How a Smart Thermostat Saves You Money in the Winter in Havertown, PA
- Getting Better Readings
- Using Remote Access
- Providing Great Reporting
- Adjusting Settings Automatically
With winter here, most people are used to seeing their energy bills spike as they try to keep their house warm. Well, they may be used to it, but they certainly don’t like it!
There are plenty of ways to chip away at those high winter expenses. One easy solution — that also makes your home more comfortable — is upgrading to a smart thermostat.
In a nutshell, these new devices are more accurate and have many more features than even the digital models most people have today.
As a result, they can help keep your house warm while without making your heater use as much energy. That means lower bills for you.
And, they’ll also make your entire home more comfortable — without paying extra.
In this post, we’ll take a quick look at how these new models work. Then, we’ll explore four of the biggest benefits they offer.
Meanwhile, if you have any questions, or are curious about the right one for your Havertown home, give us a call or email here at Cipollone’s. We’re happy to help make your home more comfortable and your energy bills more manageable.
How Smart Thermostats Work
At first glance, a smart thermostat doesn’t look all that different from a regular digital model. Sure, they look sleeker, but the biggest difference is how they connect to your smart devices.
Using an app, you can monitor and control the temperature in your home from virtually anywhere. As long as you have a wi-fi connection, you can peek in and make adjustments.
And, that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what these tools can do. Let’s look a little closer.
Getting Better Readings
The first thing these newer models do is get more accurate readings of the temperature throughout your home.
“Throughout” is the keyword here.
Here’s the limitation of pretty much every thermostat until now: They can only track how hot or cold it is in the room where you install them.
It’s why the upstairs rooms tend never to feel quite right. The heat is turning on and off based only on one place downstairs. If there’s a difference in temperature upstairs, there’s no tracking that.
With the new smart devices, however, you can install sensors throughout the house. These all link back to the primary device.
What’s more, those sensors are much more sensitive and accurate than the ones that were previously available. So, not only are you now getting a sense of the whole house, you’re getting a better measurement of each area.
Obviously, this goes a long way toward making your home more comfortable. And, it helps you save money.
With a standard one-stage furnace (i.e., it’s either on or off with no other speeds), the unit turns on once the temperature dips below your setting. Then, it turns off once it reaches that call again.
Well, the problem is that when you’re not getting a great reading, your heater tends to stay on longer than it should. With better sensors, the system is more sensitive to when it should turn on and off.
Using Remote Access
Now let’s get into where things get really different: Remote access. This feature is something we’ve really never seen before with home comfort. And, it makes a huge difference.
We touched on this briefly before, but now we’ll go into what this means for you.
Most digital models today have programming available: You can set the gauge to change the temperature at certain times of the day.
But, not everyone uses it. The interfaces aren’t exactly user-friendly. And, you can’t adjust things if your schedule changes.
Well, with smart thermostats, you can change things from wherever you are, whenever you want. As long as you have a wi-fi connection, you can get into the app and control things as if you were at home.
Providing Great Reporting
We talked a little about temperature readings and fluctuations. Well, now you can see them all in real-time and over time.
All the new smart devices out there come with reporting that shows how hot or cold your house is and how much energy you’re using.
If you’re a tech-y person, this is great. You can dive in to see where and when you’re spending the most money and decide if you want to make any changes.
And, over time, it clues you in to bigger problems. For instance, are you using a lot more gas or oil this year than last? That could be a sign your system need servicing.
This way, you can look it up quickly and find out.
And, you won’t be the only one putting those stats to good use.
Adjusting Settings Automatically
Here’s where things get interesting: Your device also makes use of those readings and reports. And, if you allow it, a smart thermostat will begin making adjustments on its own.
Over time, it’s tracking when people are home and when they’re not. It does this through the sensors, and also by geofencing on your phone if you set it to do so.
This way, it can regulate the best times to make things warmer or cooler. Sure, you could program it based on your best estimations. But, you’re not monitoring things 24/7. Your device, however, is doing nothing but paying attention to your home comfort.
This means it’ll automatically cool down once everyone leaves for the day. That means using less energy when people are at work or school.
Then, it figures out the optimal time to start raising the temp again as people come home.
And, that’s just a small part of what these new devices can do. If you’re looking for a deep dive into the difference a smart thermostat can make in your home, and how it’ll do so, give us a call here at Cipollone.
We’ll take a look at your house and help you learn about the impact one of these new devices can make in your home specifically.