In climates such as the Greater Cincinnati area, heat pumps offer an energy-efficient solution to heat your home in winter and cool it in the summer. To maximize the energy savings, keep these three rules in mind when using your heat-pump thermostat.

1. Use a heat-pump thermostat

Buying a thermostat designed to work with your heat pump is essential to keeping your heat pump working as efficiently as possible. A heat pump works all year, providing warm air in the winter and cool air in the summer. Using the correct heat-pump thermostat, your system automatically provides cool or warm air to keep the interior of your home comfortable, without the need to switch the thermostat from "Heat" to "Cool."

2. Don't turn down your thermostat

Unlike traditional furnace systems, lowering the temperature in your home can make your heat pump run less efficiently. To recover from a lower temperature, called a "setback," your heat pump will activate the backup heat source. This system often consumes more energy than the heat pump itself would to keep your house at a steady temperature. And using the secondary heat source cancels out any savings you may have achieved by keeping the house at an energy-saving setting, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Instead, set your heat-pump thermostat to a comfortable temperature, and leave it alone to help your unit run at maximum efficiency.

3. Take advantage of adaptive recovery technology

To take advantage of energy savings from setbacks, you need to install a heat-pump thermostat with adaptive or intelligent recovery technology. This type of thermostat begins slowly raising the temperature of your home before the next programmed setting, using energy efficiently to ramp up the home's temperature, and locking out the backup heating source.

Since 1959, JonLe Heating & Cooling has served the Greater Cincinnati area. Please contact our team of experts to help you find the best heat-pump thermostat to meet your needs. We're happy to help answer all of your questions.

Image via Shutterstock.