Gone are the days of getting up and tuning the thermostat. These days, you can stay where you are while altering your home’s ambient temperatures.
Smart thermostats are quickly sweeping the nation. With more artificially intelligent systems, a smart thermostat can help reduce your home’s energy consumption and total carbon footprint.
However, these innovations don’t come at negligible costs. Integrating them into your home may cost more time and money than opting for older thermostats.
Still, upgrading traditional thermostats results in various benefits. Most of the perks are worth every penny you pay for the thermostat upgrade.
Find out more about that small box on your wall and how it can significantly impact your home.
What Is a Smart Thermostat?
A smart thermostat is an innovation that enhances overall efficiency. It can save you time, money, and energy while improving indoor conditions.
You no longer have to hesitate to change temperatures due to the inconvenience traditional thermostats pose. A smarter system also helps when your busy routine makes you forget to tune the thermostat accordingly before leaving the house.
Homeowners no longer have to be within a certain range to change their home’s temperatures, boosting convenience and efficiency. A smart thermostat provides remote access to your home’s temperature controls withwireless connections that allow setting alterations from anywhere inside or outside your home.
Are smart thermostats for you?
Does My Home Need a Smart Thermostat?
It benefits those who find it difficult to attend to indoor air quality consistently. A smart thermostat helps alter temperatures according to preset configurations.
You can assign temperatures to various designations, including but not limited to the settings below:
- When you are home
- When you are not home
- When outdoor temperatures spike
- When outdoor temperatures dip
You can even designate intermittent temperature cycles to enhance cooling efficiency when your home is packed. Smart thermostats provide homeowners with more affordable yet stable output, meeting their home’s different temperature needs under various circumstances.
However, homeowners could easily attend to the thermostat, forgoing any automated functions. What makes smart thermostats more ideal than traditional options isn’t just related to comfort and convenience.
Should you replace your old thermostat with a smarter option?
What’s the Difference Between My Thermostat and a Smart One?
Many homeowners hesitate to make the smart upgrade due to unit and installation costs as well as other perceived inconveniences. However, smart thermostats benefit users in various ways, practically paying for themselves through your home’s monthly energy savings.
Smart thermostats have automated functions that alter temperatures according to your needs and other extenuating circumstances. Smart systems automatically control HVAC systems adapting to unpredictable surrounding temperatures.
Smart thermostats are sensitive enough to sense one-degree shifts and make necessary alterations, helping you stay comfortable more efficiently. Their automated controls can adjust HVAC systems accordingly while still meeting your desired temperatures.
Do not be deterred by initial costs. Homeowners can get a return on their investment in just a few months.
Smart Thermostats are more than just convenient innovations.
Smart vs. Traditional Thermostats: Side-by-Side Difference
| Features & Characteristics: | Traditional: | Smart: |
| Range of Thermostat Controls | Close Proximity | Expansive Wireless Range |
| Automated Functions | Limited Presets | Detailed Configuration |
| Sensors | Basic | Sophisticated |
| Cost | Free for built-in units with $100-$300 upgrade value | $400 for primary units with up to $800 upgrade value |
| Safety Integrations | Temperatures Readings | Indoor Air Quality Ratings |
Features of a Smart Thermostat
Smart systems are expansive innovations geared toward various everyday appliances. They enhance comfort, convenience, efficiency, and safety.
The smartphone’s many convenient features make it superior to old mobile phones. In today’s digital age, cellular phones without smart features are considered ancient.
Smart thermostats render conventional installations obsolete. It’s only fitting that smart thermostats provide remote accessibility through other smart devices.
Control your thermostat using your phone anytime, anywhere!
How Does a Smart Thermostat Help Me Save Money?
Did you forget to tune the thermostat before you left the house? Don’t worry. You don’t have to turn back or go home to save on utility costs.
The answer to remote temperature alterations is in the palm of your hand. Thanks to smart thermostats, you can reduce energy consumption with a press of a button.
Ease HVAC functions by responsibly adjusting temperatures to meet your immediate needs instead of consistently running HVAC systems to maintain temperatures. You can easily tune the thermostat through wireless controls and smart sensors, cultivating more energy savings.
Is a Smart Thermostat Expensive?
Smart devices typically cost more due to system enhancements that provide better accessibility. Smart HVAC components boost efficiency and reliability in exchange for higher upfront costs.
Homeowners may pay between four hundred to twelve hundred dollars ($400 to $1,200) for a smart thermostat installation. While it sounds like a steep price to pay, sticking to an outdated thermostat may cost you more in the long run.
The expense of smart thermostat systems doesn’t cost nearly as much as the price you pay for sticking to unreliable HVAC components. Unstable temperature controls cost your comfort and safety.
Risks of Unstable Thermostat Units
You won’t only feel discomfort, but uncontrollable HVAC devices may also compromise your safety. With unreliable controls, your HVAC systems may be unstable and unpredictable.
The risks of unstable thermostat controls include but are not limited to the following:
- Unreliable output
- Poor quality airflow
- Compromised mechanical components
- Inefficient heating and cooling functions
- Unusual emissions (sounds, odors, and leaks)
- Unmanageable HVAC unit
While smart thermostats aren’t immune to malfunction, they can help your HVAC systems avoid frequent mechanical mishaps. The cost of smart thermostats is worth every penny to secure your comfort and safety.
Are you still hesitant to commit time and money to replace your thermostat? Rest assured, purchasing smart thermostats from reputable HVAC contractors won’t cost you more to install or maintain.
Is It Complicated to Replace a Thermostat?
You may perform a Do It Yourself thermostat replacement with adequate tools and skills. However, extracting old installations for new unit integrations may take longer without knowing which wires should be removed or retained.
Enlisting professional services helps homeowners achieve more efficient and effective installations. Professional thermostat services don’t come at great costs, with installation fees typically built into unit prices.
Replacing a thermostat can be complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. Instead of buying a unit, removing your old thermostat, and installing a new one on your own, you can uncomplicate matters by hiring professional assistance.
Replace your outdated thermostat when you experience problematic heating and cooling or before you encounter them.
When Should I Replace My Thermostat?
Thermostats typically last for eight to ten years. However, unit integrity varies, often depending on their usage.
Fiddling with the thermostat more often can shorten unit lifespan by half. Considering the erratic temperature these days, thermostats often give in to wear and tear much sooner.
Your thermostat may only last half as long as its indicated expectancy. You can find your thermostat’s expected lifespan online or its user manual.
Still, you don’t have to wait for your thermostat to outlive its expectancy. Replace your thermostat when temperature controls begin faltering or when they exhibit visibledamage.
Not all indicators are visible, but you can always tell when there’s something wrong with the thermostat.
What HVAC Symptoms Indicate Malfunctioning or Damaged Thermostats?
Thermostats must always have primary control over your entire HVAC system. There may be hindrances between your HVAC system and the thermostat if you lose control of your indoor temperatures.
Your air vents may produce erratic temperatures while your HVAC units unexpectedly cycle ON and OFF. You may also notice sudden surges in utility costs due to unmanageable HVAC functions.
The fastest way to tell if your thermostat isn’t working is by measuring response time. Measuring the integrity of your HVAC installations based on indoor temperatures takes considerable time.
However, you can switch HVAC units off on the thermostat to quickly gauge response time. It may take up to a few minutes, but the signal should encompass your entire HVAC system.
The thermostat may be compromised if it cannot effectively turn systems on or shut them down. Unfortunately, that’s the most you can do to determine if your traditional thermostats are faulty.
Smart thermostats have digital indicators that may warn users of internal malfunctions.
Want to Upgrade Your Thermostat?
You can skip all the hassle that traditional thermostats bring. While they may seem practical, they cost more in the long run. There’s a third option if you aren’t ready to jump from conventional thermostats to smart systems.
Users may purchase a more updated version of their traditional thermostat as a convenient middleground between sticking with faulty thermostats and getting smart alternatives.
If you want a professional assessment conducted on your thermostat, call reliable HVAC specialists to analyze the integrity of all your HVAC units. You may also have faltering smart systems you want to salvage.
Contact Our Specialists Today!
Entrusting significant fixtures to anyone can be daunting. Still, it would be best to refrain from attempting haphazard maintenance by yourself and never settle for less reliable HVAC contractors.
Hire the Sunset Heating & Cooling team for Thermostat Installation & Repair in Portland.
Homeowners need reliable partners when it comes to their heating and cooling needs. While we can sell you our top-tier services, instead, we can let our century-long reputation speak for itself.
Trust Portland’s finest HVAC contractors to ensure unit integrity and quality installations.
