Choosing The Best Smart Thermostat For Your Home
By Travis Baugh
Finding the best smart thermostat for your home is crucial for enhancing comfort and energy efficiency. In this guide, we’ll walk through the variables involved to help you make the right choice, including knowing your existing HVAC system’s thermostat capabilities, understanding the types of thermostats, and weighing the different features and benefits each thermostat possesses.
Know Your HVAC System’s Thermostat Capabilities
Make sure the thermostat you choose is compatible with your home’s HVAC system. Whether you have a single-stage heating and cooling system with one speed or a multi-stage system with high and low speeds will affect your thermostat choices. If your home has a heat pump, you'll need a thermostat that can manage auxiliary heat. You will want to confirm that the thermostat works with your specific heat source (electric, gas, or oil). If you have a zoned heating and cooling system, make sure the thermostat supports it. This feature allows you to control the temperature in different areas of your home independently.
Check if your current thermostat uses a C-wire (common wire), which many newer, smart thermostats require for power. If your current setup lacks a C-wire, some smart models offer power adapters or workarounds.
Understand A Smart Thermostat vs. A Programmable Thermostat
Selecting the best smart thermostat for your home requires knowing what a smart thermostat is versus a programmable thermostat.
Smart Thermostats
Smart thermostats connect to Wi-Fi and can be controlled remotely via a smartphone app. They offer features like learning capabilities, geofencing, and voice control. You can adjust the temperature based on your phone’s location, turning the system on or off when you leave or return home. Many are compatible with smart home assistants. Settings can be personalized to your home comfort preferences and weekly and monthly energy insights are available. Smart thermostats use occupancy sensing to tell if you are home or not and can automatically adjust to the weather outside.
Programmable Thermostats
Programmable thermostats allow you to manually set a schedule for different temperatures throughout the day and week, which can help with energy savings. While the feature set is not as robust as smart thermostats, programmable thermostats often allow you to put your system in vacation mode if you are going away and can send you temperature, humidity, and system alerts. Geofencing is not available nor is remote control via an app.
Key Features To Consider When Selecting The Best Smart Thermostat
Once you understand your existing HVAC system’s thermostat capabilities and know the types of thermostats available, you are able to dig into the following features of thermostats to help make your decision.
- Thermostat Ease of Use: Look for a user-friendly interface with easy-to-read displays, especially if you prefer manual controls. Touchscreens can be convenient but make sure they are intuitive.
- Energy Saving Features: Many smart thermostats come with features like energy reports, which help you understand your energy usage and find ways to save.
- Mobile App Ease Of Use: With smart thermostats, you can adjust the temperature from anywhere using a mobile app. Read reviews of the app online to see how intuitive the mobile app is to navigate and how often the app faces bugs or issues.
- Smart home assistant capability: You’ll want to research if the smart thermostat is compatible with any smart home assistants you may be using at home such as Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple HomeKit for hands-free adjustments.
- Temperature Sensors: Some smart thermostats come with additional temperature sensors you can place in different rooms, allowing you to prioritize certain areas of your home to maintain comfort in specific zones.
- Energy Star Certification: Look for thermostats with Energy Star certification for optimal energy efficiency. These models are designed to save energy and help lower your utility bills.
- Rebates: Check with your utility company for potential rebates or discounts for upgrading to an energy-efficient thermostat, especially if you choose a smart model.
- Budget: Higher-end smart thermostats with advanced features like learning capabilities, remote sensors, and better integration with smart home systems may carry a higher price tag than basic thermostat options. Determine what models fit your family’s budget.
Selecting The Best Carrier Thermostat For Your Home
Carrier offers a wide variety of thermostat options for you and your home.
- Infinity System Control: The Infinity System Control is required to maximize the features of an Infinity System. With Wi-Fi® connectivity and built-in smarts, the Infinity System Control puts you in command of comfort and energy savings like never before.
- ecobee for Carrier Smart Thermostats: Carrier and ecobee offer innovative smart thermostat technology with savvy ecobee for Carrier Smart Thermostats. These thermostats allow you to set a home schedule and personal comfort preferences in addition to helping you save on your annual energy costs. Pair the ecobee for Carrier with Intellisense with the Intellisense-enabled Performance Series equipment and opt in to data sharing for connected comfort benefits.
- Carrier Smart Thermostat: The Carrier Smart Thermostat is the newest and most affordable model in our growing family of thermostats. This smart thermostat manages single- and two-stage systems as well as indoor air quality accessories to provide comfort-boosting control. Set customized comfort schedules on the Carrier Home App.
Work With Your Carrier Dealer To Select The Best Smart Thermostat
Whether your goal is to cut down on energy bills, gain better control over your HVAC system, or simply upgrade your home’s intelligence, a Carrier smart thermostat is the ideal choice. Schedule an appointment with your local Carrier dealer to identify the best solution for your home’s HVAC system.
