Your Programmable Thermostat Allows You to Keep Warm Without Thinking

If you’re like most people, you run through your mental checklist at least once a day – thinking ahead to those errands and tasks that await you. With so much to keep track of, it can be reassuring to know that you can strike one item from your list: setting back your thermostat before you go to bed at night or before you leave for the day and then turning it back up.

With a programmable thermostat, you can set your thermostat for a full week at a time — with one schedule for every day of the week or perhaps one schedule for the workweek and one or two different schedules for the weekend days. In this way, a programmable thermostat allows you to stay warm and save energy without having to give it any thought. You can strike “adjust the thermostat” from your to-do list for all time.

The idea is to program the daytime set-back period around the schedules of the people in your home. When the last person leaves the house for the day, the temperature should be programmed to go down. For example, during the Omaha winter, you might program your thermostat in this way:

• 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.: 68 degrees
• 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.: 62 to 64 degrees
• 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.: 68 degrees
• 10:30 p.m. to 6 a.m.: 62 to 64 degrees

On the weekends, you can program your thermostat to go down when you leave for worship or Saturday morning games and then go up at around noon, when you come home. You can also program your thermostat for vacations. Most programmable thermostats have hold and override functions. But it’s important to remember that keeping the same temperature for at least eight-hour spans can help you maximize your savings.

Programmable thermostats are easy to find and easy to install, but if you’re looking for the ultimate in programmable thermostats, talk with your HVAC contractor about a smart thermostat. These can be programmed remotely from your laptop at work or your iPhone. They can allow you to continuously monitor your home-comfort systems when you’re away from home and can even alert you to a problem.

At Fred’s Heating and Air, we’re advocates for programmable thermostats, because they save energy – and save our valued customers money on their energy bills. Call us for assistance in choosing the right programmable thermostat for your home.