Having adequate heating is obviously essential during the winter, and this is true even in places like Texas where the temperature very rarely drops below freezing. Making sure your home or business stays at a nice temperature is clearly important in terms of your overall comfort. Still, heating can also be expensive, which means finding the ideal temperature to set your furnace at is a matter of balancing comfort and cost.
IDEAL DAYTIME AND NIGHTTIME TEMPERATURES
Most heating experts agree that the ideal daytime temperature during the winter is around 68 degrees. Setting your thermostat at this temperature enables you to stay comfortable without spending too much on your heating costs. Some people obviously prefer it a bit warmer than this, but it is generally much better to wear additional layers of clothing instead of turning up the thermostat. This is especially true considering that it is far easier to use blankets or clothing to warm up than it is to cool down if the temperature gets too hot.
Although 68 degrees is the ideal temperature during the daytime, you’ll definitely want to turn the thermostat down before going to bed. Studies have shown that people sleep far better and more soundly in cooler temperatures than they do when it is too warm. For this reason, most experts recommend lowering the thermostat by around 8 to 10 degrees during the night. After all, you can always use additional blankets to help keep you warm at night if you do get too cold.
Somewhere around 60 degrees is the ideal nighttime temperature for homes. However, offices and other business buildings can set the temperature even lower than this if the building is unoccupied at night. Nonetheless, you obviously don’t want to set the temperature too low. The lower the temperature is, the more time and energy it takes to warm the building back up, which could cancel out any potential energy savings.
STAYING COMFORTABLE VS SAVING MONEY
Keeping your thermostat set around 68 degrees when you’re home during the day or evening is an ideal solution for your overall comfort. However, there is no need to continue heating your home or office at that temperature when no one is there. The EPA and other organizations estimate that lowering the temperature 1-degree results in energy savings of anywhere between 1 and 3 percent. Lowering your thermostat by 10 degrees for eight hours a day can potentially reduce your monthly energy costs by as much as 10 to 15 percent. If you do this both for the eight hours that you’re asleep and the eight hours that you’re at work, you could drop your heating costs by as much as 20% to 30%.
THE BENEFITS OF A PROGRAMMABLE OR SMART THERMOSTAT
Any type of thermostat allows you to quickly raise or lower the set temperature. However, a programmable thermostat gives you the added convenience of being able to automatically adjust the temperature at set times. For instance, you can program the thermostat to ensure your home is already warmed up when you wake up in the morning or get home from work in the evening. In this way, you can still enjoy the energy savings of a lower temperature while also ensuring your home always remains warm when you want it to be.
Smart thermostats provide even more benefits than traditional programmable units. For starters, they are generally much easier to program since this can all be done through your smartphone, computer, or other connected devices. You can also skip the programming altogether and simply adjust the temperature remotely from your device as needed. Many smart thermostats can also learn about your heating habits and automatically make adjustments without requiring any input from you.
Some of the units even let you adjust the temperature for each specific room in the building, which provides numerous additional benefits. For example, you can make sure your bedroom is cool when you go to bed without having to lower your thermostat and sacrifice the warmth in the rest of the home. It also lets you turn off the heat to any rooms that you rarely or never use and thus enjoy even greater energy savings.
HEATING SERVICES YOU CAN COUNT ON
SouthCoast HVAC offers a full range of heating services for both residential and commercial customers. Our team of experienced HVAC technicians is available to handle any of your heating installation, maintenance, and repair needs. We also specialize in industrial boilers and rooftop air conditioning systems for commercial projects. Santa Fe summers can be brutally hot, and our range of cooling services can make it easy for you to beat the summer heat. Our team also offers numerous solutions for anyone looking to improve their indoor air quality.
Don’t trust your heating and cooling systems to just anyone. Contact SouthCoast HVAC today to get the reliable, professional service you deserve.
