Are Smart Thermostats Worth The Hype?

These days, more and more smart home options are popping up on the market, promising to make life easier by controlling devices with the push of a button whether you're at home or away. Being able to change the temperature in your house from afar is incredibly useful. Smart thermostats boast a variety of perks, including learning capabilities which gauge your family's habits and adjust accordingly to save energy, therefore saving money on bills. This new breed of thermostat can be incredibly energy-efficient, incorporating everything from proximity to temperature preferences in order to better serve the household, according to American Home Shield.

While the majority of smart home options have enhanced the way people live their daily lives, some can overcomplicate things by being too tricky to navigate. When it comes to your thermostat, a smart option offers the possibility to save money and take control of your home's temperature more easily, but are the benefits really worth it?

On top of saving you money, a smart thermostat offers easy access and the comfort in knowing you can adjust the settings from anywhere. The majority of these use WiFi connected to an app on your smart phone, letting you control the unit remotely. Whether you're enjoying a movie on the couch and don't want to get up to change the temperature, or forgot to switch off the heat or AC while out running errands, this capability serves to make your life easier.

According to Sylvane, not only do these units monitor indoor patterns and preferences, but they keep track of outdoor changes too. By using information gathered from inside and outside the house, your smart thermostat can gauge the best schedule and temperature for the house and its occupants. These systems can learn when everyone is out and set up times to turn on, off, or go into energy saving modes. Constantly tracking your energy usage can be tedious, but these smart units do the work for you to help create an ideal schedule for your needs.

Things can occasionally go wrong with your HVAC unit or thermostat control system, but when a glitch or problem occurs, smart options alert you to the issue. This allows homeowners to catch situations before they get worse, resulting in fewer repairs. They also track everything from humidity to air quality, letting you know if there is a disturbance or circumstance that could be detrimental to everyone in the house. Having the peace of mind to rely on this unit to keep you in the loop will guarantee everyone can enjoy their daily lives without the disruption caused by a broken unit or system.

Like with all technology, there are drawbacks as well. Some setups can be confusing to install or come with too many steps to complete. According to Brinks Home, smart thermostats might cost more initially than the older, standard models, though they do help homeowners save money over time. Many of these units pair with existing technology in the home, including Alexa or Google, but understanding how to connect them all might be a more time consuming task than expected. To ensure the setup is as simple as possible, research the potential options before buying. While the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, making the transition easy and painless will help you enjoy the upgrade even more.