Programmable Thermostats Save

Programmable Thermostats

Think about it for a moment. In the old days, before programmable thermostats, a traditional thermostat would keep your home at a certain temperature until such time as you went over and adjusted it. Some people were very good about doing this in an effort to save money on utility bills.

But it was not uncommon to forget about making the necessary adjustment when you would go to bed or leave the house for an extended time. It may not seem like much money but even if you only save $1.00 per day in heating and cooling costs, it adds up. In today's market, you can save much more than that.

Look at Your Bill

Study your utility bill. What portion of your bill represents what you spend for heating and cooling? It is easy to calculate if you look at an entire year's worth of bills. There must be certain months of the year when you rarely have your furnace or air conditioner on. Here in Cincinnati those months are April, May, September and October. Look at the energy costs for those months and do the math to create an average. This number is what you might spend on average each month of the year for lighting, cooking, laundry, refrigeration, etc.

If you take this average cost and multiply it by 12 it will be a number less than the total amount you spent all year for your utilities. Subtract the smaller number from the grand total and the remainder is the approximate amount of money you spend to heat and cool your house for one year.

What if I told you that a programmable thermostat could save you 30 percent or more of this number? What if I told you it would do it year after year and that the savings would grow as utility costs go higher and higher? Does it make sense to make a one time expenditure of $150.00 for a top of the line programmable thermostat? I can see you running out the door now to get one!

Artificial Intelligence

Programmable thermostats have come a long way. The first generation ones were simply sophisticated timers that turned the heating and cooling system on and off at specific times. This worked fine if you were really good as guessing how well your furnace and air conditioner could alter the temperature and recover from the previous time period settings. Well those days of trying to guess are over! You can buy a slick programmable thermostat from Honeywell that does all of this guess work for you. They call it Adaptive Intelligent Recovery®.

Thermostats that have this feature actually "learn" how your heating and air conditioning system works. It memorizes how fast it can recover from a setback temperature. You simply set the thermostat telling it exactly what time you want the house to be a certain temperature and within 4 to 8 days it will figure out how to do it. Now that is a very smart thermostat.

Location, Location, Location

The above phrase is an axiom in the real estate industry. It tells you how to get the most from your property. Simply make sure it is in the right location!

The same is true for thermostats. They need to be placed in special locations to work correctly. Here are some guidelines:

• Keep them away from windows.
• Never place on an exterior wall.
• Never place one behind a door. The thermostat needs to be visible.
• Never place in direct sunlight.
• Do not place near a return air duct.
• Try to locate in the central core of the home.
• Place it 5 feet off the floor.

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