Are Smart Thermostats Worth It?
Now you’ve probably seen or heard of smart thermostats in the home and thought “I don’t need that, mine works just fine!” You’ve heard they save on money and energy, but you’ve never really dug deeper to find the real hidden benefits and assessed if this was the right fit for your lifestyle and home.
Speaking of saved money and energy, let’s look at some numbers for some perspective. You have probably heard of the “Nest” thermostats as they have shown increasing popularity throughout the years, and for a reason; consistent numbers across the nation. According to Nest Labs, the average household saves about 10-12% on heating, 15% on cooling and about $131-$145 in costs annually. Along with the rest of their smart home systems, Elan has provided a smart thermostat solution that you can seamlessly integrate into your existing home system. Nest and Elan are our go-to for smart thermostat systems.
You’re probably wondering what exactly is a smart thermostat? A smart thermostat is a system that is beyond the standard old regular thermostat that allows you to change the temperature via the control panel. A smart thermostat system connects and communicates to your home and the environment simultaneously and allows you to create automatic or programmable temperature settings or schedules based on weather conditions and your overall daily lifestyle preferences.
Pre-Installation Considerations
So you’ve decided to invest in a smart thermostat, but you’ll need to consider a few things before installing. The first is to check for wiring compatibility. You want to make sure that your HVAC and electrical systems are compatible with your new smart thermostat. Popular smart thermostat brands like Nest, Honeywell, and Ecobee have compatibility checkers online to ensure that you’ll be able to install hassle-free. Since most smart thermostats work with low voltage 24V systems, it is crucial to identify your voltage. With Elan thermostats, setups are a breeze. As soon as you power your thermostat, the Elan Discovery feature simply scans your network, whether wired or wireless, and automatically configures your SSID thermostat broadcast. This eliminates the presence of a secondary application to set up your device, saving you time and money.
Control While You Are Away
Smart thermostats allow you to control the temperature of your home while you are away. You’ll be able to access the system through a smartphone, tablet, or laptop/desktop device. Another amazing feature, while homeowners are away, is that the system senses when you are away or when no one is home and intuitively turns down the temperature to save you energy and money on a setting called Eco Temperature on Nest. Since you’ll be able to control the system from your phone, you can modify the temperature on the way home for a warm welcome. With Elan and Nest, you’ll have remote access to your system that allows you to heat and cool efficiently. This is the perfect solution if you are ever on vacation or away from home longer than expected.
Personalized To Each Room
Nest’s smart technology allows your thermostat to automatically adjust the temperature for each room. For example, if your living room that hosts big bay windows that draw in more heat, tends to be warmer than the rest of the house, your thermostat will automatically adjust the temperature setting to be cooler than other rooms. As stated before, it will recognize the temperature of the room and adapt to the most optimal temperature setting. If you prefer your own settings, no worries, the thermostat allows you to set your own temperature preferences for each room as well.
Easing Your Daily Schedule
The thermostat will adjust and accommodate accordingly to your daily schedule. For example, you can input the time you wake up in the system and it’ll slowly wake you in the morning by raising the heat slightly for a cozy morning wake up call. That sounds a whole lot better than the ringtone of your alarm clock you’ve learned to hate. Just like your morning routine, it’ll adjust to your nighttime schedule by setting cooler temperatures throughout your room as soon as you lay down in your bed. With Elan, temperature control can be managed by schedules you create tied to house modes or manually controlled your system based on time. Up to ten schedules can be created and found in your system modes. They even have a variety of different fan modes for cooling down, such as Automatic, Continous or Circulate.
Safety Alerts and Monitoring Usage
Not only will smart thermostats intuitively control the temperature, but will send you safety alerts and filter reminders. For example, it will notify you if your home is reaching intense temperatures; high or low. It will also keep you updated on the state of your air filters in order for your system to run smoothly and efficiently. On top of these alerts, you’ll be able to see a detailed outline of your usage through Energy History. Both Elan and Nest provide a detailed history of your energy consumption. Looking at your usage allows you to change schedules accordingly and a few degrees here and there to save even more energy, time, and money. Elan thermostats allow you to monitor outside temperature and are displayed in real-time and on previous cycles in your Energy History Viewer.
By: Curt Hubner
