Between a tropical vacation or a lengthy trip for work, traveling means making preparations for your home comfort system. You don't need it if you’re on a trip, so you can make adjustments as needed to minimize your energy use. Simultaneously, you shouldn't just turn it off for the entire duration of your trip.
For the most part, it’s ideal to leave your HVAC system going and adjust the temperature depending on the time of year. That way you can reduce energy costs without stressing about coming back to an uncomfortable home. We’ll review why you should leave your HVAC system on as well as the ideal thermostat settings for summer and winter.
Here’s Why You Avoid Leaving Your Thermostat Alone
While you could be wanting to turn your HVAC system off before a trip, this will sometimes end up leading to annoying problems by the time you come back. This is particularly true in case the weather will be severely hot or cold while you’re gone.
For example, switching the HVAC system off in the summer can produce very high humidity. Not only will your home feel muggy and uncomfortable when you return, but it may have also stimulated mold/mildew growth or pest infestations.
And during the winter, letting your house get cold could lead to pipes freezing up or even bursting. It’s exhausting to return home from a vacation only to discover considerable water damage nearby a broken pipe.
Best Thermostat Settings While at Work
You can make temperature adjustments even if you’re coming and going to work. Since you’re not home for about 8 hours or longer, it doesn’t help your monthly energy bill to keep an empty home heated or cooled as if you were there. Generally, it’s suggested to turn up the thermostat by 5 degrees or so. Meaning that if you prefer a comfortable 72 degrees, try raising it to 76-77 while you’re out.
But you could save even more if you try further adjustments to the temperature. As reported by the Department of Energy, you could save around 10% on your HVAC spending by increasing the adjustment to 7-10 degrees.
Best Thermostat Settings While Away from Home in Summer
If you’re leaving for an extended trip in the heart of summer, you can make bigger adjustments. This ensures you don’t waste energy while still safeguarding your home from the hassles that come with leaving it un-air conditioned. About 5 degrees is appropriate for shorter trips while closer to 10 degrees is ideal if you’ll be gone for 2 weeks or more. If you prefer keeping the house at 72 in the summer, 78-82 should offer the best results.
Ideal Thermostat Settings While On a Trip in Winter
To try and find the ideal thermostat setting for a winter trip, just lower the temperature by the same amount you would raise it in summer. 68 is a popular winter thermostat setting, so lowering it to 63-58 will prevent ice from forming on pipes while limiting how often your furnace runs.
A Smart Thermostat Can Help: Benefits of a Smart Thermostat
An ideal strategy to manage your home’s HVAC system while out of the house is by investing in a smart thermostat. This special type of programmable thermostat utilizes intelligent software to understand your usual comfort habits. It learns these preferences and makes automatic changes to the schedule for better energy efficiency. And with Wi-Fi integration, you can remotely control your heating and cooling with a mobile device or tablet.
Smart thermostats are stuffed with features to help you save energy and lower costs. To provide an example, certain models can track electricity prices to boost heating or cooling when prices are more affordable. They can also work with high-efficiency, variable-speed equipment to optimize how long your HVAC system has to run. It’s the optimal tool to streamline how you control your comfort system. If you’re thinking about investing in a smart thermostat, there are different ways you can bring down your costs, essentially getting a smart thermostat for free. The next time you leave for vacation, you can receive true peace of mind that your HVAC system won’t cause any trouble while you’re away from home.
