While smart thermostats have been around since 2011, it took three years for people to understand their advantages over conventional thermostats. In the year 2014 alone, the sales of smart thermostats almost doubled in numbers, and many more intelligent thermostats with a host of imaginative features have been launched since then.
If you are still using a conventional thermostat as you are unaware of the advantages of using a Wifi thermostat, this post will educate you about their various advantages to enable you to make a smart decision.
What is a Smart Thermostat?
If you are not much of a tech-savvy person, let us first introduce you to smart thermostats. There are many uses of Using a Smart Thermostat. Smart thermostats can be divided into two broad categories- ones that offer internet connectivity to allow you to program and manage the thermostat and learning thermostats that automatically learn about your references to eliminate the need to program them manually. There are some great options in both of these categories.
For instance, Nest Learning Thermostat which is created by Nest Labs, acquired by none other than Alphabet Inc (parent organization of Google) was one of the first smart thermostats to hit the market. This thermostat did an excellent job of changing the thermostat landscape and made it much easier for homeowners to manage their home temperature. Power saving features, remote management, aesthetic looks and impressive learning abilities are some other features which impressed the buyers as well as the industry experts. 
Apart from this, there are some other great smart thermostats, like Ecobee thermostats that recently came up with e]ecobee 3, Honeywell thermostats with its Prestige series of smart thermostats and much more. These thermostats too, come with features, like Wifi connectivity, remote management through mobile and laptop and learning features with the help of which they program themselves to suit your preferences automatically.
Advantages of Using a Wifi Thermostat
Easy Installation
While the installation of conventional thermostats required professional help and thus meant additional investment, many of these smart Wifi thermostats are easy to install, and buyers can connect them without any professional help. While the installation is not generally ‘’Plug-n-Play” for most of them, it is still a lot simpler as compared to their conventional counterparts. Moreover, you can also search for information and videos to know more about the installation process. Many of the brands upload the installation videos on their official website, or you can always try to search for them on YouTube.
No More Human Error
One of the most significant exhibits of using a smart thermostat is their ability to learn your preferences and schedule to adjust the temperature accordingly. They can sense when you are home, and some of them can even sense in which room you are to ensure maximum comfort and convenience. While the thermostats do need some time to get used to your preferences, smart thermostats like Nest are known to do an excellent learning job.
Energy Efficiency
While the cost of these smart thermostats is usually higher than standard programmable thermostats, they are known to make up for the difference by saving money on electricity costs. With the help of their learning abilities, if at all, you forget to switch off your AC or heater while leaving home, they can automatically sense that you are not at home and will adjust the temperature accordingly to reduce power consumption. Moreover, many of them come with additional features, like vacation mode, schedules, etc. to further reduce the energy costs.
And not just save energy, the programmable thermostat advantages also include their ability to provide you with deeper insights into the power consumption of your HVAC system. For instance, smart thermostat like Ecobee 3 and Nest come with features that allow you to analyze the power consumption and receive monthly power consumption reports.
Remote Monitoring and Management
These thermostats usually come with a mobile application which you can download on your Android or iOS based phones to easily monitor the temperature of your home even when you are away. Also, you can not just monitor the temperature but adjust the thermostats right from your phone even when you are away or still at home. If not from the phone, many of these thermostats have their online portals to manage the thermostats from a desktop computer or a laptop. Remote management is one of the most impressive benefits of using a Wifi thermostat and provides you with a better control on the temperature when you are away or still at home.
Email Notifications
Many of the smart thermostats, like Honeywell Smart Thermostat and Ecobee 3 send email notifications if the temperature of your home rises above or falls below the pre-defined range. For instance, if you get too involved in your work and don’t get time to use the mobile app of these thermostats, the email notifications can do a great job of alerting you about the rise or fall in temperature at your home. Moreover, they also send notifications if the thermostats lose connection with your Wifi network or if there is a power outage.
Better Accuracy
These thermostats are known as smart thermostats for a reason. They have the ability to maintain the variations and swing in a much better way as compared to the standard programmable thermostats. For instance, Honeywell Wifi Thermostat and Nest Thermostat only have a temperature swing of +/- 1. This allows you to maximize the comfort by adjusting your HVAC system to a preferred temperature, and the thermostat will ensure that it truly maintains that temperature with utmost accuracy.
User-Friendly
While the thermostats are loaded with many innovative features, they are still very simple to use. Right from their bright display screens to their companion apps that are as simple as using any other mobile app, these smart thermostats are highly user-friendly and eliminate all the hassles that they buyers suffered from, while using a standard programmable thermostat. And not just using them, even the installation and connecting them to your Wifi network is a simple and quick process. While they do come with their manuals, as mentioned above, you can always get online to find answers if you are stuck with them.
C-Wire or No C-Wire
While many of the smart thermostats require you to have a C-wire in your wiring system, there are others that don’t need a C-wire. Most of the old homes do not have a separate C-wire, and you will need professional help if you want to have it in your system. While it is usually recommended that you should get a C-wire if you don’t want to, these smart thermostats that don’t need a C-wire can be an excellent choice for you.
Aesthetically Pleasing
The last but not the least, another one of the programmable thermostat benefits is their attractive looks. Right from the Nest thermostat with its circular build to the Honeywell Wifi Thermostat whose display can be customized as per the interiors of your home, these thermostats have a trendy and contemporary appeal to them which helps in further enhancing the interiors of your home.
The advancements in technology have provided us with an upgraded version of almost everything that we use, so why not an upgraded smart thermostat? As you can see, there are many advantages of using a Wifi thermostat which not only makes it easier for you to control the thermostat to maximize your comfort but also enables you to conserve money in the longer run.
But with multiple smart thermostats available in the market, choosing a model that is perfect for your needs can be very confusing. Thus, to make the buying process simpler for you, we’ve reviewed some of the best smart thermostats. Go through these reviews, understand their features, strengths, and weaknesses to get yourself a thermostat that can keep up with your needs.