Harmful Habits to Your HVAC System: Thermostat Settings, FACTS

  1. Raising and lowering the thermostat significantly does not heat or cool the air faster
    • Unless you have Variable Air Volume (VAV), which would vary air flow to your system they only work at one speed. Lowering temperature below what you need or raising the temperature above what you need will only increase energy costs and not reduce the time to get to optimum temperature.
  2. Leaving your thermostat at the same setting can save money
    • Using programmable thermostats can save your business money. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, simply turning down your thermostat by 7º -10º for an 8-hour period can save your business as much as 10% a year in energy costs. Schedule the temperature to be lower in the winter and higher in the summer when the building is unoccupied and higher in the winter and lower in the summer when occupied. If you have older pneumatic thermostats it might be time to upgrade these to programmable ones so that the temperature can be controlled automatically throughout the day.
  3. Messing with your thermostat too much can cause problems
    • Constantly changing the set temperature on your thermostat causes your air conditioner and furnace and/or boiler to stop and start, which causes them to run inefficiently.