The Best Settings for Your Thermostat When You're Away

From a tropical vacation or an extended trip for work, leaving home means making plans for your heating and cooling system. You can't use it if you’re not home, so you can adjust the temperature as needed to limit your energy use. Simultaneously, you don’t want to just turn it off for the entire duration of your trip.

In general, it’s ideal to leave your HVAC system on and just make adjustments depending on whether it's winter or summer. That way you can reduce energy costs without having to worry about coming back to an uncomfortable home. We’ll walk you through why you should avoid turning your HVAC system off as well as the ideal thermostat settings for summer and winter.

This Is Why You Shouldn’t Leave Your Thermostat on Hold

While you might be wanting to leave your HVAC system off before a trip, this will sometimes end up causing annoying problems by the time you get back. This is particularly true if the weather will be severely hot or cold while you’re away from home.

For example, shutting the HVAC system off in the summer can lead to very high humidity. Not only will your home feel like a swamp when you return, but it might have also invited mold/mildew growth or pest infestations.

And during the winter, leaving the furnace off might lead to pipes freezing or even bursting. It’s never fun to return home from a nice trip only to come across considerable water damage close to a broken pipe.

Energy-Efficient Thermostat Settings While at Work

You can adjust the temperature even when you're just going to work. Since you’re away for around 8 hours or so, it doesn’t seem sensible to keep an empty home at the same temperature you’d usually have. As a general rule, it’s encouraged to adjust the thermostat by 5 degrees or so. That means that if you prefer a comfortable 72 degrees, try increasing it to 76-77 while you’re gone.

But you can save even more if you try further adjustments to the temperature. According to the Department of Energy, you may save nearly 10% on your HVAC costs by increasing the adjustment to 7-10 degrees.

Energy-Efficient Thermostat Settings While on Vacation in Summer

If you leave for a lengthier trip in the heart of summer, you can make more significant adjustments. This ensures you don’t waste energy while still protecting your home from the problems that come with leaving it without air conditioning. About 5 degrees is recommended for shorter trips while around 10 degrees is best if you’ll be out of town for 2 weeks or more. If you enjoy keeping the house at 72 in the summer, 78-82 can offer beneficial results.

Ideal Thermostat Settings While On a Trip in Winter

To figure out the ideal thermostat setting for a winter getaway, simply lower it by the same amount you would increase it in summer. 68 is a frequent winter thermostat setting, so turning it down to 63-58 will protect your plumbing while minimizing how frequently your furnace runs.

Smart Thermostats Are Even Better: Benefits of a Smart Thermostat

One of the best ways to optimize your home’s HVAC system while out of the house is by investing in a smart thermostat. This advanced type of programmable thermostat utilizes intelligent software to understand your preferred comfort habits. It learns these preferences and makes automatic adjustments to the schedule for better energy efficiency. And with Wi-Fi compatibility, you can remotely adjust your HVAC system using a smartphone or tablet.

Smart thermostats are stuffed with features to help you save on your energy bill. For instance, certain models can observe electricity prices to boost heating or cooling when prices are lower. They are compatible with high-efficiency, variable-speed equipment to optimize how long your HVAC system should run. It’s the optimal tool to simplify how you use your comfort system. If you’re planning on investing in a smart thermostat, there are multiple ways you can reduce your costs, essentially getting a smart thermostat for free. The next time you leave for vacation, you can receive true peace of mind that your HVAC system won’t cause any trouble while you’re away from home.