How You Can Benefit from Having Programmable Thermostats Installed

How energy efficient is your household? If you are not sure what we are referring to by "energy efficiency" we are talking about whether you waste a lot of energy in your home. Do you leave appliances turned on when you are not using them? Are your windows aged and in poor condition? Or maybe your heating system is used more than it really should be? These are all ways in which you can waste energy, which not only drives up the amount you spend on energy each year, but also contributes to pollution and global warming. There's a lot of talk about how you can improve the way in which you use energy, and the truth is that there are many things you can do to achieve this goal, but the installation of programmable thermostats is quite possibly one of the simplest and most cost effective ways to do so.

Lower Your Heating Costs In Rapid City This Winter

The vast majority of homeowners that live in Rapid City and other parts of the western South Dakota are unaware that 60% of the money they spend on energy each year is used to heat their home. This is certainly a good reason to improve energy efficiency when it comes to home heating, since a big improvement in this area can result in huge savings. Here's how programmable thermostats can help you be a little cleverer in heating your home.

• Pre-Set Your Home Heating If you don't currently have a programmable thermostat for your heating system, every time you want to turn it on or off you will have to operate the thermostat manually. The trouble is, we often get caught up with other things or simply forget and the heating end up being on for much longer than is really necessary. These periods of "unnecessary" use eventually add up and increase your bill significantly. However, if you have a programmable thermostat installed, this is not an issue, since you can program the heating to come on at certain times and then leave it to get on with it. No need to remember to turn it off either; it turns itself off!
• A Home Furnace System to Your Routine With different jobs, commitments and interests, the day to day routine of homeowners can vary significantly, resulting in home heating systems being used at wildly different times. The beauty about programmable thermostats is that your heating system can be programmed according to the times you are at home. If you aren't at home on Tuesday and Thursday evenings as you play badminton or because you are working, there's little point in having the heating on at those times like on the other days of the week. However, with this simple piece of equipment, your heating will only ever be on when you truly need it.
• Careful Control Over TemperaturesWith manual thermostats we often set the temperature to an approximate figure, but as any heating expert will tell you, programmable thermostats offer you much more control over the actual amount of heat that your central heating emits. If you haven't heard this statistic before, reducing the temperature in your home by just 1 degree, can reduce your annual spend on home heating by 1%

Making the Most of these Advantages: Tips from our Plumbers

• Only use your heating when it's absolutely necessary and try to minimize use as much as possible. By cutting down use you can realise considerable savings
• The thermostat must be installed properly, with an interior wall being the ideal location, as far as possible from windows, ventilation shafts and ducts
• Once you come up with your home heating "plan" leave everything alone. Many types of programmable thermostats offer you the option of "overriding" any settings you make, but if you do that on a regular basis, there's little point in having a programmable thermostat installed to start with. A programmable thermostat will save you money, so just leave it alone and allow it to do so!

Can You Buy Different Types of Programmable Thermostats

If you're not already aware, there are in fact several variations of this piece of equipment, with the main options being:

Weekly Models

Also known as "7 Day" thermostats, these are an ideal fit for anyone with a routine that has very little consistency and varies from day to day. You can program your boiler to come on at different times every single day.

Weekend Models

These are great for people who work Mon-Fri every week as they allow you to program your thermostat with one set of instructions for the working days, and another set for the weekend. You may also see them called "5+2" thermostats

Sat/Sunday Models

If you work Monday to Friday and then have an action packed weekend, with Saturday and Sunday often differing from one another, a "5+1+1" model is what you need to look for.

While programmable thermostats are not exactly a new piece of equipment and are not complicated or expensive to have installed, they can make a BIG difference to how much energy you use on your home heating. Heating L and M Service Specialists offers a range of different types of programmable thermostats and if you are interested in having one installed, don't hesitate to get in touch with our team.