Nest is an amazing thermostat that learns how you live and works to maximize your heating and cooling efficiency. Here are 5 ways you can lower your energy bills while keeping your home the perfect temperature all year round.
1. Don’t turn up your heat past your desired temperature.
Many people crank up their thermostat when they feel cold assuming the house will heat up quicker. This is not true. If your house is 21 degrees, turning the heat up to 29 will get it warm just as quickly as if you turned it up to 23 degrees. If you forget to reset the temp, your house will be overheated and you will spend extra money. You can set Nest’s Time to Temperature Feature to get a sense of how high or low to set the temperature. You might not really know if you want the house to be 23 or 24, but Nest will show you the difference between running the heat for fifteen minutes versus thirty.
2. Use your fan as little as possible. It’s more expensive than you think.
With forced air HVAC systems, a fan is used to circulate the air without cooling or heating it. While this is great for keeping your home comfortable, the average fan uses 500 watts to keep it running. To give you perspective, that is more than what most homes use for lighting. If you keep the fan running constantly for a single day, it will use as much energy as a typical air conditioner being ran for three hours straight.
3. When you’re out of the house use the Away feature to save energy.
Many Canadians waste energy during the winter by heating their homes while they are out. Nest can be set up to use Away temperatures to save energy and still have your home nice and warm when you get back. This is easy to set up and can be done when you install the unit, or anytime afterwards in Settings. To save the most energy all year long, set a low MIN temperature – this is the temperature your house will heat to when you are away during heating season. And choose a high MAX temperature to prevent your air conditioning from running when you’re away.
4. If you have multiple thermostats, set them individually.
With multiple thermostats you have control over different areas of your home. This gives you the ability to majorly economize your energy usage. During the winter months you can set the thermostat for the bedrooms lower and keep the rest of your living space higher to maximize your comfort and minimize your spending. Nest will learn to keep your bedrooms at an energy-saving lower temperature during the day.
5. Lower your thermostat by 1 degree.
Most people cannot tell the difference between a room at 24 degrees and 23 degrees. By lowering the temperature by just a single digit you can save a lot of energy.
For a limited time, Mckinnon is offering a free Nest Learning Thermostat with the purchase of any new furnace or boiler. If you’ve been putting off, getting your new equipment now is the time! Call Mckinnon today and get setup to handle the cold winter.