A programmable thermostat can do some important work

Q: I saw one of those programmable thermostats in our local building supply store recently and wondered if they really can make a difference in helping us lower our utility bills. I don’t really understand what they do. Do you think they’re a good idea?

A: Absolutely.

They offer homeowners an easy, efficient way to dramatically cut your energy bills and all you have to do is be lazy to make it work.

Most people really don’t know much about the thermostat on their wall that controls the home’s heating and cooling equipment. There are a lot of misconceptions about when to turn the setting up or down. When to adjust the system or shut it off totally. When to change the setting and how long to wait until you change it again. What to do when you’re out of town or away from the house all day.

Now you’ve got your choice of a number of different programmable thermostats — also called “smart” thermostats — that can be set one time to match your family’s lifestyle needs for heating or cooling and then be left alone to make the adjustments that will keep the house comfortable while lowering your energy bills by as much as 10 percent, all while you sit back comfortably and do nothing.

Here’s the Deal

There are proven thermostat set points at which a home is generally most comfortable in both hot and cold weather. Energy experts advise a setting of 78 degrees F in summer and 68 degrees in winter. For every degree above the summer setting or below the winter setting that you can adjust the thermostat, you’re going to knock anywhere from 2 to 8 percent off your energy costs.

The way to do this without lowering your comfort level is to keep adjusting the thermostat to meet your living patterns. In winter, for example, this might mean turning it down several degrees at night before you go to sleep, then raising it higher when you wake up and then lowering it back down when you leave for work and the house is empty all day. This will work five days a week, but then you will set up a different pattern on weekends when the whole family is home.

But odds are good that sometimes you’re going to forget to adjust the setting (didn’t you ever go away all day — or even longer — and forget to turn the heat down in cold weather?), or you’re going to hate getting up to a cold house every morning or you’re just plain too tired to get out of bed to make the adjustment. That’s where an automatic thermostat is worth its weight in gold.

Program It Soon

When you first get it installed, you program in the settings that fit with your lifestyle, and from that point on, the thermostat does the work. It doesn’t take time off, get sick or go on vacation, and it never forgets.

Many units available today allow for you to make multiple daily settings, different weekday and weekend programs, even a vacation schedule, and still allow you to easily override the system when your patterns change temporarily.

Couldn’t you do all this yourself without needing a special thermostat? Sure you can, but the convenience of having this little gadget do it for you all the time makes it an easy energy saver that will pay back its cost quickly in saved energy.

Maybe You Can Install It Yourself

Go back to your building supply store and check out the different kinds of programmable thermostats on the shelves. You might be able to install one yourself to replace your current thermostat, or hire an electrician for this easy job. Used properly, an automatic thermostat can save a lot of energy and a lot of energy costs. Just give it the thought it needs to be set up to match your living patterns, and it’ll pay off in big dividends.

Choose the thermostat that offers the features you find most important. Some will have two or more programs for week days and days off, a light that reminds you when to change the filter, an indicator to alert you when the battery is low, or even a feature that lets you detach the unit so that you can make settings from a comfortable chair without having to stand in front of it.