JGoodish
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JGoodish
Does anyone have quantified numbers for the savings a setback thermostat can produce in home heating/cooling bills?
I live in PA, which means that temperatures are hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Complicating our potential "savings" from a thermostat is that my wife and I work somewhat opposite hours, so there is usually someone at home most of the time (i.e. the house isn't empty every weekday from 8a-5p, etc.) So, our opportunity for setback savings would be when we are out on the weekends, or overnight when everyone is asleep. Electricity rate is approximately $0.11/kWH and we presently use an average of 837kWH per month for our approximately 2400sqft. home.
Given the fact that the house is usually not unoccupied for long stretches of time, I am skeptical of the savings that I will realize over shorter periods (such as a few hours to a day) several times per month. When we vacation a couple times a year, we do adjust it then, but usually forget when we're out for an afternoon or on a day trip (and would probably still forget even if we could adjust it remotely via an app).
I've considered the Nest or similar products, but neither my wife or I can tolerate a temperature swing of more than about 1 degree (her in the summer, me in the winter), and our thermostat is in the dining room, which gets almost no traffic even when we are home.
Not sure the investment in a "smarter" thermostat would be worth it for us, but maybe I'm missing something.
JKG
I live in PA, which means that temperatures are hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Complicating our potential "savings" from a thermostat is that my wife and I work somewhat opposite hours, so there is usually someone at home most of the time (i.e. the house isn't empty every weekday from 8a-5p, etc.) So, our opportunity for setback savings would be when we are out on the weekends, or overnight when everyone is asleep. Electricity rate is approximately $0.11/kWH and we presently use an average of 837kWH per month for our approximately 2400sqft. home.
Given the fact that the house is usually not unoccupied for long stretches of time, I am skeptical of the savings that I will realize over shorter periods (such as a few hours to a day) several times per month. When we vacation a couple times a year, we do adjust it then, but usually forget when we're out for an afternoon or on a day trip (and would probably still forget even if we could adjust it remotely via an app).
I've considered the Nest or similar products, but neither my wife or I can tolerate a temperature swing of more than about 1 degree (her in the summer, me in the winter), and our thermostat is in the dining room, which gets almost no traffic even when we are home.
Not sure the investment in a "smarter" thermostat would be worth it for us, but maybe I'm missing something.
JKG