The first decision you’ll have to make is to get either a programmable or non programmable thermostat.

A programmable thermostat can help you save a good chunk of change each month on your heating and cooling bill if your home is frequently empty.

However, if you’re home all the time and always leave the thermostat at the same temperature, then it’s not going to save you any money – it’ll just cost you money as programmable thermostats cost more than their non programmable counterparts.

I’ll give you some recommendations for each:

Best Digital Non Programmable Thermostats

Rite Temp 6020 – This thermostat will work with 1 or 2 stage systems, and is really user friendly. It has a push button backlight so you can illuminate the display and see the temperature even if the room is dark. It’ll run you about $25.

Lux DHP2120 Digital Non Programmable Thermostat for Heat Pump – If you have a heat pump, this is probably the best choice for you. You can find it online at retailers like Amazon for $39.98. It’s a mercury free thermostat with adjustable temperature stops, an auxilary heat indicator and emergency heat position.

My Favorite Programmable Thermostats

BayWeb Internet Controlled Thermostat

When you first look at the BAYweb you’ll probably wonder where the rest of it is. The only part you see is a small display with a green lcd display that only displays temperature. You can raise and lower the temperature from this panel and that’s about it. If you don’t know what it is, you’ll probably it’s about as useful as a non programmable thermostat.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This thermostat is built to be controlled from the web. It’s great if you have rental property of a vacation home. It’s also great if your family is always on the go. It has occupancy sensing which can automatically adjust the temperature based on if anyone is home. You can also change the temperature from any smartphone or any place with internet access. Some people even use it as as a cheap security system (remember the occupancy sensor?).

Honeywell Prestige HD YTHX9321R5003 Deluxe Comfort Thermostat System Kit

The Honeywell prestige setup is really cool. First of all, it comes with an HD touchscreen display AND a remote control. You can change the temperature of any zone from any room if you have the remote. That means you can turn the heat on to your game room if you want to go shoot a game of pool while sitting on your couch watching TV. It works on multi-stage, single stage and heat pump systems.

Proliphix NT120e or NT120h IP Thermostat

By now youve probably figured out I have a thing for web controlled and home automation systems. This professional series model is one of my favorites. The thermostat itself looks quite ordinary, but the ability to control your temperature remotely is the selling point here.

For example, let’s look at the thermostat heat anticipator.

This nifty little device actually shuts off the furnace or air conditioner (or heat pump) before the desired temperature is actually reached.

It “anticipates” reaching the desired temperature and compensates accordingly. When a space is heating up, there’s a phenomenon called the “flywheel effect” where a space will continue to heat up for a short time even after no new heat is being introduced.

They also help desensitize the thermostat so that when it’s near the desired room temperature, it doesn’t continually turn the furnace or a/c on and off which can damage your equipment.

Newer programmable thermostats actually have learning algorithms built into them to figure out how to do this optimally (part of the reason why they can save you money), but they’re present in virtually all thermostats and the actual mechanics are pretty simple and certainly don’t require an electrical engineering degree to understand.

The heat anticipator is an electrical resistor that includes a tiny heating coil and a temperature sensing bimetallic spring.

Navigating the murky waters of thermostats can be tricky to say the least and just spending more money doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be getting a better thermostat – in some cases you’ll just be spending more money.

The Fantastic Five

Here are five of the top rated digital programmable thermostats you can find today. (Two of them even feature internet controls.)

Proliphix NT160e/h IP Thermostat

Compared to some of the other thermostats below, the NT160e/h really isn’t all that much too look at. At first glance, it looks like any old programmable thermostat with a small screen and a few buttons to push for programming.

However, don’t let the simple and basic looks fool you. It’s actually one of the most sophisticated thermostats on the market today and is really built to be controlled via the Internet, not the physical control panel.

My favorite part is that it allows me to take my Droid (any web enabled smart phone will work) and turn it into a remote control for the heating and cooling of my house whether I’m watching TV in the living room or if I’m 2,000 miles away taking a vacation in Napa Valley.

Pro1IAQ Model T905 Touchscreen Programmable Thermostat

You know how a lot of reviews feature pros and cons type lists. Well, even the best thermostats have complaints… except this one. I couldn’t find anyone saying anything negative about these units.

It has a blue glowing backlight that is both practical and cool looking, and features intuitive and easy to use wake, leave, return, and sleep programming icons.

It also happens to remain a budget friendly thermostat but still packs plenty of features and full touchscreen controls.

Lux Pro 5-2 Programmable Outlet Thermostat – PSP300

The outlet thermostat is actually a really cool little gizmo. This isn’t for controlling your furance of central air conditioning unit but for controlling window air conditioners and space heaters. It’s great for small rooms, greenhouses, passive solar applications, and RVs

BayWEB Internet Controlled Thermostat (white or black)

The BayWEb doesn’t look like much when you see the controller. It’s a small, touchscreen with a green led display. However, just like the Proliphix above, the magic lies in the web interface. You can control your thermostat from anywhere you can access the web and just like the Proliphix, you can use your smartphone (whether it be an iPhone, Blackberry, Pre, or Droid) as your universal remote control.

Honeywell Prestige HD YTHX9321R5003 Deluxe Comfort Thermostat System Kit

Honeywell is the top name in the world of thermostats for a reason – they make some of the best thermostats available and the Prestige HD is a great choice if you’re looking for a high end system.

Some of the people who’ve used it have said: “very best thermostat ever,” “love the Prestige HD,” and “best yet!”

It features a high definition, full color display that has 3 times better visual clarity than other thermostats. It has an intuitive graphical user interface and and easy to user touchscreen. Oh, and there’s also a remote control so you can change the temperature from anywhere in the house.

Other places to find thermostat reviews:

• Amazon
• Buzzilions
• ePinions
• Consumer Search
• Consumer Reports (charges access fee)

1) Install a Programmable Thermostat – I installed a digital programmable thermostat about 3 years ago now and I’ve been reaping the benefits ever since. At night in the winter, I let the temperature drop down to 62 because I don’t need my house to be warm when I’m sleeping. They can be programmed to do the same when you’re at work during the day and the savings can be pretty dramatic.

2) Upgrade your old appliances. How much are those old appliances costing you? It could be a pretty penny. My grandparents recently replaced their 40 year old refrigerator – saved them $60 a month! Old appliances suck up electricity like crazy – newer models are far more efficient.

3) Replace your light bulbs – Incandescent light bulbs may be cheap but they’re also extremely inefficient. If you’ve ever touched a light bulb that’s on, you know they’ll burn your skin (please don’t try this at home). A significant portion of the energy that goes to making light turn on is turned into heat. Now try touching a flourescent bulb – this one is okay to try at home – it will likely be warm to the touch but it won’t burn. I recommend replacing all your lights with flourescent bulbs – they last up to 10 times longer and can save you a bundle. If you really want maximum efficiency – you can turn to LED lights – they’ll remain cool to the touch when running and last for about 100,000 hours (11 years of continuous use). They’re expensive initially but you may never need to replace the bulb.

4) Install ceiling fans – a great way to keep your home comfortable in the summer without making your air conditioner work overtime is to install ceiling fans. The key to saving money with ceiling fans is to remember that ceiling fans cool people, not buildings. Turn them off when you’re not in the room. If you have high, vaulted ceilings, they can also be useful in the winter for pushing the hot air back down to where you want it – set it on low for this task.

5) On demand hot water heaters – Here’s another really cool appliance most people don’t know exist. You don’t need to have a water heater with a big tank to provide you with enough hot water to take your shower. In fact, new water heaters can heat up the water without storing it at all. They’ll heat it up instantly and only when you need it. Just think about how much energy is wasted keeping hot water hot for when you need it and I think you’ll see pretty quickly how this can save you a ton of money every year.

Of course, that means keeping the spa thermostat cranked up so it’s ready to go.

It’s actually a pretty simple device that goes in between the suction point and the heater. Should it ever need to be replaced, it’ll probably run you about $22-$79 if you can do it youself, quite a bit more if you’re not so good with “do it youself” stuff (I know I’m not).

It consists of three main parts:

• A Rotating Control
• Thermostat Knob
• Capillary Tube

Of course, that all seems pretty “old school” to me. If you’ve been reading this site at all, you know my love for high technology and automation.

And yes, that applies to spas as well. I was only able to find one that doesn’t cost a vast fortune, but there are now internet controlled hot tubs!

Vita Spa makes them using their Spa-Linc system.

That means you don’t have to keep your thermostat set at comfortable levels at all times and you don’t have to go outside to crank it up when you are ready to use it.

This is especially cool if you have a condo or vacation home. You can hop online before you leave or use your cell phone to use the Internet controls to crank up the heat so your hot tub is ready to go as soon as you get there but you can keep it at minimum levels while you’re not there to save money on the heating costs (which can be substantial in a cool climate).

So they make good choices for people who don’t know how to use computers as well.

For the blind and visually impaired, I recommend the voice activated model from Kelvin.

For others, the Talkingthermostat.com model will tell you exactly how to use it, including:

• How to program the thermostat using clear spoken instructions
• When the batteries are low
• When to change the filter
• Will walk you through basic troubleshooting if you encounter any problems with your HVAC system (furnace and air conditioner)
• Who to call for service if necessary – you don’t have to go find their number in your invoices or in the yellow pages if you have a problem, its stored on your thermostat.

The three major manufacturers for talking thermostats are talkingthermostat.com, VIP, and Kelvin.

The backup system is what the heat pump uses if it falls behind on heating or needs to catch up so a thermostat that can control it is important. (You can check out my post on multistage thermostats if you’d like to learn more.)

There are three types of heat pumps – air to air, water source, and ground source (geothermal). The air to air ones are the most often installed and the ground source ones are recommended by the EPA as being the most efficient and “greenest” for heating and cooling your home.

As far as recommendations go, I really like the Proliphix Pro Series thermostats, the NT120e/h, NT130e/h, NT150e/h, and NT160e/h. They’re multi stage internet controlled thermostats which is my favorite part. You can adjust your settings from any computer or smartphone.

Here are some other popular and top rated heat pump thermostats:

• Honeywell VisionPro TH8320U1008
• Honeywell VisionPro 8000 Series
• White Rogers 1F85-277
• Robert Shaw 9820i
• Lux HP2110 Programmable Heat Pump Thermostat

When you’re out shopping for a digital programmable thermostat, you’re going to find hundreds of choices to pick from.  I’ve put together this short article to help make the process of finding the best thermostat easier as well as give you my favorites.

Here are just some of the manufacturers you’ll have to choose from:

• Lux
• Honeywell
• Proliphix
• Lennox
• CTC
• White Rodgers
• Hunter
• Trane
• Bryant
• Rite Temp
• Aprilaire
• BAYweb
• Aprilaire
• Ecobee
• Lighstat

No matter which brand you decide to go with, I highly recommend a programmable thermostat.  EnergyStar estimate that the average household can save $180 a year just by installing a programmable thermostat.

The reason is that you can program the thermostat to lower the thermostat in the winter when you’re not home or when you’re sleeping.  I do this in my house.  When I’m going to be sleeping, I actually let the temperature drop to 62 degrees, but by the time I wake up, it’s back up to the comfortable 70 degrees I like.

I would recommend a full 7 day programmable thermostat but a 3 day thermostat will serve many users well.  With a 3 day, you can set up separate programs for Saturday and Sunday, and the “third day” is Monday-Friday.

My Top Pick

I really like ther Proliphix NT20e Programmable Internet Thermostat. Unlike the other thermostats on this list, this one can be adjusted online even if you’re not on home in addition to being fully programmable.  So if you leave for a trip and forget to turn down the thermostat, just hop online (you can even use your smartphone or iPhone) and take care of it.

Other Recommended Thermostats

Honeywell Prestige HD YTHX9321R5003

Honeywell 8000 Digital Touchscreen Programmable Thermostat

LuxPro PSP300

If you still have an old mechanical thermostat in your house or apartment, you’re spending too much on your  heating and cooling costs throughout the year.

Today I’ll cover the multistage thermostat and how it works.

The multi stage thermostat is designed to work with multi stage HVAC equipment (furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps).

Multistage HVAC equipment has adjustable capacity rather than just an on/off setting.  For example, the furnace would have more than one burner and the air conditioner will have more than one compressor.

They allow you to heat and cool your home quickly, but are also efficient because if they’re simply maintaining temperature, they don’t need all their capacity and can shut down to single stage until it’s needed again.

It’s a lot like how some new cars and trucks have started offering vehicles (mostly trucks and SUVs) that will shut down 2-4 cylinders when cruising on the Interstate since it only needs all the power of an 8 cylinder engine to get going, after that, it’s easy for the engine to maintain speed with four cylinders.

Three Types of Multistage Thermostats

Set Point - The set point thermostat is going to be the least expensive option, but it’s also the most inefficient.  It’s operation is simple.  If the desired temperature is two degrees or more apart from the current temperature, it will engage all the stages of your HVAC equipment to get your home or business to the desired temperature as fast as possible.

If the desired temperature is one degree away, it will use just one stage.

Time Based - Time based thermostats are good at getting to the desired temperature quickly but they do have one distinct disadvantage – they tend to overshoot the temperature by a few degrees.  The thermostat in my old apartment was like that.  It was great at warming the apartment up in a hurry… too good, it frequently made it four degrees warmer in the apartment before shutting off.

Dynamic – Dynamic thermostats are the most efficient multi stage thermostats you can get.  It keeps track of how long it takes to change te temperature of the run and will learn how long and how many stages it takes to reach the desired temperature.

Manufacturers

The top three manufacturers of these thermostats are LuxPro, Honeywell, and White Rodgers.

In a world where everything is on the Internet, it was only a matter of time before heating and cooling your home could be done online.

While the technology has been around for several years now in high end home automation installations, the technology has come down in price to the point where internet thermostats are actually cheaper than high end stand alone programmable thermostats from companies like Honeywell and Luxpro.

With IP thermostats, you can go online and securely login to your thermostat and adjust the temperature in your home no matter where you are in the world as long as you can get on the Internet.  (Now if internet enabled coffee makers were cheaper…)

Vacation home owners absolutely love these things and it’s easy to see why.

They can monitor the temperature of your home and send you an alert if the temperature falls outside of a certain range.  For example, if your furnace stops working, it can tell you something’s wrong and you can get someone there to fix it before your pipes burst and you have a major problem on your hands.

It can also get your ski condo warmed up in preparation of your arrival so you don’t have to spend the first couple hours waiting for everything to get warm and comfortable.

However, they’re great for your own home as well.  Let me give you an example.  When I go vacations or travel for work (which I do frequently), my home is empty so I don’t need any air conditioning in the summer and just enough heat to keep the pipes from freezing in the winter.

So I just set and hold my thermostat on an extreme temperature so I’m not wasting energy and money while I’m away.  If I know exactly when I’ll get back, a programmable thermostat could be programmed to have the house at a comfortable temperature when I get back.

However, most of the time I get home because and it’s either way to warm or way too cold because a) it’s a pain to reprogram the thermostat all the time and b) I don’t always know when I’ll be getting back.

However, with the internet controlled thermostat, I don’t have to know when I’ll be get getting home very far in advance.  I can use my Android phone (or Blackberry, iPhone, or any internet enabled smartphone) to pull up the control panel while I’m waiting for my luggage to arrive at the airport and when I get home, the furnace has had a chance to make the house nice and warm again like I never even left.

Heck, companies like Ecobee already have dedicated iPhone apps for their thermostats – expect most companies to follow suit in the very near future.

And they work in the reverse scenario as well.  Have you ever left for a trip and forgotten to turn down the thermostat?  Well, now you can just login and do it remotely without having to turn back around.

Another advantage offered by Ethernet thermostats is that they can get better and more capable over time.  While the hardware will stay the same unless you physical upgrade the unit, upgrading to newer and better software is possible.  With any other thermostat, you’d have to replace the entire unit if you wanted to upgrade.

So who makes these things and where do you get them? I’ve found four major manufacturers for home use and one who makes them for commercial applications.

Manufacturers

• Proliphix
• Aprilaire
• BAYweb
• Ecobee
• Lightstat (commercial an business)

Recommendations

As far as which thermostat to go with, I recommend the Proliphix Nt20e Programmable Internet Thermostat.  It’s highly capable and easy to use once installed.  I do, however, recommend professional installation if you’re not all that tech savvy as some people have reported problems getting the unit online.

I’d say it’s about on par with getting a printer on your network – if you can do that, you can get the thermostat online yourself.  Otherwise, get a pro.

Security

One concern you may have is about security.  After all, since you can control your temperature online, couldn’t someone just hack in?  All IP thermostats are designed with security in mind.  They all use Ethernet cables to plug directly into your network rather than using a wireless connection as it’s more secure.  Also, they all use password protected control panels so as long as you use strong passwords you’ll be the only one who can control the heating and cooling equipment in your home.