As the weather cools down, you may be thinking of ways to lower your heating bills while keeping your home at a comfortable temperature. Installing a new thermostat could be the key to gaining more control over your heating usage and lowering the costs associated with heating your home. Keep reading to learn about the benefits of upgrading to a smart thermostat.
Our comfort advisors at Cross Heating & Air Conditioning have been helping residents from the Ontario area since 1987, so we know plenty about how to choose a thermostat that fits your specific needs. Below, we’ll tell you about the benefits smart thermostats offer so you can decide whether it’s an investment you’re ready to make.
See Also: Do I Need A Smart Thermostat?
What is a Smart Thermostat?
Before we dig into the benefits of smart thermostats, let’s get a clear idea of what they are and how they work.
Smart thermostats use Wi-Fi to connect to your home’s internet and to your smartphone. This allows you to control your home’s heating and cooling from anywhere with a user-friendly interface. These smart thermostats get their name from their ability to monitor your energy use, learn your behaviours, and help you set up schedules that save you the most on energy consumption.
Benefits of Smart Thermostats
Although smart thermostats cost a bit more than the traditional ones, their long-term benefits are enough to outweigh the initial investment. Here are just a few of the ways in which homeowners can make their lives easier with smart thermostats.
Save Money
Installing a smart thermostat often helps lower energy bills. The exact amount you’ll save depends on several factors, including the climate, the current condition of your HVAC appliances, your personal heating or cooling preferences, and the number of people occupying your home. The average savings seen by using smart thermostats are 8% of heating and cooling bills—while some higher-end models by brands like Ecobee or Lennox can provide up to 26% in savings!
See Detailed Information About Your Energy Use
Some smart thermostats give detailed performance reports on your home’s energy efficiency. These reports help by:
- Detailing how much you’re saving on heating and cooling costs
- Showing comparisons of your monthly savings to other homes in your area
- Reporting on how efficient your HVAC system is compared to others in your area
- Providing you with data to visually understand your heating and cooling patterns
Schedule Your Heating & Cooling
With a smart thermostat, you can schedule when your HVAC system runs to align with when you’re home, allowing the HVAC to run less often when you’re not home. This also makes it possible for you to program your A/C or heating to come on before you get home so you can walk through the door and enjoy the temperature that’s best for you.
Get Automated Reminders
With the hustle and bustle of today’s society, it can be hard to remember when to perform routine maintenance on your major appliances—but with a smart thermostat, you won’t have to.
Some smart thermostats, like Honeywell’s, have automated reminders of when to change your air filters, if your furnace needs maintenance, or if you need your system serviced. Additionally, some smart thermostats are capable of alerting you when your heating and cooling systems aren’t functioning the way they should be.
Improve Comfort in Your Home
One of the most appealing aspects of smart thermostats is their ability to provide maximum comfort in your home with little programming. Once you’ve set your comfort preferences, the smart thermostat does the legwork by keeping your home at that level, regardless of changes in routine. The more you check in with your smart thermostat about your preferences, the more it’s capable of learning and adapting to what temperature works best for your lifestyle.
Access Your Thermostat Remotely
Having to change your thermostat settings by physically accessing the device can create problems if your daily schedule takes you out of the house often. But you can control most smart thermostats from a distance using your smartphone, tablet, or computer. This also lets you adjust the temperature when you’re home without getting up—it’s comfort at the touch of a button!
Take Advantage of Motion Detectors
Some smart thermostats, such as Ecobee, have a built-in motion sensor that lets it know when a room is occupied, so that it can heat or cool the area automatically when people are around. Additional sensors (often available as options) can be placed around the home to create comfort and peace of mind throughout.
Improve Your Air Quality
Smart thermostats are capable of more than just heating and cooling—they’re great for keeping your home’s air quality at its best. Certain smart thermostats have built-in air quality sensors that monitor your home’s air quality and offer tips to improve it when it’s poor.
Some smart thermostats, such as the iComfort S30 by Lennox, have the added ability to reduce allergens within the air by gathering information about the air quality and pollen levels in the area you live. If the thermostat detects low-quality air in and around your home, it will automatically increase your HVAC’s fan speed, improving the air filtration and providing cleaner air throughout your home.
Environmental Benefits
Not only are smart thermostats great for you, but they’re also eco-friendly and can help to reduce your carbon footprint.
Reduce Energy Usage
The knowledge gained from upgrading to a smart thermostat can help reduce the amount of energy you use—recognizing just how much energy is being spent while you’re not at home can be the first step in reducing your carbon footprint. Smart thermostats give tips on how to schedule your heating and cooling cycles to be more energy efficient, reducing your energy usage—and bills!
Reduce Emissions and Wasted Heat
By reducing the amount of energy you use, and increasing energy efficiency, you’re contributing to fighting climate change. Leaks and irregular gas emissions account for approximately 4% of all gasses produced on the planet—therefore, because smart thermostats keep you updated on servicing and maintenance of your HVAC system, you can reduce the amount of irregular emissions they could potentially cause if improperly maintained.
In addition, because smart thermostats can detect, or be scheduled, to prevent heating when no one is home, no heat goes to waste!
Make the Smarter Choice to Heat & Cool Your Home
With all the benefits that smart thermostats have to offer, it's no wonder people are upgrading from traditional thermostats to smart ones. We choose top of the line, Energy Star Certified, smart thermostats like Honeywell, Ecobee, or the iComfort S30 by Lennox for our valued customers. Contact our comfort advisors for assistance in choosing the best smart thermostat for your lifestyle!
