What Thermostat Settings Should You Use When Your House is Empty?

Most people know that the lower you set your thermostat during summer, the more energy your air conditioner will use. That’s why one of the best ways to lower your home’s monthly cooling bills is to raise the temperature setting on your thermostat.

There are certain times of the day when raising your thermostat setting is more convenient than others, and one of the best times to do it is when nobody is home. We want to help you take advantage of this fact, so today we’re going to talk about what thermostat settings to use when your house is empty!

When your house is empty, it’s an ideal time to save energy

As we mentioned above, there are certain times of the day when it’s easier to save energy than others. When your house is empty, there is nobody there to feel how warm your home actually is. So by using a higher-than-normal thermostat setting when your home is unoccupied, you can save energy without anybody in your family complaining that it’s too warm.

What thermostat settings should you use when your house is empty?

The actual settings that you should use when your house is empty depends on a few different factors. First and foremost, the temperature setting that you choose should be relative to the setting that you use when your home is not empty.

For the best results, we recommend raising your thermostat setting by about five degrees more than your at-home temperature when your house is empty.

You might be tempted to raise your thermostat setting much higher than 5 degrees when your house is empty in order to maximize your energy savings. The problem with doing so is that it costs energy to cool your home back down when you get back home. If you raise your thermostat setting by 10 or 15 degrees before you leave the house, for example, it will actually cost more energy to cool your home back down to a normal temperature than the amount of energy you would have saved by using such high settings.

Five degrees tends to be a happy medium between saving energy and cooling your home back down in an efficient manner.

One caveat to this rule is when your house will be empty for an extended period of time, such as when you go on vacation. During those times, it’s safe to raise your thermostat by about 10 degrees before you leave. That’s because you’ll accumulate energy savings for multiple days in a row, which will outweigh the cost of cooling your home back down when you return from vacation.

As a final note, you should never turn your air conditioner completely off when you leave the house.

If you do, the temperatures in your home will get extremely high, which is dangerous for pets and can damage your furniture and appliances like your refrigerator, not to mention the fact that it will take a huge amount of energy to cool your home back down when you return.

Install a programmable thermostat to simplify your empty house settings

The easiest way to save energy when your house is empty is to install a programmable thermostat. With a programmable thermostat, you can program in the times of day that your house is typically empty, and the thermostat will adjust your temperature settings automatically so that you don’t even have to think about it. In addition, a programmable thermostat can begin to cool your home back down before you actually return, so your home’s temperature will be perfectly comfortable the moment you step through the door.

If you have any questions about what thermostat settings to use when your house is empty, or if you’d like a cooling system serviced or installed in your home, contact Hydes, your Indio, CA, air conditioning contractor.