Heat: Is it better to keep it on or turn it off and on?

[AllyandJack]

My best friend is wondering if it's better for her to set her heat at 68 and leave it on or to keep it off until it's cold and then turn it on until it's warm and turn it off again.

She uses gas heat and this is the first year she has to pay for it since it was included in her rent last year.

Any info?

Thanks!

 

[vettechick99]

What's the temp of "comfortable"? 70 or like 78?

My DH and I have this argument. I think it depends on how low you let it get. If it has to work overtime to get it warm enough in the house, then it's really not saving anything.

But if you push it down just a few degrees, then I think it's ok.

This is just speculation on my part though...I have no evidence of anything.

 

[Tracey1974]

We have one of those programmable thermostats (around 30-40 bicks at Home Depot) and have it set for a cooler temp during the day when we are working and at night when we are asleep then a warmer temp when we are home and right before we wake up. I think if she has a reliable thermostat, it makes more sense to set it where she wants and let it come on when it is cold enough. I think it is worse when you change it all the time. Does that make sense?

 

[AllyandJack]

That's what we were thinking. I keep mine at 68. I hate heat, so I like it chilly. She's pregnant, so she's hot all the time, too.

We figured it would be more cost-efficient to set it at 68 and just let it turn itself off and on when it drops below 68....as opposed to waking up freezing cold and having to turn it up to 75 to warm the place up fast or have it take 20 minutes to heat up to 68 when it's dropped to 60.

But, we're not experts....even though we tried to sound like we were by rationalizing why we were right.

 

[Nancy]

We keep ours at 68 in the winter. What we do is when they start to predict the really cold weather we turn it on at night. That way if the house gets too cold it will kick on. So far this year we have not turned it on yet. We do the same with the air in the summer. When they start to predict the hotter weather we turn it on the night beofre the heat starts, that way as soon as the house gets too warm it kicks in. If you wait for it to get too cold, it runs forever and bam...higher gas bill. Same with air, if you let the hosue get super hot the air will run non stop to cool it off.

We NEVER set the temp lower when we sleep or leave the house, I haven't figured out how that saves gas, or electricity. If the house is down to say 62 and then you have to heat it to maybe 70, it is going to run for a while to get the house warmer, how does running non-stop for a longer period save money over having the house a constant temp. I have friends that do that and they have always had higher gas bills than me with smaller houses.