https://stream.echo6.co/videos/watch/cf889c5c-1061-4989-a3ae-852bc155f27a This Old House plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey explains how adjusting the thermostat can reduce energy consumption and save you money. (See steps below.) SUBSCRIBE to This Old House: http://bit.ly/SubscribeThisOldHouse In most circumstances, thermostat setbacks will save energy. However, there are a few situations in which setbacks may not make sense, including heat pumps with electric resistance back-up, radiant systems with long recovery times, and homes with very tight building envelopes. Steps for How Thermostat Setbacks Save Money: Temperature setback is the act of adjusting the thermostat while you’re asleep or away from the house., Lowering the thermostat in winter keeps the house colder, but the furnace doesn’t kick on as often, so you use—and pay for—less energy., In summer, raising the thermostat makes the house warmer but prevents the air-conditioning system from running all day, which lowers your electrical bill., There are several types of thermostats, including manual single thermostat, programmable clock thermostat, and smart thermostat with motion sensor that you can access via a smartphone., R-value is the amount of heat that transfers from the inside of a home to the outside during the heating season, and from outside the home to the inside during the cooling season., Delta T refers to the temperature difference reflected by heat transfer., Imagine it’s zero degrees outside and the thermostat is set at 70 degrees, which is called the target temperature., If you lower the thermostat to 60 degrees, less heat will transfer to the outside because there’s less of a temperature difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures., According to the Department of Energy, for every degree you lower the target temperature, you’ll save 1% of fuel over an 8-hour period. In the above example, you would save 10% on your heating bill., The amount of energy it takes to reheat a home will always be less than if you didn’t lower the thermostat and the furnace kicked on and off all day. The same is true in summer with air-conditioning costs., Don’t use a clock thermostat with an electric heat pump, super-insulated house, or radiant-heat system., For more information, visit: Energy.gov [https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/thermostats] Expert assistance with this project was provided by Nest Labs [https://bit.ly/36i4bPX]. About Ask This Old House TV: Homeowners have a virtual truckload of questions for us on smaller projects, and we're ready to answer. Ask This Old House solves the steady stream of home improvement problems faced by our viewers—and we make house calls! Ask This Old House features some familiar faces from This Old House, including Kevin O'Connor, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, and landscape contractor Roger Cook. Looking for more step by step guidance on how to complete projects around the house? Join This Old House INSIDER to stream over 1,000 episodes commercial-free: https://bit.ly/2GPiYbH Plus, download our FREE app for full-episode streaming to your connected TV, phone or tablet: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/pages/streaming-app Follow This Old House and Ask This Old House: Facebook: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseFB Twitter: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseTwitter http://bit.ly/AskTOHTwitter Pinterest: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHousePinterest Instagram: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseIG http://bit.ly/AskTOHIG For more on This Old House and Ask This Old House, visit us at: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseWebsite How Thermostat Setbacks Save Money | Ask This Old House https://www.youtube.com/user/thisoldhouse/ Wed, 10 Jun 2026 11:29:27 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://stream.echo6.co https://stream.echo6.co/client/assets/images/icons/icon-512x512.png https://stream.echo6.co/videos/watch/cf889c5c-1061-4989-a3ae-852bc155f27a All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://stream.echo6.co/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.