Using your programmable thermostat effectively can reduce your home energy consumption and lower your Cincinnati utility bill.

By programming your thermostat to automatically adjust your heating and air conditioning settings to fit your family's normal schedule, you won't have to remember to adjust the thermostat every time you leave the house or return home. Your thermostat will turn your HVAC systems off and on for you, so that your house will be at the right temperature every morning when you get up and every evening when you get home from work.

Keep the following factors in mind when using your programmable thermostat:

• Be sure to change the batteries once a year to avoid the frustration of having your heating and air conditioning systems mysteriously stop working for no apparent reason. It's a good idea to pick a specific date every year to change all of the batteries in your house in smoke alarms, TV remotes and thermostats so that you always have a reliable power supply for each of them.
• Set your thermostat to lower your heat setting and raise your air conditioning setting during times of the day and days of the week when your family's away from home or asleep. Many thermostats will let you set a separate schedule for weekdays and weekend days.
• Avoid temporarily overriding your preset temperature settings too often. You have the thermostat set for optimum comfort levels, so manually changing the settings will waste energy.
• Remember to override your standard settings for vacations or other longer periods when your house will be unoccupied. Set the cooling temperature higher and the heating temperature lower for the entire time you'll be away in order to save on your bills while you're gone.
• If your house has zoned heating and air conditioning ducts, using your programmable thermostat in each zone to set up different schedules and temperature settings can save energy and money.

Contact us at Tri-County Heating & Cooling for help using your programmable thermostat. We've proudly served homeowners throughout Butler County and the Greater Cincinnati area for over 40 years.

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