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One of the biggest upgrades that’s being pushed in the HVAC industry is the introduction of the smart thermostat. These thermostats offer many great advantages for homeowners, with energy efficiency being one of the most important. If you’re still using a standard thermostat, it may be time to consider an upgrade.
C-Wire Considerations
One of the biggest concerns that you’ll need to have when determining if you can upgrade your thermostat to a smart one is whether or not your system has a C-wire. C stands for continuous, and it provides continuous power to the thermostat. Most of the newer HVAC systems will already have this wire installed. If your existing thermostat doesn’t have a C-wire, there are a couple of other options that you can use to help integrate your newer smart thermostat.
The first one is to have a professional install a new C-wire with your existing HVAC system. The second option is to opt to purchase a battery-powered smart thermostat that doesn’t require a C-wire to provide it with continuous power.
Non-Compatible Systems
There are a couple of different systems that aren’t directly compatible with a smart thermostat that you need to be aware of. The first is a line voltage system that uses 120 or 240 volts of power. This is very common for electric baseboard heaters. Unless you purchase a particular type of line voltage system that’s specifically designed to work with a smart thermostat, you can’t use one with this type of heating system.
The second type of system is a millivolt system which is very common with older gas boilers and fireplaces. In order to use a smart thermostat with these models, you’ll need to use a specialized adapter. It’s advisable to have one of our HVAC technicians install the adapter and smart thermostat for the best results.
Wi-Fi Compatibility
One of the biggest reasons that a lot of homeowners want to integrate a smart thermostat into their HVAC systems is so that they can control it from their smartphone and other smart home devices. To make this possible, you need to have Wi-Fi connectivity at your home. Your smart thermostat relies on this Wi-Fi connectivity in order to function with your other smart home devices. If you currently rely on a hardwire setup, you’ll need to upgrade to getting a Wi-Fi router to make the most of your new smart thermostat.
A Note About Heat Pumps
In selecting a smart thermostat when you have a heat pump in your home, there are a couple of things that you want to take into consideration. First, if your heat pump uses an auxiliary backup heating method, then you want to ensure that you have a smart thermostat that will support that particular backup mode. Second, you’ll need a smart thermostat that has the ability to switch between heating and cooling for the reversing valve of your heat pump. Traditional thermostats only have heat mode for your furnace and cooling for your air conditioning system.
Finding Compatibility Information
Before you purchase any new smart thermostat for your home, it’s a good idea to do a compatibility check ahead of time. This will save you from having to return an item that’s not going to work with your particular system. You can do a compatibility check through three different methods. First is to simply ask one of our HVAC professionals for a recommendation on what smart thermostat is going to work best with your particular HVAC system.
Another option is to check the compatibility online between your existing thermostat model and the new model that you want to purchase. These are known as online compatibility checkers and will allow you to compare different brands to confirm their compatibility before purchasing them.
Benefits of a Smart Thermostat
If you’re still on the fence about upgrading your old thermostat to a new smart thermostat, there are many great reasons to jump the gun and do it. One of the most important is that you can control your thermostat from the convenience of your smart home or smartphone devices. This can allow you to change the temperature setting when you’re not even at home so that it can be nice and comfortable when you arrive.
Another great advantage of smart thermostats is that they allow you to program in different settings depending on the time of the day or whatever day of the week it is. This can allow you to alter the temperature settings at times when you know you’re not going to be at home so that you can reduce the run time of your HVAC system. The less often your system runs, the more energy savings you’re going to enjoy.
One other notable benefit of upgrading to a smart thermostat is that it can have adaptable learning technology that will help to better fine-tune your settings for both energy savings and comfort. Some models will even do weather-based adjustments to help provide a more comfortable interior environment depending on the temperature outside. Smart thermostats can also make you eligible to receive incentives from your local utility company so you can recoup some of the upfront cost of purchasing one. Our heating and cooling services team can help you understand the options for incentives.
Tips on Choosing a Smart Thermostat
You want to make sure that your new smart thermostat is compatible with your existing setup. However, there are many other factors that you want to take into consideration when selecting the perfect one for your home. One of the first things you want to do is think about what you want to get out of the smart thermostat.
Are you looking for a model that will automatically learn your routine and make adjustments accordingly? Do you want to be able to integrate different sensors throughout your rooms so that your HVAC system can better fine-tune your indoor temperature? It can be helpful to make a list of all these special requests that you have for your smart thermostat. This is so that you know what you need to be looking for when you choose one.
Apart from certain features that you may want to have in your new smart thermostat, one other thing you want to take into consideration is its overall display screen. Some smart thermostats have very large display screens that are easy to see from across the room. Some have backlighting that helps to keep them illuminated for optimal viewing purposes. Others allow you to customize the home screen so that you can view the settings of your choice, like the relative humidity level and the temperature.
One other notable feature that you may want to look for is geofencing technology. This particular technology uses the location of your smartphone to help tell your heating or cooling system when to turn on to make sure that the temperature is where you want it to be when you arrive home.
Exceptional Thermostat Installation Service
Atticman Heating and Air Conditioning, Insulation offers exceptional thermostat installation service for the Sacramento, CA community. We can also assist with all your heating services needs as well as cooling repair, replacement, installation, and maintenance. Simply call our friendly team today to schedule your next service consultation.
