How a Smart Thermostat Helps Your Heating System Near Havertown, PA

Sure, you’ve read all about how a smart thermostat benefits you — increasing your home comfort and lowering your energy bills. But, have you considered how it helps out your heater? You’ll find plenty of articles about the features and benefits of these state-of-the-art HVAC tools. For this post, however, we wanted to look at things in a slightly different way. Instead, we’re looking specifically at how they work with your furnace, heat pump, or boiler. After all, the main component of your heating system is nothing to be taken lightly. When you keep it in good condition, your house is more comfortable, and your bills are lower. Sure, getting a tune-up in the fall goes a long way toward making sure your furnace goes the distance. But, now there’s even more you can do. We’re exploring how a smart thermostat benefits your heating system along with your comfort — and your wallet. In the meantime, if you have any questions or want to find out how a smart thermostat fits into your home comfort, give Cipollone a call. We’ve been helping homeowners in Havertown, the Main Line, and other towns find the best HVAC equipment for them since the 50s.  

How a Smart Thermostat Can Benefit Your Heater

A smart thermostat benefits your heater because it can help it work more efficiently. And, it helps you avoid a costly, damaging breakdown in your HVAC system. It does this by:

• Delivering Accurate Readings
• Tracking How Much Energy the System Uses
• Alerting You When Something’s Wrong

Delivering Accurate Readings

You expect your temperature gauge to tell you the correct temperature in the house. But, there’s always some room for error. Smart thermostats consistently get much closer to the exact degree than other models. As a result, there’s less wear and tear on your system. The new models work similarly to the digital options that have been available for decades now. The smart ones, however, use more sensors to gauge the temperature from different parts of the room. And, they’re more sensitive, which provides more accurate readings. This feature is important because most traditional systems don’t actually maintain the temperature you want. Instead, they kick in when the room gets too cold. That’s why you hear your heater turn on and off a few times every hour. You probably see — and feel — a temperature change of around four degrees. The system overheats the room by a few degrees, so it doesn’t get cold too quickly. It takes more than just a more accurate reading to get rid of this problem. And, we’ll look closer at this again later on in this post. But, getting a better reading is a good first step. It helps the system work more efficiently. And, that results in less wear and tear.

Tracking How Much Energy the System Uses

Smart thermostats don’t just communicate with HVAC systems more accurately. They also draw useful information from them. In this case, we’re talking about measuring and reporting on how much energy your heater uses. As the person paying the utility company every month, it’s useful data. And, it can help you make sure there aren’t any problems brewing with your heating and cooling system. What you want to look for is increases in energy usage over time. Of course, you’ll use more energy in the summer and winter. But, when you’re looking at the usage on an app, any time, you may notice that you’re using more gas or electricity than the same time last year. Or, that it’s been going up even though the weather has stayed constant. These are signs that something’s wrong somewhere. What could be happening is that your system either isn’t working efficiently. Or, Something’s broken or worn out. Then, the heater needs more energy to operate properly. So, if you see those increases, start at least by checking your air filter. If it’s not clogged, then consider getting a tune-up or looking for other signs of problems.

Alerting You When Something’s Wrong

As we mentioned, your system will use more energy when something’s wrong. And, it will suddenly use a whole lot more if something really needs fixing. In this case, your smart thermostat will catch this quickly — and it will let you know about it. If there’s a sudden spike in energy use, your app won’t just log the increase. It will send you an alert regarding it. This way, you’re not waiting for a surprise increase on your monthly bill. And, you can address the problem before it gets much worse. Now, there are plenty of things that can cause a spike — anything from a faulty meter to a door or window that’s open when it shouldn’t be. Either way, you’ll get the message that something’s up. Now, you can troubleshoot — and that process may lead to your HVAC system. And, if it does, time is of the essence. If the system is showing signs of trouble but is still working, there’s a good chance you’ll get away with a relatively small repair. Let things go until it stops working, however, and by then that one broken or worn-out part will have caused other components to break as well.

Smart Thermostats and Variable-Speed HVAC

We mentioned before that a smart thermostat can help get rid of temperature fluctuations, but can’t do the job alone. Well, the other piece of the puzzle is inverter technology or variable-speed heating systems. Here’s what we mean. Your average furnace has two modes: On and off. It’s either not doing anything or blasting as much heat as possible. Which, as we mentioned, means overshooting the thermostat call by a few degrees. With inverter technology, the blower in the system can run at any number of speeds. This way, once it hones in on the temperature you want, it hums along in low-power mode. Then, it’s maintaining the temperature within a degree or so of the thermostat setting at all times. This is where the new smart devices, with their more robust sensors, enhance this feature. Now, you’re getting more accurate readings. And, they’re able to gauge them from different points in the house, not just where you mounted the device. Pairing the two means better comfort with lower energy bills. If you want to learn more about optimizing your HVAC system with a smart thermostat, email or give us a call here at Cipollone. We can help you link your home to your smartphone, laptop, or tablet. This way, you can be sure that you’re home is as comfortable as it can be, no matter where you are.