Top Recommended Thermostat Settings in the Summer

Top Recommended Thermostat Settings in the SummerYour family relies on your HVAC system to keep your home cool in the hottest months of summer. But if you want to keep your home cool without dramatically increasing your energy bill, you need to find the right thermostat temperatures.

That’s why we’ve put together this article. It covers the top-recommended thermostat settings in the summer so that you can make sure your home stays comfortable without breaking your budget.

The best thermostat settings when you’re home

The Department of Energy recommends keeping your home at 78 degrees Fahrenheit when you’re home. That level should be enough to keep you cool without spiking your energy usage.

The best thermostat settings when you’re away

When you’re away from home, you don’t have to keep it as cool since you’re not in it. You can save as much as 10% on cooling costs if you just turn your thermostat up 10 degrees whenever you leave home.

Tips to maximize cooling impact in your home

For some people, 78 degrees is still uncomfortably warm. But if you keep your home cooler throughout the day, your air conditioner won’t have to work as hard to reach 78 degrees.

When that happens, you can turn your temperature down a few degrees further without spiking your energy bill.

So with that in mind, here are the best strategies for maximizing the cooling impact of your HVAC unit this summer:

  • Hang up curtains that block sunlight and warmth from entering your rooms
  • Install fresh weatherstripping and caulking around your doors and windows
  • Add ceiling fans to your home to provide another source of cooling
  • Upgrade your old air conditioner for a more energy-efficient model

Finding the optimal temperature for your family

Experts say that, for most people, the optimal summer thermostat temperature is between 73 and 79 degrees. But that may or may not be true for your family.

If you want to find the ideal temperature for your home this summer, run this experiment:

  • Turn your thermostat to 81 degrees and see how your family reacts
  • Continue lowering the thermostat by 2 degrees every 4-8 hours during the day to see how your family reacts
  • Once they’ve stopped complaining about it being too hot, there’s a good chance that you’ve found the optimal temperature

Keep an eye on your humidity levels

High levels of humidity in your home can also make your family feel uncomfortable. In fact, on an 80-degree day, a home with 90% humidity will feel 6 degrees warmer than a home with a standard 40% humidity level.

That’s why you also want to be sure to keep an eye on the humidity levels in your home. If yours go up too much, it may be time to invest in a whole-house humidifier.

The importance of a programmable thermostat

Having a programmable thermostat is essential if you want to optimize your HVAC system this summer. These make it really easy to change the temperature in your home whenever you come and go from it.

With this capability, it becomes much easier to control your energy consumption. That way, you’ll be able to keep your home comfortable without breaking your budget.

You might even consider adding a zoning system to your home. These let you control the temperature in each “zone” of your house individually. That gives you even more control over your energy consumption this summer.

Northern Climate Control can help you maintain the perfect summer temperature

Northern Climate Control provides a wide variety of HVAC maintenance and repair services to residents of Littleton and the entire Denver Metro Area.

If you want to make sure that your summer thermostat settings are perfect, schedule an appointment with us today.  We can review your HVAC unit to make sure that you’re all set to have a comfortable home this summer.