July 27, 2021
Thermostat Settings in Jacksonville, FL

If you’re like most homeowners, you have a programmable digital thermostat that allows you to regulate the temperature inside of your home. This type of thermostat can be extremely useful for helping you to optimize your energy savings and for simple convenience. However, before you can get either one of these benefits, you need to understand what the different thermostat settings are.

Temperature

One of the easiest settings to understand is the temperature setting. This is the temperature that you want the inside of your home to be. You can easily set it by using the arrow buttons, a digital dial, or any other option that is on your specific programmable thermostat.

It’s important to realize that your thermostat will also display what the actual temperature is inside of your home. Some thermostats even display what the outdoor temperature is in your area. Each temperature reading will have a marker by it to help you to understand whether it’s the actual temperature, your set temperature, or the outdoor temperature.

On Mode

When you turn your thermostat to the on mode, it turns on the air handler that circulates air throughout the ductwork in your home. The system will continue to run until you manually shut it off. It’s also crucial to know that when you have your thermostat set on the cooling function, your air conditioning system will kick on and continue to run until you shut it off. The same holds true for your heating system.

Auto Mode

Auto mode is one of the most commonly used modes on home thermostats. For this setting to work, you must have your thermostat set on either the heating or the cooling function. In the event that it’s set on the cooling function, your thermostat will automatically kick on when the actual temperature of the room is above what your desire temperature is.

Whenever the actual temperature is the same as your desired temperature, auto mode will turn the air conditioning system off automatically. The exact same process works for the heating function, where it will turn on when the temperature is too cold and shut off once it reaches your desired set temperature.

Heat and Cool Setting

As you’ve already learned above, your thermostat has both a heat and a cool setting. Obviously, you want to turn it to the heat setting in the wintertime to warm up your home and the cool setting in the summertime to cool down your home.

It’s crucial to note that your thermostat does not need to be set on either of these functions to work. If you simply turn your thermostat on and you don’t have the heat or cool function selected, it will just circulate air throughout your home without changing its temperature. This is great for airing out stale air inside of your home.

Heat/Cool Mode

If you have a fairly newer thermostat, you may be given the option of heat/cool mode. When your system is set in this mode, it will automatically switch between heating and cooling depending on what your home needs to reach the desired temperature that you have set.

This type of mode is very popular in climates where you need to switch between heating and cooling modes throughout the day. For example, you could live in a hot climate that you need cooling throughout the daylight hours, and you’ll need to switch to heating to stay warm during the nighttime hours.

Run Mode

If you’d like to take advantage of the programming that a programmable thermostat allows you to do, you’ll need to be familiar with run mode. Unlike auto mode where you’re able to set your thermostat to meet one temperature, run mode works to meet whatever temperature is programmed for that specific time and day of the week.

A programmable thermostat allows you to put in different desired temperatures for different hours and days throughout the week. For example, you may have the thermostat set at 88 degrees from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. when you’re not going to be home. Then you’ll have it set to 78 degrees after 5 p.m. when you are home. Run mode lets you know that it’s running on the programmable thermostat schedule and not just on the auto function. Sometimes you can even check settings with your smartphone or tablet.

Hold Mode

Hold mode is accessible on programmable thermostats. Its basic function is to halt your system from run mode and allow you to use a mode similar to auto mode. Hold mode is great for days where your schedule is changing.

For example, if you come home early from work, you’ll want to turn the thermostat down to 78 degrees. This way, you can arrive at a home that is nice and comfortable. The convenience of hold mode is that you don’t have to go in and reprogram your thermostat when your schedule changes.

Eco Mode

Some of the newer smart thermostats give you the option of an eco mode. This comes with pre-programmed high and low-temperature settings for your area. If you simply hit the eco mode, it will work off of what the most energy-efficient settings are for your area. This is very helpful in allowing you to save money on your energy bills throughout the scorching hot summer months.

Humidity

Another function that can be found on newer smart thermostats is humidity control. This number is presented in a percentage fashion and allows you to select the desired relative humidity level for the inside of your home. Your air conditioning system will turn on when the humidity level is higher than what you have set as your desired relative humidity level. It will also kick off whenever it reaches your desired setting.

Home and Away Settings

If you don’t want to go through the hassle of programming your thermostat for the entire week, you may just want to rely on the home-and-away settings. These are fairly straightforward in the sense that you select a temperature that you want your home to be at while you’re at home. You also select a higher temperature than you want your thermostat to be at whenever you’re not at home.

You can typically switch between the home and away settings by either manually using the thermostat or by utilizing your smartphone. It’s going to be super helpful to have your system linked up to your smartphone as you can set your thermostat to home when you’re on the way home. This way, it’s nice and cool when you walk in. These settings are recommended for homeowners who don’t have a consistent schedule where the programmable function would make sense for them to use.

Off Mode

Your thermostat does have an off mode where it will completely shut off your entire system. Unlike auto mode, off mode will not turn on any system components when the indoor temperature does not match your desired temperature. This mode can be useful for times where you just don’t want to be running any of your heating or air conditioning components to save money.

Fast, Skillful, Dependable AC Service

McGowan's Heating & Air Conditioning is available for all of your air conditioning needs in Jacksonville, FL. We also provide heating, air quality, ducting, insulation, and HVAC design services for all of our community members. Give us a call today, and we’ll get a technician on the way to you.

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