Using Programmable Thermostat Settings To Save — And Keep On Saving

Using programmable thermostat settings to control the indoor air temperature in your home all year long can make a huge difference in lowering your utility bills while still keeping your home comfortable for your family. Programmable thermostats allow you to change a room or zone’s temperature depending upon your family’s activity patterns. Many programmable thermostats have the ability to remember multiple temperature and time settings, making home comfort effortless. Optimum efficiency and savings are achieved when each time period per setting is at least eight hours long. Savings on your utility bills can be significant.

During the summer cooling months, programmable thermostat settings need to be raised at least 10 to 15 degrees, from the average (78 degrees), at night and when your home is empty and, during the winter warming months, settings need to be lowered to 55 or 60 degrees during the night and when your family is away. Setting your thermostat to 68 degrees during the winter while the home is occupied is best for maximum energy savings and, in the mild winter climate of our central Florida/Orlando area, this should be easy to do. But the elderly and very young need specialized temperature settings. If your programmable thermostats are part of a zoned system their special needs can be handled easily by setting the temperature of their sleeping and living areas separately from the other zones in your home. This is another great advantage of programmable thermostats.

Digital programmable thermostats offer the most features, but can be complicated to program. Electromechanical ones operate with sliding pegs or bars and are the easiest to program. If you have radiant floor heating or a heat pump system in your home you will need programmable thermostats specifically designed for these type of systems.

Did you purchase your programmable thermostats from us at Rinaldi’s Air Conditioning in Orlando? Then, no worries, our patient, knowledgeable technical staff will be happy to show you how to use the programmable thermostat settings that come with each unit. Call us today!

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Orlando, Florida and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about programmable thermostats and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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