Do Programmable Thermostats Save You Money?

Here at My Energy, we work dutifully to provide you ways of saving money on your energy bills. Of course, our main priority is to help you save money by switching supplier, but it’s not the only way we can provide assistance.

In this article, we will be plying our knowledge of energy management systems to your heating, and answering a question that many people are curious about: do programmable thermostats save you money?

What does a programmable thermostat do?

A general room thermostat is designed to keep air temperature in a room at an optimal level, usually somewhere between 18 and 21 degrees (though they may vary from 10 to 30 degrees on the monitor). To maximise the efficiency of a programmable thermostat, the flow of air must not be interrupted, which means leaving interior doors open, and not blocking radiators with furniture, covers or curtains.

Thermostatic radiator valves

These are a bit different to programmable thermostats, so we just wanted to mention them to avoid any confusion. TRVs are fitted to the radiators to reduce the volume of water that enters the radiator, meaning you can control each room separately. These are a great way to save money, as they mean you don’t have to send heat to a room that doesn’t need it.

Do programmable thermostats save you money and time?

Yes, they do! Timers allow you to programme your boiler to turn on and off at regular times, meaning you can get it to warm up just before you arrive home from work, and turn off after you leave. The added benefit of arriving in a pre-warmed house is that you don’t have to stand around in the cold watching your clock, and waiting for heat.

The perfect way to set up your boiler is actually to do exactly this: enter your cold home, turn your heating on, and time how long it takes to get to a temperature you like. Measure both the temperature, and the time it took to get there, and then set your timer for this long before you arrive home, or wake up. You can do the same for the cool down time, so that instead of your boiler turning off when you leave, it can turn off before, and you can enjoy the warmth during the cool down time.

If you are interested in knowing ‘Do programmable thermostats save you money?’ try this technique, and see for yourself.

Smart thermostats

Now imagine all of those benefits of timers, but imagine you could control it all from your mobile phone, so that you aren’t inconvenienced if your finish work later than expected. That is what Smart thermostats allow you to do.

How much can you save on your energy bills?

Depending on the warm up and cool down times of your boiler, being able to time it to your convenience could save you up to 30% on your heating bills. This is a huge figure when you see it in real terms. What’s important to note is that the bigger the difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures, the more potential there is for saving. Be careful not to micromanage your thermostat though, regularly changing temperatures will cost you!

Conclusion

Do programmable thermostats save you money? We believe that they do. Due to the British climate, it’s definitely worth intelligently using a programmable thermostat in the winter, and trying to minimise heating usage in the summer, which can combine to create a total savings of up to £290 a year from our estimates.