More folks fight over the thermostat than the remote
Talk about cheating on your spouse. Turns out one in three people change the thermostat when no one is looking. That’s far more than those who admit to fighting over the remote, according to a survey from Honeywell, a company that makes, you guessed it, thermostats. The family squabble may be over more than just comfort—keeping the temperature in check saves energy and money.
According to Honeywell, 30 percent of survey respondents said members of their household disagree about the temperature in the home. The discord was greatest among 18- to 34-year-olds with 37 percent admitting they always argue about the temperature and 39 percent confessing that they change the thermostat when no one is looking.
Enter the great arbiter—the programmable thermostat. Set it according to your schedule and forget it. If things get really ugly on the homefront, you can lock the controls on some models to prevent those sneaky adjustments. And Honeywell’s latest thermostat, the Honeywell Lyric TH8732WF5018, $280, uses a feature called geofencing that detects when you are close to home and turns the temperature up or down before you get there.
Top thermostats from our tests
While the Lyric missed Consumer Reports’ list of top thermostat picks, Honeywell took the top spot in our tests of thermostats with and without remote access. The Honeywell RTH9590WF, $300, with remote access, got top marks for ease of use, ease of remote access, and display while the Honeywell Prestige HD YTHX9321R, $250, had excellent scores for ease of use and display. Two other thermostats with remote access scored the same as the Honeywell but cost considerably more, the American Standard AccuLink AZone950, $450, and the Trane ComfortLink II Smart Control TZone950, $550.
Giving up the remote capability will save you. The Lux TX9600TS is only $70 and a CR Best Buy and the Robert Shaw 9801i2, another pick, is $125. They were equally good at settling thermostat spats.
—Mary H.J. Farrell (@mhjfarrell on Twitter)
More from Consumer Reports:
Top performing kitchen gear at rock bottom prices
The best washing machines for $800 or less
Kitchen floors that stand up to foot traffic
Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers or sponsors on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.
