Thermostats

Our house was built in 2004. Our thermostat looked like something from the '80s. I figured that was the reason why I had to set it to 80 degrees just to get a comfortable temperature and maintain it.

So when I asked my dad, a heating and air man, if he would help me install a new digital thermostat, he walked me through basic AC maintenance.

First we cleaned the coils on the outside unit. We removed grass, dirt and dead bugs that were clogging the air flow from the fan. We then went inside to tackle the thermostat.

The reason for the high setting was simpler than I thought: it was TV's fault. When we arranged the furniture in our living room, we naturally put the TV closest to the cable outlet, which just happened to be directly under the thermostat. My dad had me hold my hand at the wall behind the TV and feel the hot air coming from it. That hot air was tricking our thermostat into thinking it was much hotter than it really was.

We moved the TV about three feet to get it out of the thermostat's way, then worked on the digital thermostat. The wiring in the house works with any thermostat, as long as you get one that corresponds with your type of heating and air. He said ours was a heat pump with auxillary/emergency heat coils in the attic.

The thermostat is very exciting. It comes with three different four-stage schedules to save energy. You can set your schedule for weekdays, then one for Saturday and one for Sunday. Instead of maintaining a constant temperature while you're gone, this new thermostat will get the house exactly where you want it at a certain time each day.

Although it was a little intimidating to tackle such a technical project, I would recommend other homeowners consider installing programmable digital thermostats. I just happen to be lucky to have an electrician for a dad.