Manual thermostats have largely been replaced with newer and more advanced thermostats. In the past, all heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) systems had a manual thermostat. To turn on the furnace or air conditioner, you’d have to manually raise or lower the temperature on the thermostat. While some homes still use a manual thermostat, most of them now use a programmable or smart thermostat.

Programmable and smart thermostats both support automated changes. You can still change the temperature manually on either type of thermostat, but you’ll have the ability to program them to change the temperature automatically as well. What’s the difference between programmable and smart thermostats exactly?

What Is a Programmable Thermostat?

A programmable thermostat is a type of thermostat that allows you to program the temperature inside of your home. Maybe you prefer a temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit during the midday summer hours and a slightly higher temperature during the evenings and nighttime. Alternatively, if your is unoccupied during a specific time, you may want to avoid running the air conditioner during that time. With a programmable thermostat, you can program schedules that tell your air conditioner and furnace when to run.

Common features of programmable thermostats include the following:

·         Program heating and cooling schedules

·         Energy-efficiency mode

·         ON and AUTO fan speed settings

What Is a Smart Thermostat?

A smart thermostat is a type of thermostat that offers many of the same features as programmable thermostats but with a few additional perks. Like programmable thermostats, smart thermostats support temperature programming. You can program a smart thermostat to raise or lower the temperature inside of your home automatically.

Smart thermostats are a type of smart device. Therefore, they are connected to your home’s Wi-Fi. There are different ways to control them. You can control a smart thermostat by programming it at the interface, or you can control it using a mobile companion app. Smart thermostats are also intuitive. Many of them will collect data on your home’s heating and cooling activities. Using this data, they’ll optimize your home’s HVAC system to provide the perfect balance of energy efficiency and comfort.

Common features of smart thermostats include the following:

·         Program heating and cooling schedules

·         Energy-efficiency mode

·         ON and AUTO fan speed settings

·         Supports a mobile companion app (you can control a smart thermostat’s settings using a smartphone or tablet app)

·         Energy usage tracking

·         Intuitive optimization