Are you considering installing a smart thermostat in your Las Vegas home? Smart thermostats add cool features and can help save you money and energy. According to the EPA, a programmable thermostat could save you upwards of $180 a year. The nice part is that the smart thermostat thinks for you.
What Is a Smart Thermostat?
Smart thermostats can be controlled by a tablet, smart speaker, phone, or other internet-connected devices. They let you schedule when you want your home to be at a certain temperature. They work with your home automation system and make it easy and convenient to control your temperature and energy usage.
The functionality of your smart thermostat will vary based on the model that you purchase. Some models learn your cooling and heating preferences and then use said learning to automatically adjust the temperature in your home based on those preferences.
Higher-end smart thermostats include diagnostic features that allow them to identify when there is a problem with your HVAC system or ductwork. Some will send alarms reminding you that it is time to perform maintenance on your HVAC system or that it is time for you to change your air filter. Many models will record and report on your energy consumption.
If you purchase a smart thermostat that links with your smart speaker, you can control it by voice and receive audible reminders and alerts from the thermostat. Several thermostats have room sensors that allow them to measure the temperature in specific areas or rooms. This can help you identify and reduce hot or cold spots in your home and indicate if you need maintenance done on your HVAC system. Hot and cold spots could mean that your furnace is improperly sized or is experiencing maintenance issues. Our technicians at BEST Air Conditioning Plumbing Repair would be happy to visit your home and provide suggestions on how you can make hot and cold spots a thing of the past.
Specific models have geo-fencing. This means they know when you enter and leave your home. They will activate the heating and cooling when you enter and deactivate when you leave. This saves a ton of money on heating and cooling costs.
How Do Smart Thermostats Work?
Smart thermostats work using some of the basic principles that allow regular thermostats to work. Traditional thermostats use the temperature in your home to determine when the AC unit or the furnace should be activated and deactivated. Thermostats work like light switches. The only difference is that they include temperature in the equation.
Traditional thermostats have a common wire, a hot wire, and a wire that connects to the fan blower. Some wires go from the thermostat to your HVAC system. Depending on the complexity of the unit, it could include wires for things like emergency heat, auxiliary heat, two-stage heating, or cooling.
When you tell your thermostat you want your home at a specific temperature, the blower or AC unit will turn off once the internal thermometer of your house indicates that the home is at your desired temperature. A smart thermostat is going to do the same thing. The difference is that it is connected to your home’s Wi-Fi. This lets you use an application to control the thermostat settings remotely. You can input the settings into the app. The settings are transmitted via your home’s Wi-Fi network thermostat. From there, the thermostat signals to the HVAC system and blower.
When you use a smart speaker, like Alexa, the smart speaker’s app communicates with the thermostat via the companion app. All this communication happens seamlessly. In most cases, you won’t even realize that all these devices are communicating with each other to adjust the temperature in your home.
How Do Smart Thermostats Save You Money?
You can manually adjust your thermostat settings using a traditional programmable thermostat. The problem is that if you are like most people, you will forget to do it. Sadly, many households that have programmable thermostats fail to set them up. Smart thermostats, on the other hand, learn your habits. They take the initiative in helping you save money. Some of the ways smart thermostats help you save money include the following.
Learning Your Behavior
This is why they are called smart thermostats. You start by programming your desired settings and temperatures. The thermostat monitors your behavior and learns when you enter your home and leave. It also learns your temperature preferences throughout the day. The system automatically adjusts your settings to keep your home at the perfect temperature when you get home and then lowers the temperature when you leave. High-end models will even adjust the temperature to combat humidity levels.
Monitoring Your HVAC Use
Smart thermostats with two-way communication features monitor your usage. They collect HVAC usage data and then share it with you. You can see the amount of energy you are using and your estimated costs at any time of the day. This allows you to adjust your program manually, or you can leave it up to your thermostat to handle it. Data collection is the key to how smart thermostats save you money. The more data the thermostat collects, the easier it is to adjust your temperature settings to lower your energy bill. A smart thermostat gives you the power to make data-driven decisions that improve energy efficiency and savings.
Working When You Are Not Home
Your thermostat switches to eco-friendly settings when you walk out the door. This instantly saves you money. Your thermostat will use sensors to know when someone walks in and out and when there is no movement in the home. Some thermostats use geo-tracking to monitor your phone, so they know when your phone is out of range of your home. If you are away for an extended time, you can turn your system off. Your smart thermostat will only engage the air conditioner or the furnace if temperatures get dangerously cold or hot. This way, you never have to worry about the expense of repairing frozen water pipes.
You don’t need a smart thermostat to save money. You can make manual adjustments with traditional and programmable thermostats. However, smart thermostats take a lot less effort. They provide you with the data to control your energy usage and keep more money in your pocket.
Work With Heating and Cooling Specialists
At BEST Air Conditioning Plumbing Repair, we provide heating, cooling, and plumbing services in Las Vegas. As a Las Vegas resident, you know how hot summers can be and how surprisingly cool winter nights can feel. Count on us to provide NATE-certified technicians to keep your home comfortable 365 days of the year.
Our services include HVAC repairs, installation, and maintenance. As for plumbing, we offer general installation and repair, gas line installation and repair, plumbing code corrections, tankless water heaters, and more. Don’t settle for less than the best. Contact BEST Air Conditioning Plumbing Repair today and see why we are the team Las Vegas residents trust for their plumbing and HVAC needs. At BEST Air Conditioning Plumbing Repair, we offer professional and well-trained technicians, fully stocked trucks, and a satisfaction guarantee. Call us today!
