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The popularity of smart or Wi-Fi thermostats has grown exponentially in recent years. This type of unit connects to a home’s Wi-Fi network, allowing it to be controlled remotely via an app on any mobile device. Compared to a traditional manual or programmable thermostat, a smart thermostat can provide a variety of important benefits. In this article, we’ll look at what these benefits are and also discuss what you should look for when choosing a smart thermostat.
Convenience and Improved Comfort
Controlling your air conditioning and heating remotely is much more convenient than always manually adjusting the thermostat. A smart thermostat makes it easy to ensure your house is sufficiently cool or warm before you arrive home from work. If you know you’ll be leaving work early, you can use the app to turn your AC or heating back up without needing to reprogram the normal thermostat settings. If you forget to turn your AC or heating down before retiring for the night, you can also just do it through your phone without needing to get out of bed.
Decreased Cooling and Heating Costs
While a smart thermostat is extremely convenient and will help improve your home comfort, the biggest benefit is allowing you to keep your cooling and heating costs lower. Smart thermostats use algorithms to program HVAC systems so that they work as efficiently as possible to conserve energy. According to statistics from the EPA, a smart thermostat will help lower an HVAC system’s energy usage by around 8% on average. For homes with fairly high cooling or heating costs, this could easily end up saving you $100 a year or more. This makes installing a smart thermostat a fantastic investment since its energy savings will quickly end up more than paying for itself.
Useful Features to Look for When Choosing a Smart Thermostat
One thing you should understand when shopping for a smart thermostat is that not all units are even close to equal. Besides being Wi-Fi enabled, some of the more basic functions aren’t all that different from those of a normal programmable thermostat. This type of unit is still useful and can provide the benefits we just discussed. Nonetheless, there are definitely better options with more advanced features that will provide even more benefits. You may want to look for the following when choosing which smart thermostat you want to install in your home.
ENERGY STAR Certification
Any smart thermostat that is ENERGY STAR certified has been independently proven by a third party to deliver tangible energy savings in any part of the country. ENERGY STAR-certified units also must have some additional features that set them apart from standard smart thermostats. These include providing information on the HVAC system’s energy usage and how much it runs throughout the month. These units also provide feedback on how your thermostat settings impact energy usage and advice on adjustments to help lower your energy bills.
Many electricity providers have time-of-use or peak-demand rates, which means that they charge slightly higher rates per kilowatt during certain hours when energy usage throughout the grid is higher. ENERGY STAR smart thermostats have a “demand-response” function that allows them to connect to your utility provider. This enables you to opt in should you choose to do so. The thermostat will optimize your HVAC system to use less energy during these peak hours, saving you even more money.
Although smart thermostats are quite efficient, they still use more electricity whenever their screen is active. This is why all ENERGY STAR units also must have a low-power standby mode that they enter almost immediately as soon as they are inactive.
Learning Capabilities
One feature we always recommend looking for is learning capability. A learning thermostat will quickly learn and adapt to your normal temperature preferences and weekday and weekend routines. It then uses this information to adjust the temperature settings whenever you’re away from home or asleep. That makes your HVAC more efficient and further decreases its energy usage.
Smart Hub/Voice Assistant Compatibility
Many people now have a smart hub or virtual voice assistant in their home that they use to control things like lighting, music, etc. In this case, you may want to look for a smart thermostat that is compatible with whatever brand or model you have. This will allow you to connect the thermostat to the smart hub to use voice controls to adjust your temperature settings.
Maintenance and Repair Alerts
You can also find smart thermostats that you can program to send you maintenance alerts. For instance, you can set the thermostat to send a notification to your phone when the air filter in your HVAC system needs to be replaced or to schedule an annual maintenance service. Some units will also send you an instant alert if your HVAC system shuts down unexpectedly or won’t come on when it should. This allows you to contact an HVAC company immediately to schedule a service call and inspect your system.
Temperature and/or Occupancy Sensors
Many smart thermostats also come with additional sensors that you can place in various parts of your home. Most homes have a single-zone HVAC system that cools or heats the entire house at once. The issue with this is that you often end up with hot or cold spots in some parts of the house. Having temperature sensors in different areas can prevent this by interacting with the thermostat and signaling not to turn the HVAC system off until every part of the home is sufficiently cool or warm. This can be especially useful in larger homes where there are often much greater temperature differences in certain areas due to issues like heat gain through windows, lack of insulation, etc.
Occupancy sensors can also help to improve comfort and/or keep energy costs a bit lower. These sensors will detect which rooms are currently occupied or are currently being used the most. This allows the thermostat to prioritize these areas to ensure they always stay at your desired temperature.
Geofencing
Geofencing is a feature that allows you to opt in and connect the thermostat to the GPS on your phone. You can then program the thermostat so that it adjusts the temperature settings after you leave home and get a certain distance away. To decrease your HVAC system’s energy usage, it would turn the temperature down if your heating is on or up if your AC is on. When you’re on your way home and get back within a certain distance, the thermostat will automatically switch to the normal temperature setting.
Our family-owned business at Avis Home Solutions has been serving Anaheim and Orange County since 1973. If you want to upgrade to a smart thermostat, we can help you choose the right model and ensure it is installed correctly. We can also take care of all your air conditioning and heating repair, replacement, and maintenance needs or help if you require any plumbing services. To learn more about the benefits of a smart thermostat or to schedule an appointment to have one installed in your home, contact us today.
