You may have run your air conditioner for the last time in 2024, but your need for home heating is likely increasing. How do you keep your winter energy bill from taking the joy out of a warm house?
You could install a more efficient home heating source, like a heat pump, but you can start smaller. Selecting the thermostat setting that balances comfort and cost can keep your winter warm and affordable. Here are expert recommendations and how you can find your ideal temperature.
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The Cost of Heating and Cooling Your Home
Heating and cooling make up 51% of the energy costs in the average American household, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Heating on its own makes up 43% and is a larger portion for single-family homes.
That means simple changes could deliver big savings. According to the US Department of Energy, shifting your thermostat setting seven to ten degrees for eight hours a day can shave 10% off your heating and cooling bills. (American homeowners pay $29 billion annually just for air conditioning.)
Recommended Thermostat Settings for Winter
In the colder months, a winter thermostat setting of 68° F should be comfortable for you, your children, and your pets when you are at home and awake. You can then set it lower — say, 63-65° F — while you sleep to save even more.
To stay warm in the house after setting your temperature to 68° F, make sure to dress warmly. (It is winter, after all!) By lowering your thermostat by 10-15° F for eight hours, you can reduce your heating bill by 5-15%, a savings of roughly 1% for each degree.
Heat pumps and winter thermostat settings
If you have a heat pump, you may need to treat your thermostat differently in the winter.
When heat pumps need to heat up a house quickly, they use backup electric heat strips, which are less efficient. Any electricity you save by adjusting your thermostat won’t make up for the extra electricity used when you adjust it back. Heat pumps are typically most efficient adjustments of only a couple of degrees.
In the summer, heat pumps act just like air conditioners, so adjusting your thermostat can still save you energy overall.
Recommended Thermostat Settings for Summer
Yes, people want the best possible summer thermostat settings, especially on the hottest days. The challenge is to find the temperature that helps you stay comfortable, save energy, and save money.
We recommend setting your thermostat to 78° F when you are home. While this might make your house a little warmer than you're used to, it will help reduce the cost of your energy bill significantly.
Additionally, keeping your house even warmer when you’re away for more than four hours will help you save even more in summer. Crank your thermostat setting for summer up to 85-88° F while you’re out of the house to help you save as much as 10% on cooling costs.
Recommended Thermostat Settings for Spring and Fall
Managing your thermostat can be a little trickier in the spring and fall. Because the weather tends to be unpredictable with large temperature swings, you may need both heating and cooling and need to set both an upper and lower limit on your programmable thermostat for heating or air conditioning. In contrast, you only have to set a lower limit for your heater during the winter while you set a higher limit for your AC in summer.
We recommend the following as the best thermostat settings:
- For warmer times, set your thermostat at 78° F during daytime. Set it to 86° F if you leave the house.
- For cooler times, set your thermostat to 68° F while you’re at home and awake. Lower it to 65° F when you sleep. If you leave the house, lower it further to 60° F.
The best thermostat settings for spring and fall typically require you to place your thermostat on “Auto” mode and set a desired temperature. You then set the "deadband" which is the range above and below that temperature where it doesn't run the HVAC.
For example, if you want to cool your house when it’s above 78° F, and heat it when it’s below 68° F, you would set the thermostat to 73° F, and set the deadband to 10° F. Many modern thermostats let you set upper and lower limits without doing the math.
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Recommended Thermostat Settings for Sleeping
Getting a good night's sleep is important for everyone. The benefits can enhance your life: improved productivity, reduced risk of heart diseases, and improved immune function, just to name a few. Luckily, you can adjust your thermostat to ensure a good night's rest.
Sleep doctors recommend different settings for hot and cold times of the year. The temperature of your home can dramatically impact the quality of your sleep, as your body will wake itself up if it’s too hot or too cold.
Thus, we recommend the following as the best thermostat settings for bedtime.
- 65° F in winter
- 78° F in summer
- 65° F when it’s cool and 78° F when it’s warm during spring and fall
Just like our earlier recommendations for spring and fall, you need to account for larger temperature shifts during warm and cool days.
With these settings, you save money by not running your HVAC system as much, and you might actually get better sleep as an added bonus.
How to Discover Your Personal Thermostat Settings
Like we said, everyone has an opinion on the best thermostat setting and different people will be comfortable at different temperatures. If our recommendations don’t work for you, there’s still an easy way to determine your own ideal thermostat settings.
The best approach is to start by setting your thermostat to the temperature you use most often. From there, adjust it towards our recommended seasonal settings one degree each day until it truly feels uncomfortable. Then adjust it back one degree. This will be the setting that will help you save on your electricity bills while still keeping your house comfortable.
By adjusting your thermostat one degree each day, you give your body time to adjust to the new temperature. You might find that you can actually live with a temperature that’s closer to the energy-saving recommendation, compared to shocking your system if you make a large change all at once.
Other Ways to Save on Heating and Cooling
There are a few more things you can do to cut your heating and cooling bill
Adjust the temperature when you leave the house
Now that you know how to save money with the best thermostat settings while you’re at home, here’s how to save even more money when you’re away from home. For the best results, we recommend the "8 is Great" rule.
Adjust your temperature by 8 degrees when you know you’re leaving the house for at least four hours.
For example, if your thermostat is set at 78° F while at home during the summer, adjust it to 86° F before heading out.
Use ceiling fans to save even more
Installing energy-efficient ceiling fans around the house is a great way to use less energy with your summer thermostat settings without sacrificing your comfort. A fan will make you feel cooler during warm days as the air flowing across your skin creates a wind-chill effect.
When fans are running, you can raise your thermostat setting by 3-4° F and be just as comfortable. However, fans only cool you when you’re in the same room, so turn them off when you leave a room to save even more money.
Fans are also a great option to help you save money in the winter. Many fans can run in reverse and blow air upward, pushing the warm air near the top of the room down to you near ground level. This keeps the entire room at a more consistent temperature.
By improving heat distribution, fans let your heater run less while keeping your home at the ideal temperature. However, to get the most out of your ceiling fans during winter, don't let them run continuously when you're not in the room.
How Smart Thermostats Can Save You Money
All that sounds easy, but you’ll never benefit from those savings if you don’t remember to make those changes.
With a programmable thermostat, you can just set the times and temperature settings you want and never think about it ever again. It’s especially helpful if you leave home for school or work on the same schedule every day. It will ensure that your home returns to your preferred thermostat settings before you get back home for the day.
If you install a smart thermostat with a smartphone app, you can make adjustments with ease. Forgot to change the thermostat setting before you left home? Just open the app and make the change from wherever you are.
If your smart thermostat comes with geo-tracking technology, it automatically recognizes when everyone has left home and adjusts the temperature accordingly. And, it will detect when you’re returning home and heat or cool your house so it’s comfortable when you walk in the door.
Common mistakes when setting your thermostat
Before you crank your heater or air conditioner, consider what else you can do. Can you open a window, put on or take off a sweater or turn on a fan to stay comfortable? It can take much less energy to heat or cool a room or a person than a whole house.
And, don’t sacrifice your well-being or your home’s integrity to save a few dollars. If you can’t sleep at a money-saving thermostat setting, it might not be worth feeling poorly all season long. If you can save money by not heating a poorly insulated part of your house, you might want to anyway if it means your pipes won’t freeze.
Heat and Cool Your Home for Less With Solar
By using these recommended thermostat settings, you can lower your heating and cooling costs all year long. However, you can save even more by going solar. When you install solar panels and run your HVAC system — especially an energy efficient heat pump — off solar power, you can reduce your electricity bills even further while also lowering your carbon footprint.
To find out how much you would save with a home solar panel system, get started with a free solar savings estimate. When you request more information about rooftop solar for your home, we will put you in touch with a Palmetto solar expert in your area who can review your system design in more detail, and answer any questions that you might have.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the recommended thermostat setting for saving money?
The higher you set your thermostat in the summer and the lower you set it in the winter, the more money you’ll save. That said, setting your air conditioner to 78° F and your heater to 68° F is generally a good compromise.
Should I adjust my thermostat when I leave home?
If you’re leaving home for more than four hours, raise your thermostat 8° F in the summer and lower it by 8° F in the winter.
Should I adjust my thermostat with a heat pump?
In the summer, you can adjust your thermostat as you would with an air conditioner. In the winter, it’s best to make smaller adjustments. Heat pumps are less efficient when trying to heat a home quickly, so you might use more energy heating your home back up than you saved by adjusting your thermostat in the first place.
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Andrew BlokWriter and EditorAndrew has worked as a journalist and writer for four years, over half of those dedicated to covering solar. He currently lives in Tucson, AZ, where you might run into him walking his dog and birding while dodging the heat. He has degrees in English education and journalism.
