The thermostat in your home can help you save energy and money on your utility bills. Making a choice to turn back the temperature in your home by about 12 degrees for an eight-hour period — for example, while you’re at work — can potentially lower your utility bills by almost 10 percent.
For a long time, it’s been accepted wisdom that turning off, or way down, your cooling or heating system when you’re not at home is inefficient since it requires so much energy to return it to a comfortable temperature. This is not true. According to the federal Energy Star website, it’s always better to turn down the A/C and furnace when you’re not at home, since the rate at which heat transfers between outside and in (and vice versa) increases with greater temperature differences between the two. You’ll lose less cooled or heated air if there’s less variation in the temperatures between inside and out.
But how do you avoid walking into a house that’s uncomfortably warm (or cold) after you’ve been at work all day? A programmable thermostat is a good solution, since it includes:
- A pre-set schedule allows you to control the times and durations of any changes to your heating and cooling systems.
- The temperature levels can be automatically changed when you are sleeping or away from your home.
It is important to carefully consider the installation location of a programmable thermostat. This unit should be installed away from any drafts, doorways, windows and any other sources of air flow and direct sunlight. Correct placement of a programmable thermostat will provide the best efficiency and performance results. It will also reduce the potential for excess cycling of the system.
The professional service people at Hansberger Refrigeration and Electric Company are glad to provide you with expert advice on any concerns you might have about programmable thermostats. Feel free to contact us with any heating and cooling questions. We’ve been proudly serving the Yuma area since 1952.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Hansberger Refrigeration & Electric Co services the Yuma area in Arizona. To get started, check out our website.
