During the school year if there’s no one home on weekdays, you likely have your thermostat programmed for energy-saving temperature setbacks in the daytime. When the children are home over the summer break, though, you’ll have to make changes to your usual HVAC schedule. Here are some factors to consider to help you maximize your potential summertime energy savings.
Type of Thermostat
For optimal control of your cooling-related energy consumption, it’s vital that your thermostat matches your type of HVAC equipment and typical household routine. As your trusted HVAC pro, we can advise you about the ideal device to match your equipment and needs, like a thermostat that features seven-day programming that lets you program in a different schedule for each day of the week. There are also Wi-Fi and learning or smart thermostats available if you need remote accessibility, greater ease of use, and system monitoring capabilities.
Daytime Programming
When school is out for summer and the children are at home regularly, it’s important to evaluate your daily schedule and make adjustments to your thermostat programming to match. When the house is occupied and you need cooling, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recommends setting the thermostat to 78 degrees. If you have active children running in and out during the day, though, you may be concerned about conditioned air losses. To limit energy waste, you can raise the temperature setting a couple of degrees and create a cooling wind chill to boost comfort in occupied rooms by running the ceiling fans.
Nightly Programming
The DOE recommends daily temperature adjustment periods of at least eight hours to reap annual energy savings of up to 10 percent. With the kids home from school and the temperature lowered to 78 degrees, this can be impossible in the daytime. However, you can still reduce your household consumption by programming in 7- to 10-degree setting increases at night when the family is usually sleeping.
For personalized advice about optimizing your HVAC schedule for the summer, or for help choosing the best thermostat for your Eastern North Carolina home, contact us at Jackson & Sons.
Jackson & Sons, Inc.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Eastern North Carolina (including Wayne, Johnston, Greene, Lenoir, Pitt and Duplin Counties) about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).
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