HVAC Myth Busted: The Location of Your Thermostat Doesn’t Matter

August 23, 2017

If you’ve been told that the placement of your thermostat isn’t important, we’ve got to break it to you: that myth is busted. The location of the thermostat in your Springfield, Virginia, home is paramount to the comfort and energy efficiency of your household.

Potential Problems

An improperly placed thermostat is another mistake that can waste energy and money by causing your home to be overly cooled or heated. There are good locations and bad locations for thermostats. For example, if your thermostat is placed across from a window, the direct sunlight will make the thermostat read a too hot and inaccurate temperature.

If your thermostat is located near an AC or heating vent, this can also create a false reading, pushing your HVAC system to work overtime and making your home uncomfortable. Your thermostat shouldn’t be located anywhere there is a draft that can cause inaccurate readings.

You should also be aware when placing your thermostat in your kitchen or in a hallway. A thermostat located in the kitchen will be triggered to turn on the AC when it senses the heat from an oven that is used often. Thermostats located in hallways can create false readings as the air flow in a hallway differs from other areas in the household due to the limited space.

A Thermostat’s Job

Your thermostat measures the temperature inside your home and sends heating or cooling commands to your HVAC system. If your thermostat is well placed, it should accurately read the temperature in your home and correctly judge if a change is needed to meet your perfect temperature requirements.

Smart and Wi-Fi thermostats have taken energy efficiency to another level. Smarter thermostats mean more accurate readings and predictive scheduling based off of human behavior.

If you think there’s a problem with your thermostat or your HVAC system, don’t hesitate to give Brennan’s Heating & Air Conditioning a call at (703) 491-2771 to set up an appointment. One of our trained technicians will make sure that your home is as comfortable as possible.

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