same as your ordinary thermostat: it controls your heating and cooling. The difference is that it includes programming to make it more efficient.
You can set up specific heating and cooling schedules, use an app to turn your thermostat up or down, and even give it voice commands when you want to change the temperature.
Together, all of this can impact your overall energy bills.
Adjust Temperatures
With a smart thermostat, you can program your air conditioner to turn the temperature up or down at the same time each day, or you can adjust the temperature right from your phone when you’re away. As your thermostat learns your habits, it will be able to save you money.
Customize Your Home
Not only can your smart thermostat learn your habits and preferences based on the settings and information you input, but you can customize your home to suit your needs. For example, there might be rooms that you don’t use all the time or don’t spend a lot of time in on certain days.
Your smart thermostat can be adjusted room by room. Choose which rooms to heat or cool at certain times, depending on your preferred schedule.
Learning
As you customize your home and adjust your schedule, your smart thermostat will be able to learn your habits. It will pick up on what time of the day you usually adjust the temperatures and figure out how you enjoy your home. It’ll also learn things like how long it typically takes to warm up a specific room, so it can optimize the energy saving function when you’re not using the room.
Over time, it can even give you suggestions on how to best optimize your energy usage.
Energy Report
Certain smart thermostats will allow you to take a look at an energy report every month. Your thermostat will provide you with a report so that you can see how much energy you’re using in a certain amount of time and if there are certain hours in which you use more energy than usual.
This will let you check if there’s anything you’re surprised by, and will help you adjust your energy usage. You may also change your energy if you notice a time where you’re using a lot of energy when you’re not even home.
How Much Can You Save?
Ultimately, it depends on how you adjust your temperatures and the size of your home, not to mention the thermostat’s location. A smaller home will, of course, heat and cool much more quickly, for example.
It might be small savings that you’re seeing at first, but even if you only adjust your thermostat a few degrees, you should notice a substantial reduction in your bills over time.
Conclusion
Saving money on your electrical bill doesn’t have to be difficult, and it’s even easier when you have a smart thermostat to help you. Your smart thermostat can adjust the temperature of your home without you even being there, saving you both time and money as you go about your day. All you need to do is make sure it’s installed right and spend a little time setting your schedules.
Pat Ambrose has over 40 years of experience in the HVAC industry, serving Central Florida. He tested for and received his class B air conditioning license almost 35 years ago and then improved that to a class A license in the late 90s. Pat and his wife started their own HVAC business in the early 90s, serving Central Florida. Pat still serves as the president of Ambrose Air, Inc., where he works as the chief operating officer. Over his years in business, Pat has served as the president of both the local association (ACCA/CF) and the state association of contractors (FRACCA). His expertise has helped his customers on many occasions, solving air conditioning problems that others had missed.