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Guide to Thermostat Settings

A Guide to Understanding Thermostat Settings

| onestoput |

If your home has a centralized air conditioning system, then you have a thermostat that helps you control the temperature settings. Unless your system is extremely old, it’s likely that the system has a programmable thermostat with multiple settings. Understanding what each one of these settings does helps you to optimize them to enhance your energy savings throughout the summer months.

Temperature

The one thermostat setting that most people are familiar with is the temperature. This is simply the setting for the temperature that you want in your home. For example, if you want your home to be 78 degrees, you’ll set the temperature on your thermostat to 78 degrees. Your air conditioning system will continue to use that degree marker whenever the system is turned on.

It’s important to note that your thermostat will also display the actual temperature inside of your home. At first, it can be easy to get these confused. However, once your system starts running, you’ll be able to notice that the actual temperature reading will decrease as the temperature inside of your home decreases.

Auto Mode

Auto mode is probably the most common thermostat setting that you’re going to be dealing with. With this setting, you will input your desired temperature into your thermostat. When the actual temperature in your home is above what your desired temperature is, auto mode will cause your air conditioning system to turn on. It will cycle through until the air inside of your home reaches the desired temperature. Then, auto mode will shut the system off until the actual temperature rises above the desired temperature again.

On Mode

Many people get auto mode and on mode confused. Unlike auto mode, on mode kicks your air conditioning system on, and it will continuously run. The desired temperature that you have set isn’t taken into account with on mode. Instead, it will just continue to run until you manually turn the system off. This setting should be reserved for specific times when you’re just looking to circulate air throughout your home. For example, if you’re opening some rooms that have stale air in them, turning your thermostat to on mode for an hour or so can help to circulate fresh air into all the areas of your home.

Run Mode

To get the most energy savings out of your home air conditioning system, it makes sense to program your thermostat around your daily schedule. It’s recommended to have your thermostat set at a comfortable temperature like 78 degrees while your family is at home. When your family is not going to be at home, it is possible to up the temperature to around 88 degrees. This will prevent your system from running when no one is home so you don’t have to waste any energy.

Try to plan and program your entire weekly schedule into your thermostat. This way, you don’t ever have to worry about messing with the settings unless something with your schedule changes. Once your thermostat is programmed at different temperatures throughout the day, it will go into what is known as run mode. Whenever you see the run setting, it simply means that your thermostat is running based on the desired temperatures that you programmed into it for various hours throughout the day.

Hold Mode

While programming your thermostat can do wonders for saving you money on your electricity bills, sometimes life throws you a curveball. Let’s say that one of your children is sick, and you end up spending a weekday at home with them. Your thermostat is programmed to increase to a high of 88 degrees during the day because you’re usually not at home.

To prevent this from happening, you can switch your thermostat to hold mode. This mode allows you to pause all the programmed settings in your thermostat so that you can set the desired temperature to what you want at that particular moment. In the scenario we went over above, you will be able to hit the hold mode and change the temperature to 78 degrees since you’ll be at home. As soon as you turn off the hold mode, your thermostat will resort back to the run mode that was programmed into it.

Humidity

If you have a digital or a smart thermostat that includes a humidity setting, it’s crucial to understand what this setting can do for you. Humidity is presented as a percentage on your thermostat. For example, you may set your humidity at 30% to create a comfortable indoor environment for your family.

On very humid days outside, that humidity can seep inside of your home. The higher the humidity level in your home, the hotter it feels. While your thermostat setting is 78 degrees and your home is an actual temperature of 78 degrees, it still may be very uncomfortable if the humidity level is above percent relative humidity. Fortunately, you can use your humidity setting to ensure that your air conditioning system continues to run to remove the humidity from the air until the relative humidity level reaches the desired percentage that you’ve set.

Heat Cool Modes

Two very common thermostat settings are heat mode and cool mode. As you’ve likely guessed, you want to set your thermostat to heat mode when you want to warm your home, and you should set it to cool mode when you want to cool off your home. It’s important to remember to switch between these two settings in order to get the desired temperature that you’re looking for.

While you may be under the false assumption that your thermostat has to be on either the heat function or the cool function, that’s not actually correct. You can run your heating and cooling system simply with the on mode. This will recirculate the existing air throughout your home into the ductwork and back out through the supply vents.

Eco Setting

If you have a smart thermostat installed at your home, you likely have an eco setting. This may be labeled eco-friendly or be shown with a simple leaf symbol. When this setting is turned on, your smart thermostat will alter the temperature in your home based on what is the most energy efficient. New smart thermostats use your smartphone’s location to determine when you’re home and when you’re not. It will adjust the temperature based on your location to ensure that your house stays nice and cool when you’re at home.

Your Trusted AC Service Professional

One Stop Heating and Air Conditioning is your Sandy heating and air conditioning professional. Not only do we offer repairs, installation, and maintenance for your heating and cooling systems, but we also offer indoor air quality testing and duct cleaning. This means that we can keep you comfortable all year, no matter the temperature or the humidity. Give us a call today, and let our friendly and knowledgeable staff assist you.

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