Your thermostat might seem like an add-on or just an unimportant detail of your home, but you might be surprised that a lot of thought goes into the location of your thermostat. We’ve put together some information on how to program your Casselberry, Florida, home to have zones and know if your thermostat is in the right place.
The correct placement of your thermostat and programming zoning can improve your energy efficiency and the comfort inside your home.
Thermostat Placement
Where your thermostat is placed can have a major effect on how efficiently your home uses energy and also how comfortable your home is throughout the year.
Improper placement can include many different factors and areas. For example, your thermostat shouldn’t be placed in a narrow hallway, in direct sunlight, near an air vent, in your kitchen, or near a door or window. If your thermostat is placed in any of these areas, you’re likely getting false readings and therefore are cooling or heating your home improperly.
Home Comfort
Your home’s comfort is very important. The reason we install air conditioners, HVAC systems, ducting and thermostats is to be able to control the temperature inside our home. If you can’t control the temperature well enough to maintain comfort, your thermostat might have been placed in the wrong location.
Let’s examine what happens if your thermostat is placed near an air vent. In the summer, the thermostat will sense a cooler temperature than the rest of your home because the vent is blowing conditioned air onto the thermometer. This will make it difficult to regulate the temperature in your home and keep it comfortable.
Energy Efficiency
Similarly to home comfort, if your thermostat is placed in the wrong area, your home’s energy efficiency will decline. Proper placement of your thermostat will lower the monthly cost of your electricity bills and improve your energy efficiency so that you use less energy each month.
For example, if your thermostat is placed directly across from a window and receives direct sunlight for a few hours each day, your thermostat will get a false temperature reading during those hours. When your thermostat reads that it’s too hot because of the sunlight, it will continue to call for cool air to be pushed into your home. This will waste energy cooling an already cool and comfortable house and raise the cost of your monthly energy bill.
The placement of your thermostat is not a trivial or merely aesthetic choice. Where your thermostat is located can have an effect on the comfort of your home, your home’s energy efficiency, and the cost of your monthly energy bills.
Setting Up Zoning
Another important factor in home comfort and energy efficiency is setting up zoning in your home. Not sure what zoning is? Zoning is used in homes that have more than one thermostat or need more than one zone of conditioned air.
One simple example of this is a two-story home in winter. Warm air rises. This means that as you heat the downstairs of your home, the warm air will drift to the upstairs, naturally heating it. Because of this phenomenon, having a thermostat downstairs and a thermostat upstairs, which are both programmed to control zones of your home, will improve your energy efficiency and the comfort inside your home.
If you’re uncertain whether or not you need zoning, ask yourself these questions:
-
Can you control the temperature in each room?
-
Is each room comfortable all the time?
-
Are there unoccupied rooms in your home that you cool or heat?
If you answered no, no, and yes, it’s time to set up zoning. To properly zone your home, you’ll need multiple thermostats and to program the times of day and temperature that those thermostats should condition the air in the part of your home.
If your Casselberry, Florida, home is in need of regular HVAC maintenance or you’ve noticed a problem with the placement of your thermostat, or just aren’t sure how to program your zoning, E.C. Waters is here to help. Give us a call at (407) 603-9144 to set up your appointment today.
Image provided by Shutterstock