The Benefits of Installing a Smart Thermostat.
If you are still using a dial thermostat or even a digital model, you may not think a small upgrade to a smart thermostat may make any difference. However, while it is indeed an upgrade that is small in size, it can have giant benefits for your home.
Better Temperature Control
The more obvious benefit of a smart thermostat is that it keeps your home a comfortable temperature with very little intervention on your part. You don't need to turn the thermostat up when you come home from work. You don't need to turn it down when you go to sleep. The "smart" part of a smart thermostat does it for you.
Energy Savings
This is the most lauded benefit of smart thermostats, but it is the easiest to pass off. Surely the savings cannot be that big, but a study suggests in the first two years after installation, the smart thermostat pays for itself with energy savings. This comes from an average of 15 percent savings on cooling and 10 percent savings on heating costs.
Easy to Install
A smart thermostat may be smarter, but it remains just as easy to install as any other model. Providing you have the wiring for a thermostat already, it can be as simple as removing the faceplate and connecting the wires to the new model.
Features of Smart Thermostats
While all smart thermostats have a similar end result – a comfortable home – not all achieve it in the same way. There are three main ways a smart thermostat can decide when to heat or cool your home, and knowing them can help you choose between the many types of smart thermostats.
Remote Sensors
In some models, the thermostat uses sensors to detect movement and proximity to determine if it needs to heat or cool your home to that comfortable temperature. This can be helpful in saving money if you don't necessarily have a set schedule, but don't want your home being that comfortable when you are not in it.
Geofencing
This feature is similar to the remote sensors above, but is tied to your phone rather than your person. If your phone leaves a certain range, which can be set between several hundred feet and a few miles, then the heating and cooling system will not heat your home to your set comfortable temperature.
Algorithms
This is a learning technology that is great if you do have a set schedule. Your thermostat detects you and your family, learns your behavior, and sets a heating and cooling schedule based on that. It can even learn to adapt with schedule changes, but may not be great if your family has an erratic lifestyle.
-A R Engh Team