What Is a Smart Thermostat and How Does It Work?
Smart thermostats are often touted as an ideal way to reduce your energy bills and improve the efficiency of your home’s heating and ac installation. Nonetheless, if you’re like most homeowners, you probably know little to nothing about what smart thermostats are and how they work. As a result, you’re likely left questioning whether or not having a smart thermostat installed in your home is actually worth the cost. Luckily, we’re here to answer any questions you might have about these devices.
Smart Thermostats vs. Traditional Thermostats
Before getting into how a smart thermostat works, it’s first important to understand what it is and how it differs from a traditional thermostat. Traditional thermostats can range from a simple dial to more complicated, programmable digital units, and many people are confused about the differences between a traditional programmable thermostat and a smart thermostat.
The two devices do have quite a bit in common in that they provide a greater level of control over your home’s heating and cooling by enabling you to customize and automate your settings. Both units allow you to program your desired temperature and set specific times for your furnace or air conditioner to turn on and off in order to reduce energy usage and save on your utility bills. Continue to do so and let it be a habit. For instance, you can program the thermostat so that the heater or AC unit automatically turns off when you go to work. You can then program it to turn back on to warm or cool your house before you get back home. However, a smart thermostat is unique in that it enables you to perform all of these functions remotely from your smartphone, computer, or other connected device.
Do I Need Wi-Fi to Use a Smart Thermostat?
Unlike traditional thermostats that must be programmed directly from the unit, smart thermostats work by connecting to your home’s Wi-Fi system to enable you to control your heating and cooling remotely. This obviously means that you need to have a steady Wi-Fi connection for the system to work. Unfortunately, this leads many people to believe that they will suddenly be unable to control their thermostat if their internet connection goes out, which simply isn’t true. While it is true that you won’t be able to control your system remotely if the internet in your home is down, you can still manually control and program the settings directly, just as you would with a traditional thermostat.
Benefits of Using a Smart Thermostat
Both programmable thermostats and smart thermostats can be a great way to reduce your heating and cooling costs. However, the benefits of using a smart thermostat go far beyond that. For starters, smart thermostats are generally much easier to program, which is a major bonus in itself. Not only that, but the fact that you can control your thermostat remotely makes it simple to ensure your home is warm or cool before you arrive. Still, the biggest advantages of a smart thermostat come from all of the additional features and functions.
For instance, smart thermostats can actually learn about your behavior. In this way, they can automatically program themselves to turn the heating or cooling on and off at certain times based on when you wake up, when you leave for work, when you get home and when you go to bed. Moreover, some smart thermostats can even use geofencing to track your location and then turn the heating or cooling on whenever you get within a certain distance of your home.
Another advantage is that smart thermostats can remind you about yearly maintenance tasks and even tell you when it’s time to replace your air filter. Most smart thermostats can also track your energy usage and thus provide information about the efficiency of your heating and cooling systems. These systems can even automatically notify you of any sudden energy spikes. This is important since a sudden spike in energy usage is generally a sign that you need an AC or furnace repair. If this happens, you’ll want to make sure to contact a furnace repair technician right away and have your heating system inspected to determine the cause of sudden energy spike. If you want to install a smart thermostat in your house, you can contact an electrician to do it for you. Visit sites like asburyelectric.com or call Paul Macrina Electrical Contracting Inc. to hire one.
