Turn the thermostat down or leave it at 60?

[AuroraBorealis]

Help me settle a debate (and maybe save some money on the electric bill!)

My roommate insists that it is more economical to leave the thermostat at 60 (she calls it room temperature) all day long, even when we're at work and the apartment is empty. Her reasoning is that the heater has to "work harder" to heat up after being turned down and that uses more energy.

I disagree. It makes absolutely no sense to heat an empty apartment. Not to mention it is environmentally irresponsible. Our energy bill has nearly tripled(!) this winter and I'm pretty sure it is because she leaves the heater on all the time! (She also runs the dishwasher every other day because she's too lazy to wash her pots and pans by hand and the dishwasher is often nearly empty but that is another issue....) I often come home for lunch and walk in to find the heater running -- not maintaining "room temperature" but trying to heat it up to a certain temp.

Everything is electric. For the record, I rarely ever turn on the heat in my bedroom and often just put on a sweatshirt when I'm home.

So, is it more economical to leave the heat on all day or smarter to turn it off when the house is empty?

 

[CowboyCO]

It costs less if you turn the temp down while you are out and back up during active time and then back down at sleeping time.

We replaced out old thermostat with a $35 programmable one and it saved us 30% the first month. It is set for 70 between 6-8 am and 6-10 pm and 60 all other times.

 

[mickeyfan2]

You are correct but there is now way I would have the house below 60 when I returned. 60 is too cold when I am home.

 

[of the seas]

Are you sure you don't mean 70? I keep my temps down, but I don't think I could keep it at 60 all day. We would freeze!

I always keep mine turned down at night and when we are out. I feel it saves us money. The key to turning it up is only turn it up a couple of degrees at a time. Like I wouldn't jump from 60 overnight to 70 1st thing in the morning. I have it set to go a couple degrees warmer 10 minutes before our alarms go off. Then a couple of degrees cooler about an hour later. I keep it the warmest at 3pm because the sun will be going down soon and that's when I'm the coldest. I have it set to go back down at 9pm.

 

[problemchild718]

We keep ours at 62-65 when we are home and 58 when we're not here. We also have a programable thermostat. It turns up in the am and pm. Took a week or so to get used to it. 68 seems hot to us now!

 

[kellijo]

WOW!! 60 is sooo low! I am in the Dallas area where it is around 50-70 most days and mine is set on 73!!! I get cold EASY!! I would freeze in you apt!

 

[mickey'sbud]

This isn't to solve the debate, but to help save w/ energy cost...try putting plastic over your windows to help insulate your apt.

 

[maggiew]

We keep ours at 62-65 when we are home and 58 when we're not here. We also have a programable thermostat. It turns up in the am and pm. Took a week or so to get used to it. 68 seems hot to us now!

WOW! I couldn't do that!! We have ours set at 74. But my elderly father who lives with us is home all day. So I can't turn it down. And he is on blood thinners, so he's always cold. He's even cold with it at 74, but DH won't set it higher. Dad just sits on the couch with a blanket around him.

Maggie

 

[plummer925]

I keep my thermosat on 64 when we are home (day only!) and 56 at night.

I live in Maine and it is very cold, so sometimes if the wind is blowing, or it feels damp, I do put it up to 66 or 67, but NEVER higher than that.

That being said - we have a programmable thermostat and that has saved us a LOT of money the past few years!

 

[budbeerlady]

OP we do that. It is 60 when we are home and 50 when we are not home or at night. It saves alot on gas costs. My mother in law refuses to budge the temp, she thinks it takes more to heat it when you turn it back up. (I know we go thru less gas.....)

I would rather put on a sweatshirt than pay for more propane (frees up Disney money!!!). It used to save us alot but Dh is home this winter and we have less heat down time during the day.

 

[mountdew1]

If you are located in an area where you have to worry about pipes freezing, I always hear 58-60 to keep the pipes from freezing. Dunno why not lower, but that is what I am always told.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

I can give you an answer to this because we tried it at our house!

My co-worker was like, oh, you have to leave your A/C on all the time or you'll waste energy trying to cool a hot house when you come home. So we tested the theory.

June, left the house at 77 the entire month. Bill: 280 dollars.

July, kept the house at 77 at night and turned it to 85 when we left at 8, came back at 4 and turned it back down to 77. Total bill, 176 dollars.

Same in the winter, ran the heat at 68 all the time, bill 277 dollars (gas heat)

next month, when we were home we ran it at 68, when we left we set it to 60. Bill: 114 dollars (shaZAM!)

 

[hhartill]

I can give you an answer to this because we tried it at our house!

My co-worker was like, oh, you have to leave your A/C on all the time or you'll waste energy trying to cool a hot house when you come home. So we tested the theory.

June, left the house at 77 the entire month. Bill: 280 dollars.

July, kept the house at 77 at night and turned it to 85 when we left at 8, came back at 4 and turned it back down to 77. Total bill, 176 dollars.

Same in the winter, ran the heat at 68 all the time, bill 277 dollars (gas heat)

next month, when we were home we ran it at 68, when we left we set it to 60. Bill: 114 dollars (shaZAM!)

shaZAM is right! Now I just need to convince my DH that all of you are right and he is wrong. That should be easy.

 

[HelenePA]

If you are located in an area where you have to worry about pipes freezing, I always hear 58-60 to keep the pipes from freezing. Dunno why not lower, but that is what I am always told.

Mine wont go lower than 50, and its always 70 in here in the winter, summer is another story old house werid werid windows no central a/c its usually an uncomfy 85 I like winter

 

[smiller]

OP - I'm in the same boat!!! Roomie always wants to leave the heat up high while were gone, but I can't justify heating an empty house for a minimum of ELEVEN hours every day. She thinks, too, that it will cost less. (How does MORE heat cost LESS? )

I used to keep it at 60 when we were gone, but now I turn it down to 55. I usually get home first and only turn it up right away if it's already circulating to get up to 55. I usually do a bit of cleaning up, cooking, and then turn on the heat up to 60 when I sit down to dinner. I know roomie will come home, say "it's so cold!" and turn up the heat to 65. If I had turned the heat up to 65, she'd still come home, say "it's so cold!" and turn the heat up to 68. I can't sleep if the heat is higher than 62 so I always turn it down at night. She turns it up in the AM while getting ready for work; I usually wake up from strange dreams because I'm too hot and/or end up sweating while dressing for work. Living with a roommate is always a give and take!

We have gas heat and the prices are higher than last year. Maybe that's why roomie has gotten a lot better about turning it down when she leaves!

 

[disneysteve]

My roommate insists that it is more economical to leave the thermostat at 60 (she calls it room temperature) all day long, even when we're at work and the apartment is empty. Her reasoning is that the heater has to "work harder" to heat up after being turned down and that uses more energy.

Your roommate is absolutely, unequivocally incorrect. The longer the heater runs, the more money it costs you. So the lower you turn down the thermostat, the more money you save.

Ask your roommate this. If she wanted to have a cup of tea when she got home, would it make more sense to keep the kettle of water on the stove on low all day and turn it up to high when she got home, or would it make more sense to have it off all day and just put the stove on when she was ready to boil the water?

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Thanks for the replies, everybody! This has been really helpful. Her reasoning just wasn't logical. I will definitely insist on turning the heat down when we're gone. If I can put on a sweatshirt when I get home, so can she.

I would love to put in a programmable thermostat to help regulate things, but our lease does not allow it. I did get the weather stripping replaced on the front door (that has helped a lot!) and I have thermal curtains on some of the windows to help keep the heat in.

I can give you an answer to this because we tried it at our house!

Same in the winter, ran the heat at 68 all the time, bill 277 dollars (gas heat)

next month, when we were home we ran it at 68, when we left we set it to 60. Bill: 114 dollars (shaZAM!)

ShaZAM is right! I'll definitely have to tell her about your experiment!

Ask your roommate this. If she wanted to have a cup of tea when she got home, would it make more sense to keep the kettle of water on the stove on low all day and turn it up to high when she got home, or would it make more sense to have it off all day and just put the stove on when she was ready to boil the water?

Great example with the tea kettle! I'm a big tea drinker so this makes total sense to me. Thanks!

 

[Bethany]

60 degrees?? Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! And I thought I was "bad" for wanting to keep the heat under 70! My dh is a big baby and he wants to be able to walk around without a shirt on in his house .

If I were single I'd have the heat at 65, and wear a sweatshirt and slippers.

 

[estherhead]

Had to hop on & say that this depends on what you are heating with, and for how long you are gone or turning the heat down for. For gas furnaces & air conditioning, you absolutely should purchase a setback programmable t'stat. It will shave 15-25% off your heating & cooling bills.

For heat pumps, it depends. I'd contact whoever sold it to you & ask. Certainly don't just buy a generic t'stat as it could not work with your model & end up costing you money, plus heat pumps gradually raise heat using the temperature in the air so if you're going to turn it down for short periods of time, you may find turning it down & up does end up costing you money.

For radiant heating it is very inefficient to turn down the heat when you aren't there.

Not that I'm an expert, but I am a certified HVAC tech. This is the advice I give people.

Anyway, this fight probably has it's roots in you both growing up with different kinds of heating and cooling systems & therefore you grew up believing different things about the subject. So your roommate may be wrong in this case, but I'm sure the idea wasn't plucked out of thin air.

 

[ceecee]

We have a heat pump and had a new heater installed 5 years ago. They told us then that it would cost more to heat the house from being really cold as to just turning it down a little. Our heat pump runs continually until it gets to the set temp. so I am thinking it depends on the type of heat you have as well.