Richard and Ross emphasize that the thermostat temperature is just one measurement in the category of comfort. In their field, they work to ensure that the environment is comfortable based on the following data points.
- Temperature: Is the space warm or cool enough?
- Humidity: Is there too much (or not enough) moisture in the air?
- Airspeed: Is the general air flow of the house causing the occupants to feel colder than they should?
- Mean radiant temperature: Are there surfaces in the room (like windows, floor tiles, etc.) that are different from the occupants’ body temperatures that are making them feel warmer or colder?
Pro Tip: Richard Trethewey, This Old House heating and cooling expert, explains the concept of mean radiant temperature this way: “Our skin is 74 degrees. We’re 98.6 and we’re healthy but 74 on our skin. So to be comfortable, if I stand near a surface that is colder than me, heat will pull from me and I’ll feel colder even though the room’s temperature is the same. So when you stand near a window in the winter, you’ll start feeling colder. And conversely, if you stand near a radiator, it’s gonna feel warmer.”
Richard Trethewey has also emphasized the outsized role humidity plays in the comfort equation. As he told This Old House Magazine: “Humidity — the amount of moisture in the air — has a huge impact on people’s comfort. A relative humidity of 30 to 40 percent is considered ideal, but any time you heat or cool the air inside a house, you change humidity levels as well.”
How Can You Maximize Comfort with a Thermostat?
Upgrading to a modern or smart thermostat with features like motion sensors can help! When combined with smarter furnaces or boilers, these devices can account for more of the factors above to make the home more comfortable.
Pro Tip: Smart thermostats with motion sensing can detect when someone walks in front of the device and know the home is occupied—and when there’s no activity over a period of time, the system knows you’re away and adjusts accordingly. As a This Old House expert explained, if you have multiple sensors throughout the house, the system becomes even more effective at auto scheduling based on real activity rather than a preset clock.
How learning thermostats work: A learning thermostat observes your daily habits—like when you turn up the heat in the morning and dial it back when you leave for work—and automatically builds a program around your routine. As explained in a This Old House segment, the goal is that after the thermostat learns your schedule, you’ll never have to touch it again. It does the adjusting on its own.
Resources
While Richard and Ross emphasize that temperature is just one measure of comfort in a home, they also point out that innovations in new thermostats are allowing room temperatures to be more precise and more effective than in the past.
To demonstrate this, they referenced a variety of different thermostats, including the Nest Learning Thermostat and the Ecobee 4 Smart Thermostat, which can be found at most home centers.
