Smart thermostats excel at taking care of themselves, but they still need prodding as the seasons turn, and that’s especially true if your area gets hit hard by winters, when freezing temps become more common.
That’s where smart thermostats’ thorough app settings become so handy: You can easily make changes on the fly and save them into schedules to keep your home comfy and solve chilly problems that winter weather has started to create. Plus, they save you money, too. So if you’re looking for winter improvements to your home heating, start with these key settings changes.
Read more: The Best Smart Thermostats for Your Home
1. Set ‘at home’ heating to 68° Fahrenheit
Set your thermostat to 68°F or below when winter comes knocking.
Check your winter scheduling in your app settings (such as the Ecobee app or the Google Home or Apple Home app, and use your scheduling options to set the daytime temperature — when everyone will be at home — to 68° Fahrenheit. That’s enough to keep the house cozy without overheating or wasting energy.
If you have another source of heating in your home, like a gas fireplace, you may want to put the heat even lower to save more money. I have mine around 65° in the fall and bump it up a bit when winter starts getting really cold.
Important note: Some US cities have heating regulations that indicate a minimum temperature thermostats should be set to while at home or away. They usually do this to help prevent mass frozen pipe issues, protect the elderly and pets — and to save on electricity use. Check your city to see if it have any of these laws in place.
2. Set ‘away/asleep’ heating to 60 to 65° Fahrenheit
Google Home makes it easy to apply weekly schedules in minutes.
When everyone is out of the house for work or school, or asleep with a healthy dose of blankets, set your temperature trigger to between 60 and 65° Fahrenheit, depending on what feels the most comfortable. Use your thermostat scheduling feature to apply the change to every weekday, and adjust on the weekends if necessary. That’s an excellent way to cut energy bills down during the winter.
If you have pets that’ll be at home during the day, you should err toward warmer temperatures for their comfort. Your smart thermostat may continue to make minor adjustments after this, but it’s a great baseline to start with.
3. Turn on your Eco mode
Most smart thermostats have an Eco mode or a recommended mode for saving as much money as possible. Ecobee even has an Eco+ mode that adjusts heating based on local electricity use in peak hours to save more energy. Enable these modes and apply them to your thermostat settings to see their suggestions.
Usually, Eco modes are the best way to save on your bills without thinking about it, and they tend to be reasonable. My Google Nest Thermostat Gen 4, for example, usually sets my away temps between 61 and 62° Fahrenheit and can be adjusted from there. Nest also has a handy leaf icon that appears when you manually enter the Eco mode range to let you know you’re saving big.
4. Create a Vacation mode
Ecobee offers a dedicated vacation mode for its smart thermostat.
If your smart thermostat supports a vacation mode or alternate mode, set it up so that this alternate schedule is ready for winter holiday trips. You may want it a little warmer in the day than your away mode settings to help keep pets and plants comfortable, but maximize your savings by skipping any “at home” temperature bumps. In harsh weather, always have vacation settings for your thermostat instead of turning it off completely — that risks problems like freezing pipes, and it’s hard to save money if you come back to a flooded house.
Note that the Nest thermostat doesn’t have a full alternate scheduling option, but you can choose the “Add event” option for a similar result when creating your vacation plans.
Read more: Home Security Prep If You’re Taking a Trip
5. Move your satellite sensor to a chilly room
A Nest thermostat sensor on the wall of a baby’s room above a crib.
Newer smart thermostats often come with a satellite temperature sensor or let you buy one as an add-on (here’s a Nest version for under $40). This allows the thermostat to make heating decisions based on a different location beyond the often-central thermostat installation. That can be very useful if parts of your home stay chilly while the air near your thermostat warms up a little too fast.
Place your additional sensor in a chilly location that still gets plenty of use (like a kitchen or baby’s room), so the thermostat can warm more accurately and you can check the temperature in two or more locations.
Complete your winter prep by learning if a space heater can help you save money, how to prepare your security systems for the cold, and your home checklist for leaving on vacation.
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