Your home's thermostat may have a lot to say about your comfort and your heating and cooling costs-literally. A well-known maker of energy related products has introduced an innovative, programmable "Talking Thermostat."
Designed to make the control of home comfort systems easier for homeowners/tenants, the thermostat's EZ Talk feature guides the homeowner/tenant audibly through every step of programming their heating/cooling system thermostat.
If service is required, the thermostat tells homeowners/tenants the name and contact information of the dealer or contractor who installed their equipment. The dealer can also customize the prerecorded voice message to provide information in either a male or female voice. This provides homeowners/tenants with an easy, one-touch "dealer locator" that takes the guesswork out of who to call and saves time.
The user-friendly York Talking Thermostat offers a number of additional features that will appeal to homeowners/tenants, including an easy-to-read, lighted LCD display that shows current temperature, set points and the heating or cooling mode of operation.
"Dealers who have previewed the product believe the LCD display will also be an important feature for some customers who are elderly or visually impaired," noted Andy Fracica, York brand marketing manager. "It's a state-of-the-art design and we are the only manufacturer to offer it."
Separate weekday and weekend programs allow homeowners/tenants to set four different time/temperature settings each day, while a manual override feature makes it possible to override and change these settings.
The thermostat is designed to protect comfort systems with a number of alerts. A low battery warning informs homeowners/tenants when it is time to change the batteries, helping to maintain the efficiency of the system. In the event of power fluctuations, a backup battery system prevents reprogramming after power outages. The Talking Thermostat will also automatically call for heat at 40 degrees, even if the batteries are dead or not installed. This is a great feature for vacation homes or when the homeowner/tenant is on vacation or away from the house for a long time.
The Talking Thermostat reminds homeowners/tenants when it is time to clean or replace a filter. Another alert reminds homeowners to perform annual maintenance and routine service to keep the system performing at optimum efficiency.