When it comes to heating and cooling your home, you may have discovered several tactics for maintaining your interior temperature and saving on your monthly utility bills. You might keep shutters, blinds, or drapes closed during the day to keep out the sun or add a layer of insulation against cold, winter winds. Perhaps you’ve added energy film that repels heat-producing solar rays. Or maybe you keep the fans running during the summer and throw on sweaters and wool socks when the chilly drafts of winter come to call. You might even use your fireplace once in a blue moon. And of course, you can hire a professional to perform a home energy audit to seal up any leaks that are letting the bought air out. But if you really want to reduce your energy costs, you should be taking advantage of the benefits your programmable thermostat has to offer. Here are a few tips to help you set your system for optimum efficiency and savings.
Learn how it works. Figuring out how to program your digital thermostat effectively is not terribly difficult, but it may require you to read the directions. Can’t find them? Simply look online for a PDF that matches your system. When you know what all the buttons do and how to use them accordingly, you can set your system to a daily program, or in some cases even a weekly one. And you can always reprogram as needed, say for weekends when you’re home during the day, or when you’re on vacation and the house is empty.