Want to save money this winter? Replace your thermostat with a programmable one!
If you are like most people, then you probably have a round thermostat on the wall in your house that controls your furnace or boiler. You raise or lower the temperature by turning a round dial on the face of the thermostat. You may turn it down at night, and up in the morning. You may turn it down when you are the last person to leave the house and you know the house will be empty and it doesn’t make sense to keep the house a comfortable 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit when no one is around to enjoy it.
But you may forget. And the furnace keeps cranking away, wasting heat you are not around to enjoy.
For about $60 you can get a programmable thermostat that will remember when to turn down the heat so you don’t have to. These programmable thermostats (also called setback thermostats) set the temperature back at night, and then turn it up in the morning, automatically, without you lifting a finger. Most programmable thermostats let you change the temperature four times a day:
Once in the morning, to heat the house up when (or just before) you get up;
Once later in the day. It turns the heat down for those families where no one is at home during the day;
Once in the afternoon or evening, when people come back into the house;
Finally, at night, it turns the temperature down to keep the house cooler at night, while you are sleeping.
But what about your old, round thermostat? Don’t just throw it away! It has mercury in it! (Should you be worried about mercury? You bet! Visit the Web site http://www.state.me.us/dep/mercury to find out why.)
Make sure your old thermostat is recycled so that the mercury in its switch can be recovered and kept out of our air, lakes, streams, and soil. There are plenty of places to recycle your mercury thermostat. The DEP Web site, www.state.me.us/dep/rwm/mercury/pdf/hvacwholesalers.pdf lists plumbing and heating wholesalers that participate in the thermostat recycling program. Further, if your town conducts a household hazardous waste collection day, they will most likely accept your mercury thermostat.
If you hire a licensed oil burner technician to install your new, programmable thermostat, see if they will take your old, round one for disposal. Beginning in April of 2007 they will get $5 for every one they turn in for recycling at their wholesaler.
This column was submitted by Peter Moulton, an environmental engineer with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Remediation and Waste Management.
