In what’s been a big development for the HVAC industry and the nascent Internet of Things, so-called “smart thermostats” connect central air systems to the Internet for expanded performance and accessibility. With a variety of models to choose from, smart thermostats have gone from techie luxuries to useful additions to any household. Here are some reasons you should switch to a smart thermostat.
Saves Money on Energy
This is the big one. What makes a thermostat smart is not that it has translated the classics from Greek and Latin but that it learns your household occupancy patterns and calibrates heating and cooling accordingly. For example, you’re out of the house from 10 to 2, a smart thermostat won’t waste valuable energy accommodating people who aren’t there. If you tend to have company in the evenings, it drops the temperature to account for the extra body heat.
Readability
There’s a lot to love about technological progress, but the departure from analog controls has to be pretty high on the list. Remember twisting the radio dial to your favorite station, with one false move to the left or right picking up static? That’s ancient history, but analog thermostats, with their tiny numbers and fussy dials, have somehow persisted into the Wi-Fi era. Remove the guesswork and send those old units to the dustbin of history.
Access to Analytics
Do you love data? Are charts and graphs works of art to you? Your smart thermostat and its app will tell you everything you could possibly want to know about your HVAC system’s usage patterns. Has your energy usage been going up lately? Maybe this is something you want to keep an eye on—and now you can, in handy graphic form. You’ll know how much to adjust to get your costs back down.
Remote Control
You don’t have to be right in the family room to fiddle with the thermostat anymore. With an associated smartphone app, you can adjust your home’s temperature from the basement, your bedroom, the backyard, and beyond. If you’ve left for vacation but it dawned on you as soon as you hit the on-ramp that you forgot to turn off the air before you left, your smart thermostat app will allow you to take care of it. Then, when you’re coming home, you can turn the air back on in advance of your arrival to start getting things comfortable.
You’re Only as Smart as Your Air Quality
There are many good reasons you should switch to a smart thermostat, but if you assume it can even filter your HVAC system’s air by itself, well, there’s nothing too bright about that. For your smart thermostat to do everything it’s supposed to do, you’ll still need to remember the filter. You want a high-performance HVAC filter to get the best possible air quality in your home, and as a distributor of AAF Flanders air filters—which match high MERV ratings with competitive pricing—we’ll make sure your HVAC system makes investing in a smart thermostat worthwhile.
