Do you know how to program your thermostat?
Last week was hot here. The temperatures were well over 80 and it’s supposed to be even warmer this weekend. So I finally broke down and turned on the air conditioner. Every year there’s a fine line between needing to cool the house and watching my gas & electric bill rise in the summer months. Well, the first step in keeping those bills down is to get a programmable thermostat. According to the EPA, when programmed properly, these thermostats can save you about $180 a year on your energy bills. Unfortunately, the EPA also found that most consumers don’t know how to program their thermostat to maximize their savings. Here are a few guidelines from the EPA to help you make sure that you’re getting the most out of your thermostat.
- Raise the temperature setting by 7 degrees when you’re away and 4 degrees when you’re asleep in the summer.
- Save even more by using the “Vacation” and “Hold” features to manage temperatures while you’re away from home for an extended period.
- Lower the temperature setting by 8 degrees when you’re away or asleep in the winter
- Visit the EnergyStar website for more tips and tutorials on how you can get the most savings out of your programmable thermostats
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That does not work for me.
I am on a electric demand rate that is very high from 11:00 to 19:00 every day. I cool the house down at night after 7:00 PM (makes for great sleeping) and let it coast up during the day starting at 11:00. In the 85F – 90F range outside the house, the inside rises about 1/4 degree per hour. The insulation is paying for itself every day.
I circulate the incoming cold water through the floor of the four season room (it is a potable water system. That dropped the room temperature from about 125F (without water on) to less then 80F (with the water on) at the end of the day. It has glass walls on the North, West and South so there is a lot of heat gain. The deciduas trees on the west are growing enough to start making a difference.
We live in a two story townhouse and find that if we shut all the a/c vents downstairs before we go to bed at night it forces the cooler air upward (bedrooms are upstairs) and we don't have to turn the air up as much.
Here is an ultra programmable thermostat