How to Prep Your HVAC for the End of Daylight Saving Time

The end of Daylight Saving Time is nearly here, which means shorter days and longer nights for most of the country. While you’re perfectly able and willing to adjust to these changes, the same may not be true for your heating and cooling equipment. To keep your HVAC system in sync and your home comfortable, here are some things to consider:

Time for a Little Readjustment

Since you’ll lose an hour when Daylight Saving Time ends, you’ll need to make sure your thermostat stays in sync with the upcoming changes. In most cases, you’ll need to reprogram your thermostat so that your daily HVAC routine happens an hour earlier.

Keep in mind that some programmable thermostats are designed to automatically account for Daylight Saving Time changes, so you won’t have to mess with any of your current settings unless you want to make minor changes.

Consider Your Home Comfort

You should also take the time to carefully reassess your home’s HVAC needs just to make sure your system remains energy-efficient, especially with winter weather on its way. For instance, you’ll want your thermostat set at around 68 degrees Fahrenheit during the morning and throughout the day, as long as your home’s occupied.

Your thermostat should automatically drop the temperature by about 10 degrees when you leave home for the day and increase by 10 degrees when you come back. As you go to bed, you’ll want to lower the temperature by a full 15 degrees overnight. This will help you save 15 percent on your heating costs throughout the winter.

Don’t Forget to Check Those Batteries

Dead thermostat batteries are a common cause of service calls among homeowners. To save time and money, you’ll want to make sure your thermostat batteries are in good shape. Most thermostats will warn you when it’s time to have your battery changed, usually by flashing a small battery icon on the display.

For more information on maintaining optimal heating and cooling year-round, contact us at Rinaldi’s Energy Solutions. We proudly serve Orlando and the surrounding area.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Orlando, Florida and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).

Credit/Copyright Attribution: “thatpalletguy/Pixabay”