Cooler climates. When do you turn your heat on?

[Dan Murphy]

Not sure if you are being genuinely curious or not, so I'll just take it at face value.

Yes, genuinely curious, I still like learning.

Thanks for the explanation. Your average climate explains why AC is not prevelant. And no mosquitoes! What a blessing that is. When they start here, they can certainly ruin a nice evening outside.

Thanks again, BPT2.

 

[MIGrandma]

We live in the country and have a propane furnace, it has already been turned on. We usually keep it at 68 but on bitterly cold winter days we bump it up to 70. It automatically goes to 65 from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Also have baseboard electric heat in the family room and an electric tower heater and both have been on occasionally already. We are old and don’t like to be cold.

 

[disneyseniors]

Extreme northern Minnesota here! We moved here from Tennessee and I couldn't believe just how cold it gets here!!!
I about died the first winter, LOL. Our winter jackets were like their spring jackets! I had to buy a whole new wardrobe.

Been here for 25 years or so and now the cold doesn't bother me.
We have an older house that has electric baseboard heating, which is Very Expensive. We have backup LP stove which we use to heat the house up with the electric only turned on in our coldest rooms. We keep the house cool which is how I like it. I wear flannel shirts over short sleeve tops all winter and use a lap quilt when sitting down if needed. It can get to -30 here with high winds which usually means -50 or higher. I am retired now and don't have to go out in the winter, which is great! We also can have lots of snow to plow through too with icy roads.

Our electric bills are horrendous! We have about 3 months of 400 to 500 dollars a month!!!! The rest of the winter runs in the 200 to 300's. Our worst ever was $550.00. That doesn't include the cost of LP for our stove. It is all very expensive. We have the best insulating windows in our house and a lot of insulation too. It's just something we have to save for each year because we know the electric bills will be high. Writing all this is depressing!

Why do we live here??? Kids and grandkids

 

[antmaril]

Michigan here. If I wake up and the thermostat says 66 or below, I will turn on the heat. That will happen later this month.

 

[georgina]

We turn the heat on when we feel cold. No set date. Have been really enjoying the last month, with no heat or A/C needed. Currently thermostat is off. We usually keep the heat at 68 or 69 during the day, cooler at night.

it got up over 80 outside today, I just looked at the thermostats - it’s currently 80 in the living room and 79 upstairs. Still comfortable since the humidity is low. I just opened the windows so it will cool down.

I’m certain I have never had the heat and air on during the same day.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I'm in Kentucky, so not really a "cold" climate, but I just turn on the heat when I'm cold. Usually if the house gets below about 65, I'll turn it on. There are plenty of times that we will have the heat and AC on in the same day.

 

[nene0182]

I don’t have a set date. This time of year I usually have the thermostat to cool to 74 and heat to 68 so if it’s somewhere in between there nothing is running.

 

[tvguy]

AC is set at 76. House is 75. It's 72 outside. My wife baked a cheesecake so the oven has been on despite the family room sliding door being open.

 

[dizneegirl]

When the house falls below 64 during the day, we turn the furnace on, and it's set to 64.

 

[ronandannette]

I’m another one who doesn’t quite get the concept of turning heat on-and-off. The thermostat on our central system (no A/C) stays set to 22C practically all the time. That’s about 71F and it rarely kicks in between July and September, but we do get cooler nights.

We just moved into a condo with in-floor radiant heat and even though we’ve got the thermostat as low as it will go and our daily temps are down around 15C, it is HOT in here. Again, no A/C, so it will be interesting to see how we fare in the peaks of summer heat and winter cold. All the utilities are included in the condo fees, praise the Lord, so at least we don’t have to contend with spiking energy costs. Canada has a number of old and new carbon taxes on heating fuel of all kinds and it will make for a very trying winter for some.

 

[georgina]

I’m another one who doesn’t quite get the concept of turning heat on-and-off. The thermostat on our central system (no A/C) stays set to 22C practically all the time. That’s about 71F and it rarely kicks in between July and September, but we do get cooler nights.

We just moved into a condo with in-floor radiant heat and even though we’ve got the thermostat as low as it will go and our daily temps are down around 15C, it is HOT in here. Again, no A/C, so it will be interesting to see how we fare in the peaks of summer heat and winter cold. All the utilities are included in the condo fees, praise the Lord, so at least we don’t have to contend with spiking energy costs. Canada has a number of old and new carbon taxes on heating fuel of all kinds and it will make for a very trying winter for some.

So you are not paying for your energy costs. I guess you could go away for a week in the winter and not bother turning down your heat. We leave the house for the day and turn down the heat, no reason heating an empty house. We use our heat and air as little as possible, both for cost and environmental reasons.

 

[PollyannaMom]

No set date here either. - We have heat and AC so we can be comfortable, and turn one or the other on if we're not, regardless of the calendar.

(And yes, there's always a day or two once in a while when it gets cold enough for the heat to run for a bit in the very early morning, and AC for a bit in the mid-afternoon.)

I love when the temp is perfect for having the windows open, but that's limited further around here because DH and DS both have some pollen allergies.

 

[LSUmiss]

I’ve never understood waiting for a certain date to turn the heat or AC on.

If I am cold I turn on the heat.

If I am hot I turn on the AC.

There have been many days where the AC is on for the second and third floor and the heat for the basement and first floor.

And in Louisiana that could be on same day!

 

[LSUmiss]

Orlando area. I try to only use a space heater in our master bedroom a few times in late January and/or early February.

Our central unit only comes on when the thermostat hits <60 degrees (maybe once or twice a winter).

ETA: Sorry...I misread cooler climates in the title.

Lol me too when I first responded. I do the same with a space heater in Nola. Guess I’m used to my humidity. I hate the dryness with the central heat. Messes with my sinuses. At night, we will set the heater to like 60 if it’s cold outside. But that usually doesn’t happen to Nov or maybe Dec even. My house is new construction & well insulated so too much heat will linger!

 

[Minnesota!]

Minnesota here (duh), and we try and make it past Halloween. Air came back on Saturday night, so...hopefully furnace is far, far away!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Lol me too when I first responded. I do the same with a space heater in Nola. Guess I’m used to my humidity. I hate the dryness with the central heat. Messes with my sinuses. At night, we will set the heater to like 60 if it’s cold outside. But that usually doesn’t happen to Nov or maybe Dec even. My house is new construction & well insulated so too much heat will linger!

We have a humidifier on our HVAC. During the summer it is closed.

Too much humidity is a problem no matter where you live, it's also not good for your health. Things that increase your allergies, mold and more. That's why more humid year round climates have their own issues.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

NJ here.

This is my life for September and most of October. I’ll turn on the heat in the morning if it’s 65 or lower. And I only do that for my SO because the cold doesn’t bother me but it does bother him.

 

[LSUmiss]

NJ here.

This is my life for September and most of October. I’ll turn on the heat in the morning if it’s 65 or lower. And I only do that for my SO because the cold doesn’t bother me but it does bother him.

That’s more jan-Feb for us.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

That’s more jan-Feb for us.

I haven’t had to turn the heat on yet. This week is going to be in the high 70s-low 80s so it won’t be happening soon either. Probably mid to end of October. Our thermostat hasn’t gone below 70 yet. It may have gone down to 68 on a day I opened all of the windows but it felt so nice.

 

[LSUmiss]

I haven’t had to turn the heat on yet. This week is going to be in the high 70s-low 80s so it won’t be happening soon either. Probably mid to end of October. Our thermostat hasn’t gone below 70 yet. It may have gone down to 68 on a day I opened all of the windows but it felt so nice.

Today it’s 86 here & it’s a cool front! And welcomed!