How Should I Set My Thermostat for When I’m At Work?

For several hours a day you’re gone at work, or perhaps at school. Yet your comfort system continues to run, despite the house being empty. This uses up a ton of energy and feels like wasting money. You can significantly scale back this cost by setting the thermostat up or down as you head to work and setting it back to your favored temperature when you get home. But how much should you adjust the temperature? 

Here’s what the Department of Energy suggests about thermostat settings: 

You can save around 10% a year on heating and cooling bills by just adjusting your thermostat down 7°-10°F for eight hours a day compared to its typical setting. The percentage of savings from setback is larger for buildings in milder climates than for those in more extreme climates. 

The tinier the contrast between the both temperatures, the less expensive your total cooling bill can be. You can comfortably save energy through the winter by lowering the thermostat to about 68°F while you’re awake and setting it down while you’re asleep or away from home. During the summer, you can practice the same plan with central air conditioning by leaving your house warmer than normal when you are gone and tweaking the thermostat to a setting as warm as you’re comfortable with when you’re home and want cooling and to provide humidity control if needed. 

You might have been told that these kinds of adjustments are not worth it because your comfort system has to work harder to go back to your favored temperature, reversing your savings, but the energy department puts that notion to rest, namely for heating: “A common misconception associated with thermostats is that a furnace works harder than normal to warm the space back to a comfortable temperature after the thermostat has been set back, resulting in little or no savings. In fact, as soon as your house drops below its normal temperature, it will lose energy to the surrounding environment more slowly.” 

Programmable and Smart Thermostats 

Despite the benefits of setting your thermostat any time you leave for work, it’s very easy to overlook in the rush of getting ready and on your way. This is one advantage of programmable and smart thermostats. You can instruct your thermostat to automatically change to a different temperature during your typical work hours. And with a smart thermostat, you can change the temperature (or the programming schedule) remotely. This is very helpful if you’ve forgotten to adjust the setting before going on a long trip. 

Remember the Pets 

If you have pets at home, give consideration to their comfort as well. Cats and dogs with heavy fur won’t be comfortable with high temperatures. And pets with less dense fur might not be happy with cold temperatures. The same is true of tropical birds, fish and reptiles. Since temperature tolerances differ universally by breed and species, so review them for your pets. 

Other Perks of Changing Your Thermostat for When You’re Away 

• Carbon emissions – The harder you run your HVAC system, the more carbon emissions you produce. Preserving energy decreases air pollution and greenhouse gasses. 
• HVAC Longevity – Demanding too much from your heating and cooling can diminish its life span and cause additional maintenance to be necessary. It also means the air filter will clog up more quickly, making your air less clean. 

If you have any ideas about your air conditioner features, or if you need HVAC repair or maintenance, contact the pros at Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning, a big company with homegrown heart. We’re enthusiastic about making the world a cozy place to live. Whether we’re keeping things warm, cooling things down or making the water flow, we take great pride in keeping our customers and communities comfortable and content. 

Experts — it’s in our name and central to our service. We work tirelessly to help each team member develop into a skilled craftsman. We hire the best and supply instruction, opportunities and reinforcement, so our teams can learn, develop and be equipped for any kind of challenge they’re faced with. 

Our combined business strength and people make us special. With over 4,000 team members collaborating on making you comfortable, we can deliver and innovate better than the competition. Our positive, neighborly attitude energizes our teamwork and helps us get the job done promptly, and right — the first time. 

Our combination of company size and individual expertise means we can accomplish more with the next great idea … which can come from anywhere and anyone. We are reinvigorating the industry by supporting each team member’s greatest ideas. That means our teams and customers can rest assured we’re moving, innovating, delivering, and in it for the long haul, through the busiest times and beyond. 

We are Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning! Giving strength, knowledge and support across every season.