What to Look for in a Thermostat

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Purchasing a quality thermostat is one of the best ways to reduce your energy costs. Thermostats are particularly important to saving on energy because they allow you to control most of the temperatures in your home, which account for a large amount of your electric bill. The following money saving tips will help you reduce your energy costs in no time by helping you choose the best thermostat for your home.

When looking for the best thermostat, you’ll most likely want one that is “smart,” or programmable. Smart thermostats are the best thermostats because they use a variety of technologies to either provide you with information about your energy usage or optimizing your usage to lower your utilities costs. Check out our recent blog article for more information about some of the best smart thermostats.

Smart thermostats are great, but what exactly should you be looking for? Here are a few things that you should consider when shopping for a new thermostat.

Price

  • Investing in a programmable thermostat means that you’ll likely see a high initial price tag. Try to find a thermostat within your price range without compromising all the benefits you require—if you skimp on a cheaper thermostat, it might take a lot longer to get your money back via saving on your energy bills.
  • Also keep in mind that, depending on the level of functionality you desire, your system might require professional installation, which can also influence the cost. 

Your Money Saving Plan (You Have One, Right?)

  • Make a plan for how exactly your new thermostat will help you save money. Doing so will provide you with a strategy to follow and goals to meet. Without a plan, you can easily become overwhelmed. One easy way to get started is to use a utilities calculator to determine where and how you want to save money and then find a thermostat that has the functionality to make your plans a reality.

Functionality

  • What do you want your thermostat to be able to do? Some can learn your schedule and optimize your energy usage when you aren’t at home; others provide data about your energy usage; and most provide information about indoor and outdoor temperatures. You might only want your thermostat to provide you the data to make informed decisions yourself, or you might also want it to actively lower your utilities costs. Before you start seriously shopping, determine exactly what you want your new thermostat to do.

Customer/Industry reviews

  • Once you know exactly what you want, begin shopping! When you find models that seem to match what you are looking for, search for reviews on the products—look for both customer reviews as well as industry reviews by professional reviewers to gain a better understanding of each product before you make the final purchase. This programmable thermostat review site is a great place to start.