Saving energy in your home is an effective way to help the environment, but it offers other benefits as well. When you improve energy efficiency, you’ll save on your utility bills. Installing timers for different appliances and devices in your home is a simple way to reduce the amount of energy you use on a regular basis. This results in significant savings on your electric, heating and cooling bills throughout the year.
Types of Timers
There are several kinds of timers available for Phoenix homeowners to use for better energy efficiency. Some of these include timers for hot water heaters, lighting, and smart thermostats. These timers provide you with an easy way to control the amount of energy your home uses.
Water heater timers allow you to reduce the amount of time your water heater runs during the day while lighting timers give you more control over how often your lights come on and how long they stay on. Smart thermostats have timers that can adjust your thermostat settings based on your daily habits for better energy efficiency. For example, your smart thermostat timer can raise the temperature in summer when you’re normally out of the house.
Appliance timers improve energy efficiency. These are separate timers that you can use to control a specific appliance or device, such as a coffee maker. If you want it to only be on for a certain period of time, you can install a timer for this purpose. Timers will turn off the appliance, preventing you from forgetting to turn them off when you’re not using them.
Timer Strips and Phantom Power
Timer strips can help you boost your energy efficiency and lower your utility bills. These strips look like regular power strips, but they have a timer on them that lets you control when they turn on and off. This helps prevent several devices, such as computers and TVs, from drawing “phantom” power when they’re plugged into the strip but not on.
Phantom power refers to the power that electrical devices and appliances use while they’re not in use. These items will still draw a low amount of power if they’re plugged in. While it might not seem like much, this phantom power lowers your energy efficiency.
Tips for Using Timers for Energy Efficiency
How can you make the most use out of your timers? You’ll need to determine when these timers should be set to turn on and off. This depends a lot on your daily routine, such as when you’re usually asleep or out of the house.
For example, you might set lighting timers to turn on and turn off for a certain period of time at night. This cuts down on energy usage that results when you leave lights on, even when you’re not in a room. Keep in mind that you can save energy and money by converting to LED lighting in your home.
Timers, in general, should prevent appliances, lights, devices, HVAC equipment and other sources of energy from turning on when they’re not needed. They should be used for ensuring that these items aren’t left running for extended periods of time.
Turn It On Electric has the experience to install all types of timers to help homeowners in the Phoenix area improve energy efficiency.
Contact us, and we’ll help you determine what types of timers your home needs and install them for you.
