Three Money-Saving Myths

Heating and cooling your home contributes to almost 50% of yearly energy bills. Sounds like a good place to cut energy use, right?

The answer: Avoid doing things with your thermostat that waste energy.

A “faster” approach to heat or cool your home

You get home from work and and it’s 80° and you prefer it at 75°F. The next thing you do is set the thermostat to 72°, so that it will cool off your home faster.

Not a good idea.

This doesn’t make your air conditioner work faster… it only works at one speed. Lowering the temperature setting past what you need just makes the air conditioner run for much longer to reach the lower temperature.

Leaving your thermostat at the same setting

Do you set your thermostat at a specific temperature and never touch it? You could be wasting up to $200 each year. (Source: ENERGY STAR}

Instead, you should adjust the temperature whenever you leave your home for more than 8 hours. After all, there’s no need to heat or cool your home at the same temperature as when you’re there.

  1. Set your thermostat roughly 5° higher in the summer and 10° lower in the winter.
  2. When you get home, set the thermostat back to your comfortable setting.

Doing so can save you up to 15% on your yearly energy costs. And if this habit isn’t for speed, you can ask us about programmable thermostats.

Tampering with your thermostat too much

Those who micromanage their thermostats use more energy than those that leave them alone. Constantly changing the set temperature on your thermostat causes your AC to stop and start, which causes it to run inefficiently.
 
Imagine you have your thermostat set at 75°F in the summer. Your AC cools your home until it reaches that point then shuts off. Then you realize that you still seem hot, so you lower the thermostat a couple more degrees. The air must now immediately turn back on.

Your system should be running for longer, steadier times to save money. Picture your car’s MPG… Does mileage improve on streets with lots of stoplights or on the interstate?

In summary

  • Don’t crank your thermostat up or down to cool your home faster.
  • Adjust your thermostat temperature 5°F when you’re away from home for 8+ hours.
  • Don’t repeatedly change the thermostat setting when you’re home.