Just realized my thermostat schedule was wrecking my energy savings

I had my AC set to drop to 68 at 5pm when I got home, but that spike made my unit run nonstop for 2 hours. Fixed it by setting a gradual 2 degree bump every hour starting at 3pm, and my bill dropped $45 last month. Anyone else tweak their programming and see a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthewmartin1mo ago

Did you do a load calc first or just wing it? I messed with my schedule last summer and ended up freezing my pipes in July because I overcorrected and the thing ran during peak humidity.

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ray_campbell461mo ago

That "froze my pipes in July" line really jumped out at me, Matthew. It's such a perfect example of how we tend to overcorrect one problem and just create a fresh one. I think that's a bigger pattern in everyday life, not just with thermostats. People swing way too far in the opposite direction trying to fix something, and they end up in a worse spot than where they started. It's like trying to get your car perfectly straight on the road by yanking the wheel back and forth instead of just making small, steady adjustments.