Programmable Thermostat How-To Guide

Programmable Thermostats

Overview
Maintenance
Questions/Answers
Articles

To maintain your home energy efficiency and effectiveness of your programmable digital thermostat, it is important that your home maintenance program include the proper maintenance for your programmable digital thermostat.

Programmable thermostats have automatic digital timers that can be set to turn your thermostat up or down at different times of the day. By automatically turning down heating and air conditioning at night, you can potentially save up to 20-30% on your heating and cooling bills. See also: Furnaces and Central Air Conditioning.

Shown in the "Maintenance" tab above are the recommended routine maintenance tasks for your programmable digital thermostat. The "Questions / Answers" tab above shows our answers to related questions. And the "Articles" tab above provides links to related informational articles and sources.

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		Maintenance Task: Replace batteries and check time clock

		How do you replace batteries and check time clock in a programmable thermostat?
		According to your manufacturer's recommendation, open the unit and replace the battery with a new one. Check the clock to make sure it is showing the correct time.

		Why is it important to replace batteries and check time clock in a programmable thermostat?
		Ensuring proper operation of programmable thermostats helps to maximize energy savings.

		How often should you replace batteries and check time clock in a programmable thermostat?
		Perform annually (September)

		How does Home-Wizard rate the costs and benefits for this task?
		The cost of this task is very low. It is estimated that this task should only take about 30 minutes to complete, and the task is relatively easy to do. No specialized tools are required, but you will have needed to purchase the appropriate battery for your unit in advance.

		The benefits of this task are the convenience of having your automatic thermostat operating properly without interruption, which helps maximize energy savings.

		Overall Home-Wizard benefit-versus-cost rating (one 'hat' = low and four 'hats' = high):

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS from "Ask-a-Wizard":

QUESTION from Stephanie on 10/20/2008
Just bought a 100 year old house. My main question has to do with turning on and off the system during this cold than mild days of Oct. I grew up with electric heat and this is what we did, but I'm thinking that turning on an off this system isn't the way to go. Also, with electric heat you try and keep the house always at the same temp so you don't play with the programing much, is this true of steam heat or is it better to program variable temps throughout the day (depending when we'll be home).

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD.COM on 10/21/2008
Dear Stephanie:

Regarding the first part of your question, if you are wondering if during what's called the "shoulder months" when your heating demand for your house is relatively low and may fluctuate significantly, whether you should be turning your heating system off and on . . . then the answer is that it depends on the kind of heating system that you have and how it is setup to operate.

It sounds like you have a hot water boiler which I assume provides hot water to either room radiators or baseboard heaters. If you system is setup to circulate water only when a wall thermostat tells the system that the temperature is too low, which both turns on your furnace boiler to heat water and a pump to circulate this water, then it is fine to turn your system on and off. However, assuming that your thermostat is operating properly, then there is no reason to have to turn your system on and off, since the wall thermostat will do it for you. On the other hand, if in your 100 year-old house you have a system which for some reason is not thermostatically controlled, then you would need to turn the system on and off.

Regarding the second part of your question, depending on the cost of electricity in your region of the country, and cost of the type of programmable thermostat that you would need to purchase . . . yes, it can make good sense to have a programmable thermostat automatically adjusting the room temperature for you. For example, if you are gone during the day, you could have your programmable thermostat setup so that it keeps your house at lower temperature during the day, but it turns the heat up at a time that will allow your home to be at a comfortable temperature by the time that you get home. And similarly, you can have it turn down the heat a little bit while you are sleeping, then come up to a higher temperature for around the time that you will be getting up in the morning. Even dialing down a few degrees over the entire heating system can help save you money.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com
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QUESTION from Ken Lee on 9/9/2009
What causes a high reading on the low side and a low reading on the high side?

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD.COM on 9/20/2009
Dear Ken:

If you are referring to a problem with the calibration of your thermostat, here is a webpage that describes how to calibrate it:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4830945_calibrate-a-thermostat.html

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com
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