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Picked a $40 programmable thermostat over a smart one and my summer bill dropped $31
Honestly I was about to drop $180 on a smart thermostat last month until my HVAC guy told me the scheduling is what saves money, not the wifi. So I picked up a basic $40 programmable Honeywell at a hardware store in Mesa and set it to 78 while I'm at work and 74 after 6pm. First full month bill came in $31 lower than last June, which surprised me since I mostly wanted the smart one for the phone app. The thing is ugly and I have to walk over to change it, but that is literally the whole tradeoff. Now I'm wondering if I should do the same with my water heater instead of the fancy timer I keep seeing ads for. Does anyone here actually track savings from a smart thermostat, or is it all just the schedule?
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dylan26514d ago
The savings really do come from the schedule, not the wifi. Think about it: a smart thermostat still just turns the system on and off at set times, the app only saves you the walk across the room. Where the fancy ones can pull ahead is when your schedule is weird, like shift work or lots of travel, since they learn your patterns and tweak things you would not bother to. But for a normal 9 to 5? A $40 unit with a decent 5-2 schedule gets you 95 percent of the way there. Your water heater idea makes sense too, since a simple timer that kills power during work hours does the same trick, no app needed.
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