Turn the thermostat down or leave it at 60?

[CowboyCO]

Another way to look at it is this.

You drive a car at 80 miles an hour for 24 hours. Or you can drive it at 80 for 6 hours and drive 55 for 18 hours. Which plan will use more gas? 24 hrs at 80, right?

It;s the same thing. It takes more energy to go 80 than to go 55 (assuming you are in the same gear). It takes more energy to keep the house at 70 than it does to keep it at 70 for 6 hours a day and drop it to 60 when asleep and out of the house.

 

[Green Tea]

The man who fixed my furnace said to set the thermostat and leave it alone. (This is heat pumps) He said they run more trying to maintain a changed temperature. And not to set it low. Ultimately it didn't save anything.

 

[estherhead]

The analogy about the speed limit & the car again only works when you are talking about a gas furnace, as then you are discussing burning fuel. Like a fireplace. Obviously, it takes less wood if you don't burn the fire while you aren't home or are asleep.

But with radient heating you're dealing with water. So, for example, let's take coffee (which is essentially hot water.) It costs a lot less energy to heat the coffee up once in the morning & put it in a Thermos than to let it get cold over & over again & reheat it over & over again. That is why radient heat shouldn't be turned up and down but should just stay the same.

The heat pump also is not just a fuel burner. It heats by raising heat a few degrees at a time, thus the reason the air coming from the registers of heat pump feels cold, it's just a tiny bit warmer than the room temperature but still colder than your body temperature. So if you are raising and lowering the heat a little bit you can still save energy, but if you are turning it down to say, 58, while you're at work and then back up to 70 when you get home it is going to run A LOT to keep gently raising the heat those 12 degrees. It more than likely will run more in the hour that you are home, than it would have run total while you were gone to keep it at 70.

We have a heat pump & gas furnace. The gas furnace only runs when it gets below 30 degrees outside. When it is that cold, we just put more clothes on & turn the heat pretty low at night & while we are gone. But when it is 50 outside we just set the temperature at 68 degrees and leave it alone.

The cheapest way to heat, however, is also the most expensive to put in. Geothermal.

We also have 2 gas fireplace inserts which save a lot of money as we can leave the rest of the house very cold & only heat the rooms we're in when we're in them.

Are you all a bit lost now? Sorry I'm not the best explainer.

 

[ahilly]

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.

just a ?-
is it difficult to replace the thermostat? I really want to do this but don't really want to pay someone if I can do this myself. Thanks.

 

[estherhead]

Here's a link to instructions. But, again, I wouldn't do this if you have a heat pump. Heat pumps in cooler climates take an indoor & and outdoor t'stat and so I wouldn't mess with it.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Improve/ProgramThermostat.html

 

[kellia]

For those who think that 60 is freezing (and I agree) please note that they live in an apt, so they get heat from those around them, too. My mom lives in an apt (in Michigan, too) and she rarely ever turns her heat on because she gets so much heat from surrounding apts. We had the sliding door open at Christmas because it was WAY too hot in there.

 

[disneysteve]

For those who think that 60 is freezing (and I agree) please note that they live in an apt, so they get heat from those around them, too. My mom lives in an apt (in Michigan, too) and she rarely ever turns her heat on because she gets so much heat from surrounding apts. We had the sliding door open at Christmas because it was WAY too hot in there.

My mom's apt. is like that, too. She's on the 3rd floor and hardly ever needs her heat. I once lived in a ground floor apt. that was over the boiler room for the building. I lived there for 2 years and never once turned on my heat. In fact, I often had to open the windows a bit during the winter to cool off the place.

 

[roselark]

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.

We do this and it saves us a ton every year! We had a lapse in judgement during the 2006-2007 season and decided not to...we did it this season and our bills are averaging $100 less per month even though it has been colder on average this year!

We also have a programmable thermostat and leave it at 50 when we aren't home, 65 when we are home and up, and 60 at night. I do get cold sometimes, but I just put on some cozy socks and a sweatshirt and I am fine...

 

[disney1990]

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

Ours is set on 65 and I sit around in the winter wrapped in a blanket too. It would be lower, but we have a Guinea Pig and he is supposed to be kept at 65-70 degrees. I already keep a warmer under his cage during the winter.

I would love my house to be in the 70s during the winter, but that would bring an electric bill that I couldn't afford to pay.

 

[crazelion]

I hate my programmable thermostat. I can't programmable thermostat right too save my life. Just don't understand that damn thing for the life of me. I told man the get a non programmable thermostat that push up and down. But no he had to programmable thermostat in to complain it save money. it would save money if new have work it. Still reading the book on the programmable thermostat try make sense of it.

 

[Terk-1]

Our thermostat is set at 60 degrees and does not change. By doing this, we used a total of 350 gallons of oil the entire season last year and will usually only need about 2 fill ups each season. The motto in our house is if you're cold at 60, put on a sweatshirt or grab a blanket. Heating oil, as with gas, is just getting too expensive to waste on setting the temps higher in the house. We make sure to get the furnace cleaned every year and that helps with the efficiency.

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

Put us in the category of keeping our house kind of cool. I have it set at 64 during the day and evening when we are here. At night, it goes to 60 and when we are not here, it goes to 58. People just have to deal with it. I would love to have it warmer, but we have a lot of square footage to heat and I don't feel like paying the high oil prices. We do have a woodstove in our basement and we put that going occasionally and that helps as well. It is a VERY efficient woodstove and when that is going, we turn the heat way down on the first floor of the house.

 

[cukal6]

Okay, I need help with this heat pump thing! WE had 2 installed last year, one for the upper level and one for the lower level and this is currently how we have our thermostats set.

Lower level - 68 during the day (i'm home all day) 58 at night.

Upper level - 63 during the day 66 at night.

You're saying it would be cheaper to leave them both set at one temp all day every day? I thought we would see a huge difference in our electric bill when we installed these but we haven't. Although our gas bill has gone down quite a bit. We also live in a 100 year old home with the original windows and no insulation.

 

[disneysteve]

We also live in a 100 year old home with the original windows and no insulation.

I think this explains your utility bills more than anything else.

Replace the windows and you'll see your bill plummet. And install insulation so that you aren't heating both the inside and the great outdoors.

FYI - If and when you replace your windows, DO NOT allow the contractor to keep the old windows and don't trash them. Those old glass panes are valuable. We recently had an estimate to replace the windows at my office (built in 1919) and we were told that each pane was worth about $30. We have dozens of panes.

 

[cukal6]

We've replaced most of the windows upstairs, but it gets costly. We have 42 windows in the house so it's a slow process.

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

I think this explains your utility bills more than anything else.

Replace the windows and you'll see your bill plummet. And install insulation so that you aren't heating both the inside and the great outdoors.

FYI - If and when you replace your windows, DO NOT allow the contractor to keep the old windows and don't trash them. Those old glass panes are valuable. We recently had an estimate to replace the windows at my office (built in 1919) and we were told that each pane was worth about $30. We have dozens of panes.

I agree with this! Yes, those windows can add up to cash for you!! People like me buy them!!! They make great decorative pieces if you do it the right way. When we built our home, we did not cut corners with windows as they really can affect your utility bills.

 

[estherhead]

And if your electric bill has stayed the same & the gas bill has gone down, the heat pump is saving you money.

It sounds like you have a zoning system (with the 2 heat pumps) and truth be told, I don't know a lot about them. I'd ask your installers this question. It can't hurt to ask, right?

Also, if electricity has gone up in your area from last year or if this year has been colder than last year the heat pumps can be saving you money & you just don't know because the comparisons are off.

 

[cukal6]

Very true. WE are saving money over past years but it's still hard to see that high electric bill. Where could we sell our old windows at? We looked when we took out the first set but didn't know where to start? Most of them are in perfect shape with no cracks. They're also rather large pieces of glass.

 

[Sally]

I set the heat pump at 70 all year, and no one is allowed to change it. So far it has kept the bill at a constant rate and the girls are well adjusted to the steady temp. I always thought that if the heat pump had to run alot to heat up or cool down a house that isn't good for the equipment and very expensive to say the least.

 

[lisaross]

I have gas heat - i had it set to 62 when we sleep but just changed it to 60 wonder if 2 degrees will make a difference for 8 hours each night?

During the day when not home i leave it to 65 and 70 when we are home - at times i move it up to 72!

My husband would have it at 74 all the time if i'd let him or if he knew how to program the thermastat.

lisa