If you have a centralized heating and air conditioning system inside of your home, then you have a thermostat. This thermostat is intended to help you manage both the heating and cooling functions of your system. By taking the time to understand the different settings on the thermostat, you’ll be able to more efficiently run your system to get the desired outcome that you want.
Heat Mode/Cool Mode
One commonly used setting, especially in the wintertime, is heat mode. This signals to your thermostat that it needs to turn on your furnace to produce warm air to heat your home. When you have your thermostat set to cool mode, it knows to tell your air conditioning system to turn on to cool your home. It’s important to be in the right mode to achieve the type of temperature change that you’re looking to achieve inside of your home.
On Mode
When you turn your thermostat to on mode, it will turn on the air handler, which circulates air throughout your home ductwork. When you have a combination of heat mode and on mode, your furnace will continue to create warm air to heat up your home. When you have a combination of cool mode and on mode, your air conditioning system will continue to run to cool your home.
If you don’t have either the heat mode or the cool mode on, on mode will simply circulate the air throughout your home without changing its temperature. The only way for your system to shut down the on mode is for you to manually shut the thermostat off.
Auto Mode
Unlike on mode, in which you have to manually turn your system on and off, auto mode takes care of that change for you. When your system is set on auto mode, it will be constantly reading the actual indoor temperature and comparing it to your desired indoor temperature.
If you have your system set on auto mode and cool mode, your thermostat will automatically kick on the air conditioning system when it senses that the indoor temperature is higher than your desired temperature. If you have your system set on auto mode and heat mode, your thermostat will automatically kick the furnace on whenever the indoor temperature drops below what your desired temperature is.
Run Mode
Most homeowners will program their thermostats to be at a higher temperature when they are away at work during the week. For example, a typical schedule may look like a desired temperature of 88 degrees from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Then, from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., when people are home, the desired temperature would be set at 78 degrees.
Instead of having to manually switch the desired temperature at the specific times of the day that you want to switch it, you can program your thermostat to change the temperature for you. Unlike auto mode, run mode alerts you to the fact that your thermostat is running based on the temperatures you have pre-programmed into it.
Hold Mode
Hold mode goes along with run mode when you have a programmable thermostat. While run mode is great for the majority of the time, your schedule can change unexpectedly. For example, let’s say that you stay home on a Monday due to a holiday.
Instead of having to go back into your pre-programmed settings and change them for the day, you can simply switch to hold mode. Hold mode means that your thermostat is no longer running based on your pre-programmed settings. Rather, it’s running based on the desired temperature that you have set at that moment in time.
Eco Mode
If you have a fairly new smart thermostat, it’s likely that you have the option of eco mode. This mode is a customized running schedule that is optimized for energy savings. Basically, your home thermostat tracks data about how you use it.
The software for the thermostat will make a customized schedule for what your thermostat should be at different times throughout the day to provide you with the most energy savings. Instead of going into your pre-programmed schedule, you can simply turn your thermostat to eco mode and let it take over all of the settings.
Trustworthy HVAC Services
When you need trustworthy heating and air conditioning services in the Austin area, look no further than Faught Service Company. We provide high-quality heating, cooling, and ducting installation, repairs, and maintenance. Simply give us a call today so that we can get a technician on the way!
