When we bought our home, it came with a pretty crummy thermostat. I felt like I had to punch the buttons in order to move the temperature up or down. Not to mention that it never seemed to regular the temperature right. We planned to purchase another thermostat eventually, but then I found out about the opportunity to review the Hunter Universal 7-Day Programmable Internet Thermostat with iPhone App (MSRP $99.99).
You are probably familiar with Hunter and the high-quality fans that they make. In fact I already have one of their fans in my bedroom and I have been super-happy with it, so I knew that this would be a great product.
I recruited my husband to help install the thermostat. It literally took just a few minutes to install and get it up and running. Hunter even provides a video in case the installation is giving you any trouble.
I love that it has such a large display, so that it is easy to read and it is easy to adjust. It is also features the option to program it for seven days. Since I am a stay at home mom and my husband works from home we are almost always at home, so the temperature in the house pretty much stays constant. The program feature is perfect for individuals who work outside of the home and no one is at the home during the day.
Sometimes though there are days where either we are out of town, or out for the day and it would be nice to be able to remotely turn down the heat or air conditioning. The web feature on this thermostat is perfect for this. You can control the thermostat from anywhere, anytime using smartphone, tablet, and computer using webapp, control via free iPhone app (available in App store).
Another great opportunity to use this thermostat is if you have a vacation home or even a rental property. For example, my family used to own a townhouse in a ski community. Sometimes the weather would get very cold suddenly, so we would have to drive up to the house (which was about an hour away) and make sure that the heat was on high enough so that the pipes wouldn’t freeze.
With this thermostat, we would have been able to either use an iPhone or a computer and not only check whether the heat was on, but what the temperature is. This is also good for rental properties such as condos. When someone is renting the condo for the week and they check out, sometimes they leave the air on very cold or the heat very warm. Of course you don’t want to be paying high energy bills for a property no one is using, so you can check the temperature and adjust it accordingly.
The only downside is that although the app is free to download, after your original 90 day free period plan on paying ten dollars per month or a one time fifty dollars to continue to use the product. Other than that, I have no complaints whatsoever.
Now, the best part of this deal is that I get to give one of these fantastic thermostats away to one lucky reader! It only takes a few minutes to enter and you can win one of these for yourself. Open to residents of the U.S. only. Contest ends December 3, 2012 at 11:59 p.m.
We unplug appliances that we are not using
We keep lights off when not in the room and often just keep a small light on in the kitchen when we’re not in there. We also have a timer set for when we’re not at home.
We have been replacing our appliances with Energy Star appliances as they wear out
We have Geothermal heat, and keep it down low and use LED and CFL lights.
We turn off everything when not in rooms 🙂 this is hard with 4 kids!!!!
We turn everything off when it is not being used
We use CFL’s and unplug all appliances and electronics when not in use. Not only does unplugging save energy (which save us money), it makes me less paranoid that the toaster will burst into flames and destroy the house. Plus TV’s hold their preprogrammed settings even if you unplug them.
turning lights off and keeping appl. unplugged
we try to keep all the lights in the house turned off when not in that room and when the sun comes in the room we dont turn the lights on unless needed
We keep our outdoor lights and bath fans on timers so they don’t stay on longer than needed.
Turn off lights when not in use. Turn off from a surge bar the computer, game systems, and TVs when not in use and leave coffee pot and other type appliances unplugged when not in use.
Aside from a programmable thermostat (which is old and probably needs replacing), ceiling fans, make sure lights get turned off, drapes to open/close to either capture or keep out sunlight, etc.
There are many different ways but one of them is to keep the heat at a comfortable temp. lowering it at night when we sleep and when we are not home.
navymansgrl1@yahoo.com
we minimize tv and light times
I unplug appliances that aren’t being used and I’m replacing old windows with new as I can afford it and I turn down my thermostat at night before going to bed. I would love this new thermostat. Thanks for this contest!
Lights off and wash in cold water. Clothes. Not the kids. 🙂