While heating and cooling setups can vary a lot, most US homes rely on some sort of heating, ventilating and air conditioning system (HVAC) to help keep indoor temperatures in check. Your thermostat acts as the main point of access for this system, allowing you to determine when and at what temperature air is circulated. The thing is, today's thermostats are quite different than the typical models sold in stores just 10 years ago.
Programmable thermostats are pretty common nowadays. To configure them, you simply enter in a general schedule that's consistent with the times you expect to be home or away.
If you work a traditional 9-to-5 job, this sort of thermostat can work quite well. Simply set the thermostat to a more energy efficient temperature while you're at work and program it to kick back on around the time you usually get home. That way, you have one setting for the weekdays and another setting for the weekends. And of course, you can always make manual adjustments to the thermostat as needed.
While programmable thermostats do count as a type of automation, they aren't exactly smart.
That's because they don't have the ability to automatically adapt to your changing schedule; you still have to make adjustments manually if you want to tweak the existing programming settings.
In contrast, smart models like the T18UTW-7-WIFI, the T29UTW-7-WIFI (TY) are trying to give you greater control over your heating and cooling environment with Wi-Fi integration, web and mobile apps and even sensors that can tell if you're home.
All of the above models are DIY options. That means that you don't have to get in touch with a dealer unless you want to. Instead, you can find these models alongside the more traditional manual and programmable options in most major retails stores. That makes these smart versions a fairly easy upgrade