Calling anyone with a programmable thermostat

[BoogasMom]

Are they worth it? I keep hearing from people that it's actually more economical to keep our regular thermostat and don't move the temperature up and down....but they are the people who have regular thermostats and NO experience with a programmable one.

Those of you with a programmable one....does it really save you on your electric bill? Is it worth it to convert to one?

 

[lisaross]

I'm sure it saves us money...Its very convenient if u are not home the same time pretty much each day...this is how i do mine:

5:30a - 71 degrees

9:00a - 67 degrees (as 3 days a week i'm at work - if i'm home and it gets cold, i can manually increase it.

2:00p - 71 degrees

11:00p - 64 degrees

 

[snowywhite89]

Are they worth it? I keep hearing from people that it's actually more economical to keep our regular thermostat and don't move the temperature up and down....but they are the people who have regular thermostats and NO experience with a programmable one.

Those of you with a programmable one....does it really save you on your electric bill? Is it worth it to convert to one?

A programmable is the way to go. We put ours in the day we moved into the house. Last year DH changed the thermostats at my GF's house. We programmed them for her the way she wanted. She has electric baseboard heat. Her first electric bill went way down.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

I think it depends on your schedule. When we first had ours, it was great. But now our schedule is so erratic that programming it just doesn't work--it is always being manually over-rided. (over-ridden? whatever!) If your schedule is consistent week-to-week, I do think it is a good investment.

I'm sure it doesn't help that the weather in Houston is also so erratic this time of year.

 

[JCMHutch]

Ours is great and we did notice a difference in our heating bill. We bought ours last year when Keyspan was doing a $25 rebate for them. During the week we set ours:

6-7 am 69 degrees
7am-5pm 64 degrees
5-8pm 69 degree
8pm 64 degrees

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Yes!!!!

We loved ours in our old house and I cannot wait to replace it in our new house. I like having the temperature self adjust at certain times a day instead of me going to change it.

Here with heat--it would be especially helpful!

 

[Joyful3Heart]

We love ours! We have what's called a 5-1-1 thermostat so that we can program M-F and then each weekend day separately according to our schedules. There is nothing better than that heat kicking on right when your alarm goes off in the morning, ahhh...It definitely has cut down on our heating bill!

 

[Soben]

We love ours! It came with the house, so I can't give a before and after number. We go down to 59 at night! And we don't notice it (unless you wake up for a sick kid or something-brrrr) Try a few degrees and keep going down. We wouldn't be able to go so low if we had to get up in the morning and turn the heat back up.

 

[sevans89]

We had our installed the same day we had our furnace replaced. So, I don't know if it saves us any money, but it sure does save time and aggravation. I can't tell you how many times I've crawled into bed, got all nice and warm and comfy, and realized I'd forgotten to turn down the thermostat. So, It's worth it to me for the convenience. Having the house nice and warm when I get up is very nice too.

 

[Dominus]

If you're a working family with an empty house part of the day it is for sure worth it. If there's someone home at all times, it's likely less worth it. We're a working family and set the thermostat at about 79 when the house is empty, it doesn't take too long to cool it down to the more comfy 74 when we get home. Winter (yeah right in Houston, I know) we'll set it at 60 when we're out. You can also have it set differently for the weekends when you're most likely at home in the middle of the day. You can also bypass the settings and put a temp on "hold". We do that for vacations. If we're outta town for a week during summer, we'll set the thermo up to about 84. It's better for you're house than turning your system off, and it's better for your wallet. Hope that helps.

 

[PHXscuba]

We have a "time of day" electricity plan that adjusts our electric rates based on the peak times of day (like 1-8 p.m. in the summer is peak). So I have it set to heat or cool based on these times. I would never be able to manage it without a programmable thermostat. Plus we have an upstairs unit and a downstairs one, so I don't have to run up and down stairs to readjust them at different times of day.

Also, having a preset eliminates the arguments over moving it up and down all the time when someone thinks they are cold or hot.

Our summer A/C bills here in Arizona are outrageous, so anything I can do to offset them is a big savings. I think unless you plan to move from your home soon, the minor cost of installing one will probably pay for itself.

PHXscuba

 

[cole6179]

Ours helped. We had a regular and switched to programmable. It malfunctioned one winter and we switched back to the regular. I could really tell there had been a difference in our bills. We just put a programmable one back up last month to prepare for this winter.

 

[LisaNJ25]

We just put our in a few days ago. I still have to program it. For me its hard because I babysit in my home so someone is home all day. I want to set it for lower at night and than turning on in the morning before we get up.

 

[amsafko]

I agree that they are worth it. We moved into our home 3 years ago. We were so busy my dh didn't get around to put in the programmable (we had them in our previous house and loved them). Well after a huge heating bill that month, we put them in and decreased our bill by $200 by the next month. But I do think if you are home a lot then it might not make as much of a difference.

 

[mrodgers]

Our quick story....

Had an analog thermostat (little lever to set the temp) when we moved in. One day we were in a hurry to head out the door. Thermostat is right next to the closet where the jackets are. Can you see where this is going?

Came home and furnace was chugging away while it was 98 degrees in the house! Yup, someone whipped their arms into their jacket and in doing so, the sleeve wacked the temperature control the whole way up.

There is someone in the house at all times. I work day and my wife works evenings. It's just left on at 67 all the time. It's freezing cold in the bedrooms, so we can't really turn it down at night because it would be way too cold. But since swapping out the old thermostat to a digital, the temperature swings when the furnace runs is much narrower.

 

[msmama]

Someone once told me that there's something like 60 cents/day difference in keeping your house at 65 degrees vs 69 degrees.

So...savings will add up over time even if you don't see it immediately.

Also, I had an "energy audit" done on my house and they said that the VERY FIRST/BEST thing you should do is to install a programmable heater.