Thermostats are essential to maintain perfect temperature control of your installed HVAC system. They help you instantly regulate the temperature of your home and are programmable to your specific settings.
You should exercise a great deal of patience and consideration when choosing a thermostat. The best thermostats can last as long as your HVAC system, and investing in one is a bigger deal than most realize.
Luckily, in this section of the post, we’ll be going over various factors, considerations, and questions you might have about choosing a thermostat for your home.
What are the Different Types of Thermostats?
There are three major types of thermostats you can purchase on the market. These three types come with unique advantages and disadvantages that can impact your experience with them. It also affects their upfront cost, ease of use, as well as other factors.
Non-Programmable Thermostats
These are the most common thermostat you will find on the open market. As the name implies, they are non-adjustable, which means you have to set their temperatures manually. Each time you want to increase or decrease in temperature, you have to adjust them by hand.
Most non-programmable thermostats do not come with added features and benefits that make adjustments or use easier. However, a few of them do come with digital displays which immediately show temperature changes.
The biggest advantage of choosing a non-programmable thermostat is that it is cheaper than the other types of thermostats.
Programmable Thermostats
Programmable Thermostats are thermostats that can automatically change temperatures according to your preset instructions and settings. They are fairly easy to control and will automatically shift temperature at different times in the day. They can take as many as two to five commands, and you don't have to program them every day. Temperature presets could last weeks, if not months if you so wished.
Like non-programmable thermostats, they are also cheap and will last you years if your HVAC runs that long.
Smart/ WiFi Thermostats
They are a natural evolution from the programmable thermostat, and they are the most dynamic and useful of the three types. They are considerably more expensive than their counterparts and allow you to control the thermostat through the home WiFi. You can set temperature presets, remotely change your home temperature automatically switch on and off your heating systems, and so much more.
Smart Thermostats also come with dozens of smart features like voice commands and are also compatible with voice assistants like Alexa, etc.
What Factors Do I Need to Consider When Picking a Thermostat?
Aside from choosing what type of thermostat you’d prefer to have in your home, there are other factors you should consider before making your final decision.
What type of HVAC system are you Using?
Most residential homes run a simple 24V low-voltage power system that operates on gas and runs a furnace, air conditioner, heat pumps, and boilers.
If you have a non-residential residence, you might have a 240V or 110 Volt high-power HVAC system that includes an electric furnace and an electric baseboard, or a Millivolt power HVAC. The type of thermostat you use will be determined by your HVAC system.
Staged Cooling and Heating
Without going too much into the history of things, there are three types of heating and cooling stages furnaces can operate at. They are:
Single-stages systems
They are the most common type of furnace heating and staging system. The furnace runs at 100% capacity when it's activated or in use.
Two-Stage systems
Two-stage systems can operate at 65% and 100% of their maximum capacity when in use. They are naturally more efficient, and economic during drastic internal temperature changes. They are produced by most major thermostats and HVAC manufacturers.
Variable-capacity systems
These types of furnaces can flexibly operate between 40% and 100% of their maximum capacity. They are the most energy-efficient of the three types of thermostats, and the most flexible.
Depending on what heating and cooling stage your HVAC system uses, you will need a thermostat that matches. There are single, two-stages, and variable thermostats available for all three types of HVACs. And your replacement thermostat must match your HVAC, and it's easy enough to tell the difference.
Find out what type of heating system your current HVAC uses, and if you can't, check the wiring of your thermostats. Single-stage thermostats have one W or W1 wiring for heating and Y or Y1 for cooling. Two stages have two W wires and 2 Y wires, while variable thermostats are built with four wires. One for heating, another for heating, and two wires for power and communication.
Power supply
Thermostats can either be powered with batteries or a power cable attached to your current HVAC. Whatever thermostat you choose should reflect this. Do some research into each thermostat's power supply before you settle on one.
Should you Opt for More Smart Features?
For most people, smart thermostats are the obvious and most flexible choice. In conjunction with basic temperature adjustment, you can opt for several additional features on a smart thermostat.
- Weather forecast
- Display screen
- Geofencing
While all these features are great, they will not significantly impact your experience, and you should only get them if you feel they are important.
Do you need a Professional to Install your Thermostat?
Installing your thermostat should be easy enough to do without formal training. However, you're more than likely that you might run into some problems, especially if you're upgrading your current model.
You should be at no risk of an electric shock or so catastrophic furnace failure, and you can do it yourself if you are patient enough to figure it out. However, if you want to take no risks, hire a professional to do it for you.
Can I customize my thermostat?
Most manufacturers offer users a lot of customization options when they're choosing their thermostats. They can select what color, size, and material suits them best. They can also choose display color, or select what design styles they prefer best.
FAQs
Do I really need a smart thermostat?
No, you do not. Unless you have a very versatile lifestyle or very specific needs, you don't need a smart thermostat.
Can I install my thermostat myself?
Yes, you can. Though you will need basic electrical knowledge, and a general understanding of thermostats, and how they work.
How to tell if your thermostat is bad?
If your thermostat does not come on after being plugged into a power source or is unresponsive to your commands, then it might have a fault. If its digital display also malfunctions or stop working, it is also another sign that it is faulty.