Residential thermostats
Climate control and home energy savings
Residential thermostats
are often viewed as simple automatic
switches that turn heating and cooling systems on or off. But climate
control is the
primary job of a home thermostat, by preventing
uncomfortable temperature
changes
indoors.
 However
throughout many homes in the U.S, outdated residential
thermostats (while effective at maintaining comfortable room
temperatures) can
needless waste energy and money.
New age thermostats offer
homeowners greater
climate control, resulting in significant energy savings without the
needless
sacrifice of home comfort.
Saving doesn't mean
sacrificing
When
most people think about residential thermostats
and saving energy they immediately think about turning down the
temperature and
throwing on their favorite sweater.
It's
true that manually turning down the
temperature will save you money. It's also true that for as little as
$30, you
can have this automatically done for you without ever having to put on
a
sweater.
Programmable
thermostats
With programmable
thermostats, homeowners can easily program
or preset their thermostats to make automatic temperature adjustments
at times
when no one is home or when everyone is sound asleep.
And likewise, the same
settings
can be programmed to automatically readjust the temperature shortly
before
returning home or awakening from a good nights sleep.
Taking advantage of such
times significantly increases
energy efficiency, giving central home heating and home cooling systems
a much
needed break.
New wireless
climate
control thermostats provide homeowners even
further customized climate control settings. Different models can often
have several different functions. With that said choosing the
best
programmable thermostat for your
home requires some careful consideration.
Stay ahead of your
utility provider
Many utility companies
today have whats called multi
variable rate pricing plans. These pricing plans set higher electricity
and
natural gas rates during peak times and lower rates during off peak
times.
With
a programmable thermostat, energy savings minded homeowners can
schedule their
climate control settings in order to reduce usage during these higher
priced
times. Peak times are usually during the weekends and
afternoons.
It's a good
idea to contact your current provider to inquire about possible pricing
differences during such peak and off peak times.
Replacing a wall
thermostat
Replacing
or installing a wall mounted thermostat is a
relatively easy do it yourself project. In fact most models, even newer
wireless thermostats, come with instructions on how to mount and how to
wire a
home thermostat.
Climate
control thermostats can come with several different programmable
settings. Choose
the best programmable thermostat for your home.
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