Installing Thermostat in Your Home

If the thermostat in your home is more than a few years old, there's a good chance that it is the older style with the traditional dial on it. The temperature is set by adjusting the dial to the desired level. The temperature only changes when the dial is manually adjusted. If you want to turn the heat down at night to save money, you must make a mental note to do so before going to bed. Otherwise, the temperature will stay set at the higher level. Once adjusting the heat downward, it stays at that level until adjusted again.

If you want to turn the heat up again the next morning when you wake up, you have to get out of bed while it's still cold to do so. Meanwhile, you still have to shave, shower, and dress while the house is warming up. Finally, by the time you have finished eating breakfast, the house has warmed up. Guess what? Now it's time to take off for work, so that means adjusting the thermostat back down while you are away all day to conserve energy and save on the heating bill. I think you get the idea.

Thermostats that have to be manually adjusted are soon to be relics of the past because they are quickly being replaced by newer programmable thermostats. A programmable thermostat allows the user to preset a series of temperatures by programming it in advance. The more common thermostats of this type typically provide a user with the option of programming four preset temperatures for the five weekdays, Monday through Friday, and then another four preset temperatures for the weekend, Saturday and Sunday.

So unlike the old style thermostats that must be manually turned down before going to bed, programmable thermostats can be preset to automatically lower the temperature each night at a predetermined time. If you usually go to bed at 10:00 PM each night, for example, the thermostat can be pre-programmed to lower the temperature by several degrees starting at 9:30 PM, or whatever time you want it to. Then when it's time to get up in the morning, instead of having to shave and shower in a cold house, the thermostat can be preset to increase the temperature and turn the furnace on so it's nice and warm when you wake up. Running late for work and forgot to adjust the thermostat? No problem. Because you've already pre-programmed it, the temperature will adjust to the predetermined level and maintain it there until just before you return home from work.