Each degree matters when it comes to staying comfortable—and your power bill. That’s why more San Leandro, CA, homeowners use smart thermostats to manage their home comfort. These devices do more than make it easier to control your HVAC—they use intelligent temperature scheduling and connectivity to align with your daily activities.
With these smart thermostat programming tips from the experts at Contra Costa Heating & AC, you can keep your space cozy while minimizing unnecessary energy use. Whether you're trying to reduce your home's utility bills or enjoy a more responsive home, smart home climate control is the way to go. In this blog, we’ll break down easy smart thermostat strategies. With this smart thermostat programming guide, you can make your HVAC system be more efficient and less wasteful.
1. Change the Temperature According to Your Daily Routine
Program your smart thermostat settings to adjust the temperature in your home according to your daily routine—cooler when you're away, warmer when you're home and perfectly set for sleeping. By automatically changing adjusting the temperature when no one’s home, these schedules cut down on unnecessary heating or cooling. Some smart thermostats can recognize your patterns and fine-tune the thermostat settings automatically.
Using smart thermostat settings to change temperatures based on your daily routine gives you comfort on your terms without wasting power—all while saving money. Plus, it’s convenient: you don’t have to manually update settings.
2. Customize Thermostat Settings for Each Season
One of the efficiency-boosting thermostat tips from the team at Contra Costa Heating & AC is to use your smart thermostat to adjust your home’s temperature for each season. For example, during winter, experts say one of the best thermostat settings for home energy efficiency is 68 degrees in the day and slightly lower at night. This strategy can lower heating bills by as much as 10% each year. That’s different from the suggested cost-saving temperature when it's hot outside, which is around 78 degrees. By changing the temperature in your home based on the seasons, you use less energy and still stay comfortable.
3. Use Away or Eco Modes When You're Out
Smart or programmable thermostat schedules also allows you to activate special modes—such as Away and Eco—when you're out. Away Mode lowers the temperature while you're gone. Eco Mode also adjusts the temperature and is perfect when when you'll be gone several days, like vacations. These two settings help you conserve energy when you’re not home to experience the heating or cooling, but still maintain a minimum temperature to avoid dangerously high or low temperatures.
4. Take Advantage Zoning Features
Some homes have stubbornly hot or cold rooms. A common example is a a second floor that’s always hotter than the first floor. Installing an HVAC zoning system divides the home into sections, allowing you to independently control temperatures in different parts or levels of your home. Smart thermostats make it easy to set and adjust temperatures by zone, so you can always enjoy the perfect temperature.
5. Monitor and Fine-Tune for Maximum Savings
One of the perks of smart thermostats is their ability to integrate with connected HVAC systems. More than simply controlling your heating and cooling system, the WiFi or Bluetooth connection allows your smart thermostat to gather real-time data from the system itself. This means a smart thermostat can track how well the system is running, alert you to AC or furnace repair and can even send a notification to your local HVAC company when it's time for HVAC maintenance or repair.
This helps get prompt furnace or air conditioning repair as soon as your system starts to malfunction. Without this capability, a failing heating and cooling system could deteriorate further and lose efficiency before you even notice—until the damage is done and your energy bills skyrocket.
Having Problems Figuring Out Your Thermostat? Contra Costa Heating & AC Can Help
Smart thermostats have many perks for your comfort and home energy efficiency. At Contra Costa Heating & AC, we love supporting homeowners like you unlock the most out of smart thermostats and other smart HVAC technology. If you're interested, we can include a smart thermostat with furnace or air conditioning installation—helping you enjoy the most possible comfort from your HVAC system. Or, we can demonstrate how a smart thermostat and zoned HVAC system can make your upcoming AC or furnace installation that much more energy efficient. We're also happy to give you thermostat efficiency advice and demonstrate what these innovative tools are capable of.
Learning more about smart thermostats begins with a phone call. Set up your appointment with Contra Costa Heating & AC by calling 510-343-9841 today.
