Choosing the best programmable thermostat
So many residential thermostats to choose from
Choosing the best programmable thermostat for your home is essential to maximizing comfort as well as climate control. There are countless of residential thermostats available on the market today. With seemingly every manufacturer making various claims of energy savings and climate control, sorting through it all can become overwhelming. Keep in mind that the only way to truly benefit from any programmable thermostat, even a wireless climate control thermostat, is to capitalize on the extended and routine periods of time that you and your family are not home.
Make observations before purchasing
It's a good idea to make a log or even a chart of you and your families daily and weekly schedules. This includes work and school schedules and weekend soccer and baseball practices as well. Make a note of daily and weekly habits also. Habits such as sleep times and wake up times for the majority of the households occupants should be considered. And then determine a reasonable and comfortable household temperature reduction during the heating season and a reasonable temperature increases during the cooling season. It's important to note that a setback of at least 8 degrees F (during the heating season) and a setup of at least 7 degrees F (during the cooling season) are recommended by the U.S dept of Energy in order to fully maximize energy savings potential.
7 Day
These energy saving models are generally the best programmable thermostats for those individuals and families with unpredictable daily schedules. They allow different settings for every single day of the week.
5 + 2 Day
If you and your family have fairly routine weekday schedules and habits then these climate control thermostats may best suit you. They allow for programmed settings during the week and separate climate control settings for the weekend.
5 - 1 - 1 Day
For those with unpredictable weekend activities and routine schedules during the week, these climate control thermostats may best suit your home. They allow for automatic settings during the week and great flexibility during each separate day of the weekend.
The number of daily settings
A programmable thermostat can have anywhere from 4 to 8 daily settings, the more settings the more possible daily temperature setbacks and setups. One household may need a model with 6 to 8 daily settings while another needs only 4 or 5 daily settings. Determining in advance how many daily climate control settings you need will make finding the best programmable thermostat for your home a lot easier.
Other features to look for
Look for a model that has a simple and user friendly override feature. This will allow you to change the temperature schedule for a particular day without altering the remainder of the weeks schedule. Regardless of how routine someones schedule might be, the unpredictable will eventually happen and this feature allows homeowners to adjust without having to completely re program their residential thermostat. Some models can also hold programmable settings for up to 72 hours without electricity in the event of a power outage.
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