Best Thermostat for Home

Guide to buying the best Thermostat for your home

With the variety of thermostats in the market, buyers would need a reliable guide on buying thermostats to help them choose the best ones for their needs.

Buyers will find as many products from the basic manual units to the programmable ones.

Before they select any of these products, they need to consider the following factors as a guide in making the best decision.

Type of Thermostats

Buyers will find two types of thermostats to choose from: Manual and programmable thermostats. Both of them are available for a variety of furnaces, whether gas, electric or oil, and air conditioning.

Older homes have the manual thermostats. These are not only economical but also simple to control.

While they offer limited energy savings, they will operate efficiently if buyers are careful in changing the temperature settings. The only problem is that they contain mercury.

Programmable thermostats, on the other hand, do not require the homeowner to continuously make changes to the settings.

It will automatically adjust the temperatures throughout the day thus saving the buyers a higher percentage on energy costs.

Some of the units have the ability to switch between air conditioning and heating depending with the weather conditions. Aside from that, most of them come with a digital interface that is easy to operate.

Heating and Cooling System

Before choosing any thermostat, it is important for buyers to know what type of heating and cooling system they have.

Some of the products may not be compatible with the users system; therefore they need to check on the product packaging to make the selection process easier.

Some of the options available include:

• Stage 1 heat or Cool- this is suitable for those with separate air conditioning and heating units.
• Stage 2 or multiple-stage heat or cool- Suitable for units with high and low speed.
• Direct Line Voltage-used with thermostats that can be powered with 110 or 240 direct current power source.
• 24mV- suitable for usage with wall or floor furnace or fireplace.
• Zoned HVAC – used for system with individually controlled heating and cooling.

Lifestyle

In choosing a thermostat, it is important that buyers consider their lifestyles.

It is recommended that they choose a thermostat that will allow them to make the as many changes as they can depending with the prevailing circumstances.

This has been made possible by the presence of programmable thermostats that come with pre-set temperatures.

Buyers need also to determine features such as controls, display panels, battery operations and back up as well as vacation mode among others.

The popularity of programmable thermostats has been due to the energy saving benefits it offers homeowners.

The manufacturers of these thermostats have ensured that they provide some of the best products with a variety of features to provide convenience and reliability to the homeowners.

Some of the benefits that homeowners have enjoyed with these products include:

Convenience

The programmable thermostats offer users personal comfort due to the presence of the pre-set temperature levels.

The users are able to adjust the temperature of their homes depending with their needs.

Most of these devices can be controlled whether the homeowners are at home or not, whether they are asleep or awake, and depending on weather.

To add to the convenience, these thermostats can automatically repeat and store the settings every day.

The homeowners also have the chance to override these settings depending with their circumstances, allowing them more control over their heating and cooling costs.

Depending with the type of thermostat selected, some of the homeowners can set up vacation settings and also lock the system so that the settings cannot be tampered with.

Some manufacturers have also designed thermostats that can be connected to and controlled via Wi-Fi, making it easier for the users to remotely control the temperatures of their homes regardless of their location.

Cost

These programmable thermostats cost between $30 and $250 depending with their features, with those made for heat pumps costing higher than the rest.

This initial cost can be easily offset because of the money the homeowners will save within a year or two of using the thermostats.

Homeowners will also receive rebates and incentives from government agencies and utility companies for getting these thermostats due to their energy saving benefits.

Lower Utility bills

Once the programmable thermostat has been installed, the heating and cooling system will not only operate less frequently but also use less energy, translating to lower utility costs.

The homeowners have the chance of saving up to 12% of their annual heating and cooling costs.

Some units take an extra step in saving energy by keeping track of the duration of the HVAC system over a certain period.

They automatically anticipate the best times for the users to lower their cooling or heating.

Eco Friendly

These programmable thermostats do not contain mercury, and this goes a long way to protect the environment.

Aside from that, they use less energy thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Ever entered a hot stuffy room or extremely chilly room and felt like you had no control over it; well the scores of wifi thermostats available in the market provides the right solution to your ventilation problems.

You obviously can’t control other people’s thermostats, and most people wouldn’t be so welcoming to letting you fiddle with their thermostat, but you have all the right to take matters into your own hands and control your own home’s ventilation.

Wifi thermostats work in a similar way to normal thermostats, with the exception that they come with the ability to accept remote access.

Remote access is possible via computers through a designated web page or via a mobile phone app. These thermostats seem to have become a fad not only for their advanced functionality but also because of their ‘cool factor.’

However, there are several notable advantages of having a wifi enabled thermostat in your home as opposed to the traditional units.

For one, think about how many times you have left the house in a hurry only to remember that you forgot to switch off the thermostat.

This does not seem like a concern to some people, but to the energy conscious home owner it does pose quite a problem.

Through remote access ability, you can switch off your wifi thermostat and perform other functions.

Another feat that these devices boast of is the ability to monitor several aspects, also remotely.

Most homeowners would like to know just how much energy they are consuming, so that they can know how much they expect to pay in utility bills or find a way to minimize on their energy consumption.

These wifi enabled devices allow users to monitor several of these functions, again remotely.

Most of these units are designed to power off when the home owner is away, therefore contributing towards energy efficiency.

However, like every internet enabled device there is always the concern about how safe they are.

There have been concerns by homeowners about the possibility of hacks and having their energy costs tampered with.

Other homeowners have also raised concerns over the possibility of having their houses spied on via their wifi enabled thermostats.

There really haven’t been any documented cases of these scenarios actually taking place; therefore, it is safe to assume that these devices are completely safe to use.

If anything, they help homeowners to maintain a sense of security over their energy consumption and ventilation needs.