Choosing a Thermostat For Your Heating and Cooling Needs

There are many different systems for providing heat and air conditioning for your home. Choosing the thermostat that controls the functions of these systems is an important decision that will impact the way you regulate the heating and cooling in your home.

You may wish to have programmable options on your thermostat that will allow you to punch in different commands for different times of day. Modern and more expensive thermostats use touch screen technology for easy programming. Generally, most of today's thermostats have a digital panel that is easy to read. The older, mercury based thermostats are less expensive and are still used today, especially in older systems.

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Programmable thermostats are very cost efficient and enable you to set the temperature for differently for different days of the week. Some programmable thermostats allow a different setting for each of the 7 days of the week, while others can be programmed for 5 + 1 + 1, running a separate program on the two additional days. Other programmable systems are 5 + 2; the two extra days programmed the same.

They type of furnace and air conditioner you have will determine the type of thermostat that is right for your house. Determine the type of heating and cooling system you have before you decide on a thermostat. If you have a single stage (or one level) of heat output, or a gas furnace and an electric air conditioner, you should have 6 wires that will need to be connected to a thermostat. This type of heating and cooling is the most common.

Some homes have multi-stage heating and cooling, like a furnace and a solar heating panel. This type of system distributes heat more evenly and has an emergency heat setting, using the secondary source of heat in case the gas is out or the oil runs out.

Heat pumps are a single system that does both heating and cooling. It eliminates the need to have both a furnace and an air conditioner because a heat pump can perform both functions. In multi-stage units, a heat pump is used as an emergency backup because it can produce heat quickly and efficiently. If you have a heat pump, you'll most likely have 5 wires that will be needed to connect to a wall-based thermostat.

There are also Line Voltage Direct Current Electric Heat, 120 or 240 Volts, Single Pole or Double Pole One units.

After you've discovered what type of system you have, you can decide on programmable or manual, digital or not. Deciding on what features you need can be confusing, so a professional heating and cooling company can help you decide what type of thermostat would best suit your household needs.

Choosing a Thermostat For Your Heating and Cooling Needs

Mr. Oliver is a marketing agent of Arundel Cooling and Heating. The HVAC service and repair specialists provide new installation, repair, and supplies to residential heating and cooling systems throughout the Baltimore Maryland area. For more information on their HVAC Service Maryland please visit their website.

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