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You don’t have to go full dad mode with drastic thermostat changes that make everyone else in the house uncomfortable. Changing your thermostat’s temperature by a single degree can save you 1-3% on energy costs. An HVAC system uses a lot of power, but it doesn’t run continuously.
Both AC and furnaces run periodic cycles to reach or maintain a certain temperature. When the difference between the outdoor and target temperatures is greater, the system runs longer and more frequent cycles.
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A smart thermostat adds a lot of convenience to my daily life, and it also directly saves me money on my energy bill. Many of us play the seasonal game of seeing our power bills skyrocket during summer months when our AC is running, only to drop in the fall as gas bills rise with the cold weather and furnace use.
Whether your HVAC system runs on gas or electricity, small changes to your thermostat can make a huge difference to your bottom line – without affecting your comfort.
How to save money by making changes to your thermostat
1. Adjust the temperature
No one wants to be uncomfortable in their own home, and thankfully, you don’t have to make huge changes to your thermostat — just some tweaks. Simply raising or lowering your usual temperature by three degrees makes your HVAC system run more efficiently.
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During the winter months, you can set your thermostat to 67 degrees instead of 70, while in summer, you can raise it from 71 to 74. This reduces the number of cycles on your HVAC system, which means the compressor or burner uses less energy.
2. Set wider temperature ranges
Setting wide temperature ranges gives your thermostat and HVAC system some breathing room. If your thermostat allows you to set a range to keep your optimal temperature within, ensure the range is at least 10 degrees.
This may mean you’ll have to adjust to the new temperature range — for example, I like to keep blankets around to stay cozy or use fans when it gets a bit warm. I set my sleep temperature between 61 and 72, and my daytime temperature from 60 to 75.
3. Get smart with your schedules
If you have a smart thermostat, leveraging the scheduling feature is a must if you want to save money. I have both of my Google Nest thermostats set to two schedules: one for the day and one for the night. This ensures my temperature stays comfortable at all times without me having to do anything, while keeping my system running more efficiently.
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I don’t have to go in and make changes during the day or night. If I forget to change the thermostat for hours, I don’t end up making a drastic temperature change that overworks my system, since it changes automatically.
4. Don’t sleep on energy-saving features
Setting your thermostat to eco mode can also help significantly lower your bills. Eco mode is available not only on Google Nest Thermostats but also on other brands, including Ecobee and the Amazon Smart Thermostat.
Eco mode keeps your temperature in a comfortable range, albeit a bit wider than most people would prefer, and you can make slight adjustments while still conserving energy. Many smart thermostats can also integrate with motion and occupancy sensors, for example, lowering your temperature when you’re inactive.
5. Maximizing your thermostat’s capabilities
Many smart thermostats can work with external devices to adjust the home temperature, including external sensors you can place in different rooms or third-party automations. Your thermostat itself works based on the temperature around it.
I have multiple temperature-sensing devices around my home, including SwitchBot Thermometers in each bedroom. If you have Matter-compatible devices, you can make changes to your settings within your home automation app, whether you use Google Home, Apple Home, or others, to ensure your thermostat works in response to these devices.
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For example, if you want to make sure your kids are comfortable during winter, you can set an automation to turn on the heat when a specific bedroom sensor detects a temperature below 66 degrees.
6. Use geolocation for automations
You can set automations to have your smart thermostat automatically raise the temperature when you leave your home during summer and lower it during winter. Many smart thermostats do this when set to eco mode, provided you have enabled location permissions in the app.
If you forget to set your thermostat to run more efficiently while you’re out of town for a few days, geolocation ensures your system will do it automatically based on your phone’s location.
Geolocation tracks your phone’s location to run automations accordingly. Some apps let you set a perimeter on a map to run geolocation-based automations.