In the good old days with gas, oil, and electric furnaces, your control was a mercury bulb thermostat. Everyone is familiar with the famous Honeywell “round” thermostat, but there were rectangular stats as well. These thermostats worked well enough, but weren’t always the most accurate. And they relied on you to adjust the temperature manually if you were going to be gone or wanted it cooler to sleep.
In the 1970s, as a result of the energy crisis, clocks were added to these mechanical stats to automatically change temps at times you wanted it cooler or warmer. By the 1980s, programmable thermostats using solid state electronics came out, making them much easier to program and better able to hold a nice, even temperature. Over the years, these thermostats were perfected and features were added until, by the mid 2010s, the industry looked to the internet to bring home comfort into the technological age.
Now there are dozens of WiFi thermostats out there to choose from. With even the most basic, you can control your home’s temperature from an app on your phone or computer. You’ll get a message if the house gets warmer or cooler than the temp you have set. In the next tier up are models that work with systems like Alexa, where you literally don’t have to lift a finger to adjust the temperature.
There are systems that work with an alarm or your doorbell or your lights. Some controls give you loads of runtime data so you can see how much your unit ran each day and what the temp was at a given time. That’s for the tech geeks out there—it’s amazing what the WiFi stats today can tell you. But practically, most homeowners just want their stats to adjust the temp while away or to get warnings if the heat or the cooling goes out while they’re gone. Perfect for snowbirds.
If you’re interested in replacing your thermostat and thinking of switching to WiFi, talk to us. We offer a special price if we install a new thermostat while at your home performing equipment maintenance. We can help you choose the perfect control and will send it with the technician when he comes. We can also install one you’ve purchased through an outside vendor, though in many cases, you’ll get a better warranty on the same thermostat if it comes from a contractor and not the internet or a home store. And on top of all that, you can get a nice rebate from Duke or Vectren for upgrading…it’s a win-win!