Have you ever been frustrated or sad about the cost of your gas bill during the winter? Well, that’s a dumb question because we have all been there before. With Geiser Berner in business for almost 100 years, we have been sharing a few thermostat tips for winter with our clients. It is time to pass them along to you.
In the daytime turn the thermostat down
Most families are at work and school during the day, leaving nobody at home. That means that the thermostat doesn’t need to be turned up! If this applies to you, think about scheduling your thermostat to turn down, say around the time everyone leaves the house every weekday. If your heating fuel is gas, you can lower thermostats by 10 to 15 degrees without making your house too cold (while saving around 10% annually on heating and cooling). That is a nice saving! Set the thermostat to climb back up when people start getting home.. Please keep in mind if you have pets to accommodate the temperature accordingly. If you have a heating system that is an electric heat pump, a much smaller temperature swing is optimum, maybe 3 to 4 degrees.
In the Nighttime turn the thermostat down
Think about turning your thermostat down when you go to bed. When we climb into our cozy beds we usually snuggle up into our blankets. Some of us wear warmish pajamas too. Because we layered up in our beds, we don’t need to have the thermostat up. Unless you are a sleepwalker and want the house to be warm for you when you are walking around. I know, not that funny of a joke.
Bundle Up and Save
You can save money just by turning the thermostat down a degree or two. Think about lowering your thermostat a couple of degrees and wearing hoodies, sweaters, socks, or long pants around the house to stay comfortable. Some people prefer to keep the thermostat below 68 degrees, but every little bit helps.
Avoid Turning Off Your HVAC System
You do not want to turn off your HVAC system completely. Sometimes we think it is a good idea to just completely shut the system off. Unfortunately, it actually costs a lot more for the system to turn back on and catch up to the temperature that it should be at.
Plan for different floors
Did you know that heat always rises? There are a few ways you can use this to your benefit. You can turn your ceiling fan in the reverse setting to force the hot air on the ceiling towards the floor. Another way is by opening and closing the vents on the floors to account for the airflow. Since hot air rises you could close your top floor vents and open the bottom floor vents to force more warm air to the bottom floor.
Switch to a smart thermostat
A regular thermostat schedule requires you to set specific times throughout the week. A smart thermostat, however, can learn from when people come and go and automatically set the temperature to save as much energy as possible – as well as let you control it remotely. It’s ideal for more complicated work or school schedules. At Energy.gov they share more thoughts here.
Unsolicited Tampering
We always see in movies and tv shows someone complains that a family member has changed the thermostat settings. The ugly truth of the matter is that some people see nothing wrong with taking the liberty of changing a thermostat that they don’t pay for. While spouses and children may have the ability to get away with doing this an infinite number of times, it’s still never a bad idea to at least try to set some house rules regarding thermostat usage. There’s nothing wrong with being a thermostat stickler either. No matter what, keep an eye on your thermostat’s settings if you live with others, especially if you start to feel a noticeable change in temperature or air quality.
Conclusion
That is all the thermostat tips for winter for now. Geiser Berner hopes that you have learned a few new tricks and remembered some old ones that have been taught to us in the past. If you need assistance or looking for a new thermostat please give us a call at Contact Us.
