We’re going to experience another cold winter here in Fort Wayne, and our home heating systems—from furnaces to geothermal heat pumps—will put in a great deal of work to keep our households warm and cozy. That can also add up to steep energy bills over the season.
However, those bills may not need to be as steep as they were last year. A few simple mistakes with setting the thermostat can end up costing you from month to month. We have some advice on using the thermostat so your heater saves money—without a sacrifice in comfort.
The Best Winter Thermostat Settings
Here’s the secret to thermostats that many people don’t realize: they are switches, not throttles. When a thermostat is turned up high (85°F or 90°F), the heating system doesn’t work faster or provide a higher volume of heat. What happens is that the thermostat simply tells the heating system to work for longer… until it reaches the set temperature. That means a great deal more spent to run the system, and you’ll end up with a house that’s stiflingly hot. You don’t want your house to be 85°F in the summer, and you don’t want it in winter either.
There’s another problem with pushing the heat up so high: it causes the house to more rapidly lose its heat to the outside. The bigger the temperature difference between indoors and outdoors, the quicker heat moves from indoors to outdoors. Maintaining a lower temperature slows down the heat loss, and the heater will need to work less to replace it.
So what is an ideal setting? It varies depending on people, but on average 68°F is a temperature that is comfortable for most people who have warm clothes on. Keep the thermostat set at this temperature (or adjusted up a bit if necessary) during the day when people are home. When people are asleep, lower the temperature by 8°F and use a nice comforter on your bed.
Follow this advice, and you can reduce your heating bills by as much as 25%!
For heating service in Fort Wayne, IN, turn to Collier’s Heating & Air Conditioning—A company you’ve grown to trust.
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