Recommended Thermostat Settings

How to Balance Comfort and Energy Savings, Winter Through Summer

While ideal in-home temperatures can be subjective and may fluctuate somewhat from winter to summer, a commonly accepted baseline is as follows:

• 20-22 Degrees Celsius – When at home
• 18-19 Degrees Celsius – When sleeping
• 17-18 Degrees Celsius – When away from home

Even if all occupants of a home were to agree on these baseline temperatures, achieving the ideal temperature for your indoor heating and cooling system is not necessarily as simple as setting a number on the thermostat and walking away.

There are several factors to consider when it comes to balancing your comfort and energy usage.  Here are a few tips and tricks on how to achieve the perfect settings for your thermostat in the winter months and summer months.

Programmable Thermostats & Multi-Zone HVAC Systems

Unless you live on your own, you’ve undoubtedly experienced thermostat tug-o-war.  The wife likes one temperature, the husband prefers another and even if you find a middle ground, it all turns upside down the second the kids come home soaked and frozen from playing soccer in an early November downpour.

Investing in a smart thermostat in conjunction with a Multi-Zone HVAC system is an excellent option, particularly for larger family homes.  This powerful combo can provide opportunities for automation that will help you program your heating and cooling to suit a broad range of comfort levels, while boosting energy efficiency and reducing your energy bills.

For the majority of HVAC systems, a programmable thermostat can be used to automatically adjust the temperature throughout your home.  You can set different temperatures for different zones in your house and at different times of day depending on your activities.

Is the family at work and at school between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm on weekdays?  Set your thermostat to a cooler temperature while you’re out and program it to bump back up 30 minutes before you’re scheduled to arrive home for the best in comfort, convenience and savings!  

Does your open concept kitchen-family room run a little warmer during the evenings when you’re cooking, but the basement rec room always has a bit of a chill?  Set your thermostat to heat each of these zones according to your family’s varied comfort levels and there will be no more tug-o-war!

If you have ductless heat pumps throughout your home (versus a centralized system), you can achieve similar results by setting each of your internal units accordingly.  

HVAC Maintenance is a Must for Efficient & Effective Energy Control

You’ve invested in the best smart thermostat and most advanced multi-zone HVAC system on the market. For the first year it worked brilliantly, but lately, it doesn’t seem to be operating as effectively and your once modest heating and cooling costs seem to be inching back up.  Sound familiar?  

Chances are your HVAC system is in need of a little cleaning and maintenance. There are a few routine maintenance practices you can adopt to help keep your HVAC running like new:

• Replace your air filter every 30-90 days
• Ensure household furniture and other objects are not blocking air vents
• Check on your outdoor heating and cooling unit from time to time to ensure shrubbery and debris are not blocking flow
• Even if you’re completely up-to-date on your DIY maintenance, it’s always a good idea to book a maintenance visit with your HVAC service provider – we recommend biannually in the Fall and the Spring before peak heating and cooling seasons 

For more detailed information on how to care for your HVAC system, check out our ultimate fall and winter HVAC maintenance checklist.

Gradually Adjust Baseline Temperatures Throughout the Seasons

When the first winter cold snap or the start of a summer heat wave hits, it’s natural to blast the heating or cooling to achieve more moderate mid-season temperatures we’re used to.  The great news is that us humans tend to be pretty adaptive, and it doesn’t take long for our bodies to adjust to the temperature changes from season to season.

Once we start to acclimatize to the seasonal temperatures, there’s an opportunity for additional energy savings and cost savings by adjusting our home’s indoor temperature incrementally by 1 degree each week.  For example, when the winter cold front first hits, we might be inclined to bump our thermostats up to 23 or even 24 degrees to fight off those chills. 

As our bodies begin to adjust to the cold weather – and we get a little smarter about layering up before going outside – we can slowly start lowering our inside temperature back down towards the 20-degree range.  A similar process happens during those hot summer months, only in reverse.  According to Energy Star, that weekly 1-degree adjustment in temperature setting can translate to a 1-2% savings over time!

Humidity in your Home Significantly Impacts Temperature

Temperature and humidity go hand-in-hand and ensuring these two elements work together can be tricky. Our wet coastal climate as well as other environmental factors including in-home ventilation, insulation and temperature control can all impact the humidity levels in your home.

Just as there is a widely accepted baseline for setting your in-home thermostat temperatures, there are also guidelines for indoor humidity.  It is said that 30-50% humidity is optimal for maintaining our overall health and comfort. It only takes between 1 and 3 litres of water to raise indoor humidity levels from 15% to 60% in a 1,000 square foot home.  That’s a 45% increase in humidity that’s created just by boiling a pot of water.

Managing indoor humidity levels is an important piece of maintaining a consistent and comfortable temperature at home. Not sure how? We’ve got some great information for you about increasing and decreasing humidity in your home. 

Upgrade Your HVAC or Thermostat with Lockhart Industries

Whatever your family’s season-to-season temperature preferences are, we invite you to reach out to Lockhart Industries.  Our service technicians can review your existing HVAC system to ensure it’s operating at maximum efficiency or provide you with an obligation-free assessment and quote for heating and cooling solutions that might better suit your climate control needs. 

Ensuring your HVAC system is operating effectively and is the correct fit for your home, will help you save significantly on your energy bills. Don’t forget, if you’re in need of an upgrade, you may be eligible for a rebate.  Contact us today for more information.