Set Your Programmable Thermostat To Maximize Energy Savings And Comfort
There are two principles that guide how you should set your programmable thermostat: time frame and degree. Once you know how these principles work, you can lock in energy savings year-round. These guiding principles can work for homeowners living in almost any climate, but they are particularly useful for homeowners living in Arizona, where air conditioning costs can really soar in the summer.
A programmable thermostat simply ensures that you can set the device to drop in temperature just a bit in winter and raise a few degrees in summer, ensuring that your HVAC systems don’t consume energy when it’s not needed. However, you don’t want to set the thermostat to extreme temperatures, because your equipment will consume more fuel to bring the home back up to a comfortable level. To maximize savings, schedule eight-hour setbacks or set-forwards of 2 to 4 degrees from your regular settings.
The science behind these principles shows why this strategy works. When a home is a comfortable 72 degrees in the summer, and the air conditioner is regularly pumping cooled air into the home, your home actually loses a good portion of that energy. However, when the temperature rises just a bit, to 75 degrees for instance, it will lose energy slowly to the outdoors, which is why you save when you set the thermostat higher. The contrast between the indoor and outdoor air is decreased, so the rate of heat transfer slows down, too.
The same principles operate in the winter when you set your thermostat back. So energy-saving settings on your programmable thermostat offer a one-two punch: You don’t waste conditioned air by running equipment when you’re not home and you don’t need heated or cooled air, but you also save because the rate of heat transfer slows down.
Ensure that your Phoenix Valley home is comfortable and energy efficient at the same time by setting your programmable thermostat to maximize savings. To explore how you can save more energy around your home, contact the experts at Wolff Mechanical today!
