Be Smarter and More Efficient With Your Thermostat

When you return from work to a cold house, you want to do anything it takes to get your place back to a comfortable temperature. Cranking up the thermostat to a higher temperature, hoping to heat your home faster, does more harm than good, while also wasting energy.

You spend nearly half of your energy bill on heating your home, according to the Department of Energy. When you do not use your thermostat wisely, your efficiency goes down and your costs will go up. By correcting some of your mistakes or bad habits, you can start putting money back into your pocket.

So your instinct to crank up the thermostat to heat your home faster? Nope, bad idea. Increasing the temperature on the thermostat will not make your home any warmer much faster. It is likely that your furnace works at only one speed, so instead of running until it gets to your usual temperature, it will run longer to get to a warmer temperature.

Conversely, you might leave your thermostat at only one temperature for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Always running your furnace at the same rate will, without a doubt, keep wasting energy. Think about it. Does your home need to be that warm when you are away at work? Not at all.

Instead, lower the temperature for when you will be away, and then raise it again when you are home. Or with a programmable thermostat, schedule when you need your furnace to kick on and off.

A worse habit yet is to fiddle with your thermostat, adjusting the temperature whenever you please. By micromanaging your thermostat, you are disrupting your furnace by having it start and stop too often, which will cause them to run inefficiently.

Investing in a newer, smarter thermostat can help with your furnace’s efficiency, and finding the right temperature for the right time will make your home much more comfortable.

To find your home’s ideal thermostat setting, call Sunrise Heating and Plumbing today at 616-293-9326. By providing exceptional customer service, our staff can handle any problem.