What About My HVAC Thermostat?
Long gone are the days when you turned a dial on your wall to make your furnace kick on to take the chill out of your house and then turned it back down so you wouldn’t use too much fuel. Thermostats come in all different shapes and sizes, and some include features that only the super tech-savvy person will use. However, many of these thermostats are simple to use and will provide you with tons of features that can decrease your energy consumption and increase your family’s comfort.
Digital Thermostat
Most modern thermostats have a digital reading allowing you to see the temperature settings fairly easy. You can change the mode of 
operation to either heat or cooling, and on some models, you can set the thermostat to auto-select between either mode to change as needed to keep the temperature of your home steady. The basic models have settings such as “Fan On” – “Fan Auto” – “Heat” – “Cool” – “Off.” The fan On settings is used if you would like to just circulate air throughout your home. The fan Auto setting will allow the fan to come on when the system calls for heat or cooling and shut off when the temperature is reached. These models can be found with large easy to read numbers.
Programmable Thermostat
The programmable thermostat has the ability to set different comfort settings. Typically these thermostats come with either a five-day or a seven-day schedule program option. Also, most will allow you to select multiple times of the day to change those settings. Filter change reminders and preventive maintenance reminders are good benefits that many of these thermostats provide as well.
“You can save as much as 10% a year on heating and cooling by simply turning your thermostat back 7°-10°F for 8 hours a day from its normal setting. You can easily save energy in the winter by setting the thermostat to 68°F while you’re awake and setting it lower while you’re asleep or away from home.” – Department of Energy
Connected Smart Thermostat
Smart thermostats have all the programmable features and are connected to the internet as well to help you maintain the best comfort and efficiency by knowing what the temperatures are outside and how the weather is changing. The latest technologies allow them to be controlled by your voice, and you can shop the internet, select music to be played for your enjoyment, and ask Alexa questions.
Energy consumption reports are offered for you to view on the thermostats portal. These reports are helpful so you can make adjustments that will save on your energy bills while still keeping you comfortable. Through these reports, you can see the comparisons of other homes in your area, as well.
Some of these thermostats have sensors that can be installed in other areas of your home and will help average the overall home temperature. These sensors also know what rooms are occupied, so the thermostat knows what areas have the biggest priority to keep you comfortable. You can connect to your smart thermostat utilizing your smartphone. In doing so, you can monitor and adjust temperatures, see energy usage reports, even be alerted when your system isn’t working. Another nice feature with many of these thermostats is you can have it notify your service provider when your system needs to be repaired. This feature saves you valuable time because the service Technician can have the repair completed before you arrive home from work.
There are many options to consider when choosing a thermostat, and the highly trained Comfort Advisors and Service Technicians of Comfort Plus Services can help guide you to all the best features for your individual family needs.
