With handy features like remote access, auto-scheduling, motion detection, and energy usage reporting, it’s no wonder homeowners continue upgrading their thermostats to smart thermostats. Our team at Weather Masters Corp. can install and optimize your smart thermostat to help cut energy costs. Read on to learn some of the ways a smart thermostat can maximize savings for your home.
Adjust Temperatures When You’re Out
One super useful feature of smart thermostats is how they can automatically adjust the temperature when nobody’s home. Rather than keeping an empty house heated or cooled at full capacity, you can enable a setting on the thermostat to make it switch to an energy-saving mode based on your location. It detects when you’ve left and returns to normal right before you get home, so the temperature feels comfortable upon arrival. This prevents energy waste when no one’s around to enjoy it.
Custom Schedules
Smart thermostats let homeowners set up customized temperature schedules tailored to their lifestyles. Though conventional programmable thermostats also do this, smart thermostats let you do so with an app from anywhere with a data connection. You can program the desired heating and cooling settings for awake hours, away hours, and overnight. The thermostat then automatically adjusts the temperature to match your preset schedule.
Some Learn From Your Habits
Some smart thermostat models can even learn your habits after following your set schedule for a while. When that’s the case, your thermostat will notice times you manually change the temperature outside of the programmed schedule. In turn, it identifies patterns and tweaks the schedule over weeks and months to be more optimized for your energy usage without you having to actively update settings.
Temperature Control From Anywhere
One of the handiest aspects of a smart thermostat is the ability to adjust the temperature remotely from anywhere. As long as you have your smartphone, you can change the home temperature on the go rather than having to be there to physically change it. For instance, you can turn on the AC on your way home from work on a hot day so it’s comfortable when you arrive instead of leaving it on all day, or you can turn up the heat if you’re out longer than expected during summer.
Factors In Weather
One clever feature of some smart thermostats is that they can factor in local weather conditions when adjusting the temperature. For example, on warmer-than-expected winter days, the thermostat realizes it doesn’t need to work as hard to heat the home and can dial back on energy usage. Or, on an extremely hot summer afternoon, it may pre-cool the house more than usual to keep things comfortable. By taking into account real-time weather data like temperature, humidity, and cloud cover, the thermostat can fine-tune itself hour-by-hour for maximum efficiency. If it’s cooler than forecasted, the thermostat adapts to use less energy for heating. When a heat wave strikes, it prepares ahead of time for the increased air conditioning needed. This ability to incorporate hyperlocal weather patterns allows the thermostat to optimize temperature comfort and savings in your unique climate.
Energy Usage Reports
Another useful feature of smart thermostats is the detailed energy reports they provide. You get a breakdown of your HVAC runtimes — how many hours per day the system is heating, cooling, or idle. You also see precisely how those runtimes impact your energy usage and costs. With this data, you gain visibility into usage patterns and habits you may not have realized before. Now, you can pinpoint the most expensive settings and make informed tweaks to maximize savings. Get the facts through energy reports rather than flying blind on what settings work best. Smart thermostats empower you to actually track success and watch the savings add up month after month.
Integration with Smart Home Devices
Today’s smart thermostats integrate with smart home hubs and voice assistants for expanded control options. You can add voice commands through Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to change temperatures hands-free. You can also include the thermostat in home automation rules, like lowering the temperature when smart lights are turned off. With a connected ecosystem of devices, energy optimization can happen automatically.
Schedule an Appointment With Weather Masters Corp.
With all these great features to save energy, it’s easy to see the appeal of smart thermostats. Here at Weather Masters Corp., we’ve proudly provided top-quality HVAC services to Frederick homeowners since 2016. Our licensed, insured technicians stay current on the latest technology so they can optimize smart thermostats to maximize comfort and savings after installation.
In addition to smart thermostat services, we’re your one-stop shop for any heating or cooling need, from AC tune-ups to ductwork repairs. Our goal is to improve your home’s temperature control and efficiency. Give us a call to schedule an appointment and learn more.
