For those that turn thermostat down at night,

[lisaross]

how long does it take to warm your house back up in the morning..i turn mine down to about 61 at night then at 5:30am i have it set to go up to 71 but it seems like it takes a couple of hours...does this seem right?

thanx

 

[finz2left]

Depends on so many things ... sq ft., insulation, flooring type, etc. We have a well-insulated 2,100 sq. foot home with carpet upstairs, and laminate/tile down, and it only takes 15 mins or so to feel toasty...

 

[greens_in_WA]

It seems that I read somewhere that "they say" to set back the temperature 5-7 degrees for best energy conservation... whether or not that's ture - i can't say... but I read it somewhere... some time...

 

[casjen]

and down to 64 at night. It takes an hour to warm back up in the morning. We have hot water baseboards.

 

[abcboys]

What kind of furnace do you have? We turn ours down to 63 at night and set to 68 during the day. Our furnace is a boiler radiant heat (not sure what those are called) and it seems like those take a long time to heat up the house. I have it set to come on about an hour before we get out of bed and it still hasn't heated it up all the way. I would think a regular hot air blown furnace would warm it up faster.

 

[PixiePlanner]

We have a heat pump and were instructed to not have the temp change more than 3 degrees at any one time: if we do, it defeats the efficiency purpose of the heat pump. Ours goes to 66 at night and 69 in the AM. Takes about 15 minutes.

My inlaws drop theirs to 58 and up to 72 in the morn. I don't know exactly how long it takes but I have always thought that must run the furnace something fierce trying to bring the temp up 14 degrees. Who knows.

 

[abcboys]

and down to 64 at night. It takes an hour to warm back up in the morning. We have hot water baseboards.

Yeah, I think that's what we have, too. Its slower to heat than regular hot air heat.

 

[hipchickie]

We drop ours to 55 at night, and bring it back to 65 during the day.

It does take a couple hours for it to recover, but it does save - our old oil guy told us that it was a myth, that because the boiler has to work so hard to bring it back up to temp that there is no saving, but my DH has a friend that is a HVAC engineer and he said the oil guy was nuts We even tried not setting it back and it was amazing how much more oil we went through - maybe the oil guy was just trying to sell more oil

 

[Minnesota!]

It seems that I read somewhere that "they say" to set back the temperature 5-7 degrees for best energy conservation... whether or not that's ture - i can't say... but I read it somewhere... some time...

This is true. My BFF's dh is in heating/cooling. You shouldn't ever have the temp vary more then 5' or so - because the energy it uses to heat up the house going from 61 - offsets any cost you are saving from setting it to in the first place. So, best bet is if you need the house at 71' during the day, you shouldn't be setting it lower then 66 or so at night. We tried it out for 2 months at setting it lower/bringing it up 10+ degrees during the day and he was right. A LOT more energy is used trying to heat the house that much more..

We keep ours at about 60' at night and 65' during the day.

 

[3boymthr]

You really shouldn't turn it down more than 5 degrees. It's just not efficient. DH is an HVAC tech and is always reminding me not only do we have to warm up the air, we have to warm up all our stuff too (a good reason to keep the house clutter free ). He also says to make sure to keep closet and cabinet doors closed as they are not factored into the heat efficiency of the furnace/boiler.

Another thing to do to help improve the effiiency of your heat, if you have baseboard is vacuum out the coils at least once a year. If the fronts don't come off and on easily use a crevice tool to get in there and suck out all that dust. DH also gets down and bleeds out all the excess air at least twice a season.

 

[hipchickie]

DH is an HVAC tech and is always reminding me not only do we have to warm up the air, we have to warm up all our stuff too (a good reason to keep the house clutter free

I hate to single this out, but it was exactly what our engineer friend said is a myth. He told us there is no extra energy expended to warm up your belongings.

If you think about it, the "clutter" would even act as a heat sink, retaining heat for longer Just like keeping your fridge stocked makes it more efficient

 

[hipchickie]

Interesting - this is the US dept of energy, and they recommend a setback of 10-15 degrees...

http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/space_heating_cooling/index.cfm/mytopic=12720

Also -
"A common misconception associated with thermostats is that a furnace works harder than normal to warm the space back to a comfortable temperature after the thermostat has been set back, resulting in little or no savings. This misconception has been dispelled by years of research and numerous studies. The fuel required to reheat a building to a comfortable temperature is roughly equal to the fuel saved as the building drops to the lower temperature. You save fuel between the time that the temperature stabilizes at the lower level and the next time heat is needed. So, the longer your house remains at the lower temperature, the more energy you save."

 

[phred52]

Our heating plan is a tad different. We used to drop the heat at bedtime, and warm up the house in the morning.

NOW, we are in our second year of this........ Heat the house to 68 from 3PM until 8 PM using an automatic thermostat. Any other time is automatically set for 62. This is because we are routinely home in the afternoons and head up to bed before the house chills off too much.

IF anyone is home during the day, (we all have odd work schedules) we'll pop the heat up to 68 BUT it's set to automatically drop again after 4 hours. Anytime one of us gets chilly, that person just pops the temp back up to 68. Last year we saved hundreds of $$ by doing this....

We couldn't seem to routinely remember to drop the heat when we were gone all day......but this system works like a charm for us....

 

[SalandJeff]

I would really recommend that anyone who does not have one get a programmable thermostat. They are not very expensive and will more than make up what you pay. We have gas heat, and when we had ours installed the gas company did the installation for free.

We have ours set to go down to 62 at night. At about 5 am it goes to 66 to warm up the house, then 65 during the day. If it is sunny in the afternoon, the house usually goes to 67 without the heat. And if it is really cold, we turn it up a degree or two as needed.

 

[disneyfan55]

We have cast iron baseboard heat so it does hold the heat for a longer time than forced hot air. We set it back to 60 at night and have it go to 68 at around 5:30. Most days it's fine to have it range that much, but when it is VERY cold (under 20 F) it does take longer to warm up and also cools off sooner than I would like in the evening. When colder out I do usually raise it to about 64 during the night so it doesn't get too cold. As others have said it does depend on a lot of factors like insulation, basement, type of heat and house style.

 

[lisaross]

we have foreced hotair heating...our house is about 1400 sq. feet plus the basement that is finished so i guess 2100sq. ft.! We have carpeting upstairs and in the basement not on the 1st level..i like turning the heat down at night because i like sleeping in warm pj's even a heated blanket when i first get into bed..my husband sleeps in boxer's so he needs the heated blanket lol!

those of u that keep it about 68 during the day wow - i'd be freezing..i have it set for 71 when i'm home w/the kids after school, sometimes raise it a degree or two!

i think i'll set it to warm up the house in the am a bit earlier to give it more time!

lisa

 

[wdwfan16]

Our home is designed to raise the temp in the winter or lower the temp in the summer by 2 degrees per hour. Our home is very efficient and if it was turned down to 61 at 10 pm at 6 am it would be 67-68 degress. So it would take about two hours.

 

[Swimalie]

We have gas heat and the thermostat is set at 63 at night starting at 10pm. It is set to be back to 68 by 6am - the time my husband gets up. So around 5:45 I sometimes hear the heat coming on and it will stay on until it hits 68, usually 15-20 min.

 

[hipchickie]

those of u that keep it about 68 during the day wow - i'd be freezing..i have it set for 71 when i'm home w/the kids after school, sometimes raise it a degree or two!

I would be sweltering at 71 if it is at 68 I am comfortable in yoga pants and a tank top, I can lower it to 65 if I put on a long sleeve shirt and I am putsing aroung / cleaning/ whatever

Our new house is not drafty at all though, and I have noticed a big difference in the temp I am comfortable at. In our old 100 year old house, I could have easily kept it at 70 and still been chilly

 

[happymommy]

We have a programmable thermostat (actually 4, but I don't heat one area of our house). This is actually a reminder to me to recheck them, as I get up at 5 am, and my kids tend to wipe out early and want to get up at 5 to make up any homework they didn't get done (DS has ADHD, and even with his afterschool dose of meds now, he has a hard time by 7).

Anyway, I have it at 65 or so during the day, 62 at night, but when I get up before anyone I put it up to 69 for a while. Takes maybe 20 minutes tops to feel really warm downstairs (the two that I set at that). The upstairs one I leave alone. I figure they can get up and come down!

It is hard now that it's cold! I hate sleeping in a warm room - when I lived with my parents still, I left the window open during the winter (in St. Louis!). My dad is some heat freak - I swear he puts their thermostat to 80 or more! I like about 60 to sleep.

So, I guess my answer to the OP is about 20 minutes tops. We have 4 zones for about 8000 square feet (finished). Our old house was 3500 square feet (except the basement) and we had only one furnace. The heat was fine, but the a/c was not when it was hot.