Saving on energy costs is a serious concern, especially in the winter. Even though the cost of oil is lower than in the recent past, it always makes sense to save money on the fuel we use to heat our homes. I am often asked about the value of turning the heat down, only to have to turn it up again. People wonder if this wastes more energy than it saves, making the furnace or boiler work harder.
A thermostat doesn’t work like a gas pedal, where pressing it down hard makes the engine work harder. Your thermostat tells your heating and cooling systems when to operate and when to stop – never how intense to work. A heating system bringing the room from 60 degrees to 70 degrees works just as hard at any given moment as one bringing the room from 50 degrees to 80 degrees. The only difference is at what point the system stops itself.
When it comes to heating systems, it never makes sense to leave them running when the heat isn’t needed. You can turn them down or off when not in use and you will conserve energy (and save money).
The idea of saving energy by only heating rooms when needed is the entire idea behind smart thermostats, ones that you can program when the heat comes on and when it shuts off. This way, you can program the thermostat to turn the heat down at 8 am — around the time you leave in the morning — and tell it to raise the temperature in the room around the time you return home, so you can come home to a warm house.
In addition, you can create zones within your home using multiple thermostats so that each zone can be programmed individually.
Smart thermostats also let users savm, be heating costs at night when family members are in their beds in just two or three rooms and the rest of the house is empty. Most people tend to sleep deeper and longer in a cool roout want to wake up to a warm house. The same principle applies. Program the thermostat to turn down when it is bedtime and turn up again just before the family gets up in the morning.
By using a smart thermostat, you can reduce heating costs twice in the same day – when the family goes to bed and when they go to work or school.
