Wi-Fi thermostats are the latest fad. Having one makes you look cool and gives valid reasons to fiddle with your phone the whole day. Well, if that’s what you think, you’ve just touched the tip of the iceberg. In all honesty, Wi-Fi thermostats are all about flexibility of control and money-saving. The fact that they look futuristic and clean is just an added advantage. Most homeowners are not aware of what a boon they are. Owning one means you can start saving more from the word “Get Go.”
What Is A Wi-Fi Thermostat?
A Wi-Fi thermostat is nothing but a smart thermostat. It is a programmable thermostat that connects to your home’s Wi-Fi connection. This feature gives one the freedom to control it from anywhere with the help of a smartphone and a stable internet connection.
Sadly, not everyone uses their smart thermostat to the best of their advantage. According to a study, almost 42% of homes use a programmable thermostat. At first glance, the figure is very encouraging, but the harsh truth is that 40% of these thermostats are not programmed. The reason behind this glaring disparity was that most homeowners found the Wi-Fi thermostat hard to understand and use.
Benefits Of Using A Wi-Fi Thermostat
The main advantages of using Wi-Fi are:
1. The convenience of controlling the temperature from anywhere.
2. It helps you gain a better understanding of your home’s energy consumption.
3. Ability to sense the environment and make automatic adjustments based on the homeowner’s adjustment habits.
How Much Money Does Wi-Fi Thermostat Save?
When used optimally, a smart thermostat can save around $180 annually in energy costs. It translates to savings worth 10% to 23% of the annual heating and cooling costs. It means you can recover the cost of your smart thermostat within a year or three. Over the lifespan of your HVAC, these savings make for a substantive amount of money saved.
The Main Question – How Does A Wi-Fi Thermostat Help Save Money?
A smart thermostat is not a magical device. Instead, it is a device made up of sensors and uses of algorithms to predict behaviors based on homeowners’ programs. The fundamental requirement behind rendering savings is, being insightful about how cool or warm one wants the home to be at specific times of the day.
A Wi-Fi thermostat uses the program set by the homeowners to heat or cool the home. Ideally, one sets different temperatures for when the home is occupied and for those times when it is empty. When empty, the cooling and heating requirements are not the same. To save energy, at such times, you can program the thermostat to increase the temperature during summers and decrease it during winters.
What smart thermostats do differently is that they can sense when the home is in residence or not. Depending on that, it modifies the temperature setting even if the programmed setting is different. Essentially, the Wi-Fi thermostats save money by keeping the temperature low (in winters) and high (in summers) for as long as possible.
How Wi-Fi Thermostats Enable Savings?
Wi-Fi thermostats have the capability to learn the homeowner’s behavior in terms of temperature settings for the home. Accordingly, they help set programs that give maximum energy savings. Most smart thermostats can assess when you are at home and when away using third-party integrations, sensors, or geofencing abilities. Additionally, they remember your preferences as you continue using the device. Along the way, they also learn the length of time it takes to heat or cool the room based on the historical data for your home. The smart thermostat then utilizes all this information to work out the best programming solution for your home that optimizes your schedule and energy savings.
Factors On Which Energy Savings Depends
Energy-saving equates to money-saving, but every home is not the same. So the savings will differ from home to home and situation to situation. Nonetheless, some important factors that govern energy-savings are:
1. Zones In The Home – Homes divided into different zones have a separate thermostat for each area. Energy savings in these homes are far more significant because of improved and superior control over each area’s heating and cooling requirements. In short, homes divided into zones will have more savings in energy costs than homes that are not.
2. Energy Rates In Your Area – Homes in areas where the energy costs are high will save more by using smart thermostats. As against this, those areas where the energy costs are low, the savings too will be on the lower side. It is because energy savings are directly proportional to energy costs.
3. Duration Of Energy Saving Mode – The longer the energy-saving mode runs on the Wi-Fi thermostat, the greater is the money-saving and vice-versa. It is because, during this period, lesser energy is consumed in heating or cooling the home.
4. System Usage When On Vacation – When on vacation, the home’s heating and cooling system works differently for different people. Some people have pets at home, so they cannot afford to shut it down completely. Similarly, if someone stays in a hot and humid area, shutting down the system will result in mold formations. They, too, have to keep it on. In both these cases, the temperature settings can be modified to suit the needs of the time. However, those homes where the complete HVAC system is shut down when the homeowners are away on vacation will maximize energy-saving.
Closing Thoughts
Learning the nitty-gritty’s of Wi-Fi thermostats may look like a daunting task to people, but it is not really so. It’s more about getting used to it slowly and steadily, just like you have become used to smartphones. The more you use your smart thermostat, the more comfortable you will get using it. Hooking it up with your home’s Wi-Fi connection will give you more control over it. And at the end of its life, you will realize that it has paid more than its money’s worth in energy savings.
Aztil Air Conditioning provides a full suite of HVAC services in West Palm Beach, Florida. Our air experts specialize in keeping your home comfortable by taking care of its heating and cooling system. We have a trained and efficient team of 100+ technicians with considerable on-the-job experience. If you have any queries or concerns regarding Wi-Fi thermostats or wish to discuss the matter further, we shall be glad to help. To help you, our office is open 24/7. There is no need to wait. You can call us anytime. To contact us dial +1-888-729-8452.
