Jim and Gloria Fekete

Recommended Thermostat Settings

We discuss recommended thermostat settings that offer adequate comfort for most people and are sure to save you money on your utility bills.

During the warm weather, it is generally recommended that you set your home's cooling system to 78 degrees Fahrenheit when you are home. If you will be out of the house for four or more hours, consider raising the setting so the cooling system only comes on if the temperature tops 88 degrees Fahrenheit.

It is estimated that for every degree higher you set your thermostat over 78 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer months, you could save approximately six to eight percent off your home energy bill, per degree.

So, keeping your home's temperature slightly higher and using the best settings for spring and summer can ultimately help save you money.

Later in this article, we give an overview of the benefits of installing a programming thermostat to easily manage your thermostat throughout the day. 

In the winter, you can save energy and keep your costs in check by keeping your thermostat at 68 degrees Fahrenheit while you are at home during the daytime.

Energy.gov reports that turning your thermostat lower by 10 to 15 degrees for 8 hours per day will help you see an energy usage reduction of 5 to 15 percent per year on your bill.

Depending on your family's personal comfort preferences, one idea you may consider is lowering the thermostat at night while you sleep. Many people find it comfortable to sleep in a cooler environment while using winter blankets to regulate warmth.

It's important to note that indoor humidity plays a significant role in the comfort of the air in your home.

Solution: A Programmable Thermostat

Installing a programmable thermostat in your home will let you run a scheduled heating and cooling program without having to remember to manually change your settings throughout the day.

Most programmable thermostats are able to automatically adjust the temperature in your home up to six or more times per day. You can also manually override the automatic settings if you need to at any time without interrupting the daily or weekly programming.

A programmable thermostat offers such ease of use, that it's easy to set your home's temperature lower while you are asleep or during the day when you are at work.

In the summer months, raising your home's cooling temperature to over 78 degrees Fahrenheit for eight hours per day — a typical work day — can really make a difference in your utility bills.

When programming your thermostat, just take into consideration your daily schedule.In the winter, do you like to sleep in a cool house?  If you like your home cooler at night, set your thermostat to a lower setting about an hour before you actually go to bed so the house starts to cool down. Prior to waking up, you might want to set the thermostat so the heat comes on approximately two hours before you actually get up so the house is nice and warm.

You should also consider adjusting the thermostat anytime your house is vacant for four or more hours per day. Typically, adjusting temperatures 5 – 8 degrees (down in winter, up in summer) can help save energy if you are going to be away from home for several hours.

Here are a few tips and benefits of a programmable thermostat from Energy Star:

• Install your thermostat away from heating or cooling registers, appliances, 
  lighting, doorways, fireplaces, skylights and windows and areas that receive 
  direct sunlight or drafts. Interior walls are best.
• Keep the thermostat set at energy-saving temperatures for long periods of time, 
  such as during the day when no one is home and at bedtime.
• Set the “hold” button at a constant energy-saving temperature when going 
  away for the weekend or on vacation.
• Change your batteries each year if your programmable thermostat runs on 
  batteries. Some units will indicate when batteries must be changed.

You can use the table above as a starting point for setting energy-saving temperatures, and then adjust the settings to fit your family’s schedule and stay comfortable.

Actual Home Settings

With the new Emerson Thermostat (installed 8/22/2023) I have been able to modify the schedule from 4 times daily to two choices, Daytime and Nighttime. Since we are no longer going to work, the day and night setting make a great deal more sense. The Emerson has an option to adjust to EST and DST automatically so there is no need to vary the time for heating (EST) and cooling (DST), as previously done. Being retired there is no longer a need to program differently for weekdays and weekends.
Using ℉ allows much finer degree of variations in temperature (.555 degrees compared to 1.0 ℃).

The above settings are temporary and will probably be adjusted to a suitably comfortable and economical setting in the near future. There may not be huge savings with the above settings but there is some and little discomfort between day and night.

Former Home Settings

No Longer in Use

Thermostat Settings Newport  –  Printable Document UPDATE to NEW settings

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e-mail:   jimandgloria@yahoo.com

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