What is lowest you set heat while away?

[JessicaW1234]

What is lowest setting that is safe to leave the thermostat while away?
Forecast is for below freezing.

 

[kathie859]

What is lowest setting that is safe to leave the thermostat while away?
Forecast is for below freezing.

I just read something about this!! The article said that in winter, 60 is the lowest one should set the thermostat if they were going away for an extended period.

 

[FiggieFan]

I agree. We were told to keep the thermostat no lower than 60 while away.

 

[csharpwv]

If the temp is below freezing, you really shouldn't set it lower than 62 degrees!

I know 2 degrees doesn't sound like much - BUT, your house can drop 2 degrees before the furnace can bring it back up to 62 - SO in reality a 60 degree thermostat can result in a 58 degree temp in your house.

If you had your pipes wrapped with heat wrap in unheated areas of your home (basement, crawlspace etc) you could go as low as 55 or possibly even 50.

Another option is to turn your water off and drain your system if you are going away for a REALLY long time - BUT - and big BUT here.... If your home is older, you do not want to leave your plumbing fixtures dry for long than a 7 days or so - your seals can dry and crack in that amount of time and you would then have hundreds of dollars spent in fixing fixtures and faucets when it is all said and done! So much for energy savings in that scenario - right?!

 

[disneychrista]

55 The same that it is set for when we are here.

 

[plummer925]

I live in Maine and own 2 homes - one is not inhabited but it is where we run our business from so we do not have the heat up there unless working.

In our main home we keep the heat on 60-62 during the day and 53 at night.

The other home is set at 53 all the time (unless we are working).

Anything over 45 will keep pipes defrosted.

 

[kimsuenew]

We live in Ohio and always have ours set between 52-55 while we are home/awake, off at night/while at work unless it drops to 48 (set to kick on at 48). I would think 50 would be fine for an empty home. Our pipes do not freeze at 48-52.

 

[MSSANDRA]

We live in Ohio and always have ours set between 52-55 while we are home/awake, off at night/while at work unless it drops to 48 (set to kick on at 48). I would think 50 would be fine for an empty home. Our pipes do not freeze at 48-52.

Ok, I am amazed by this but would LOVE your power bill. How do you guys dress in the home? Do you have little ones? I would love to turn ours down some but I am thinking like 65.

We own a vacant house and we did the research and most resources said 50 to 55. We keep it between those two.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

We keep ours at 58 all of the time - even when we go away. Pipes have never frozen.

It can be chilly but it depends on what you're doing. If you're moving around you don't notice it - if DD / DH sit down to do a LEGO project and say they're cold after sitting for a bit I tell them to put on a sweatshirt

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

We keep ours set at 60 when away. It gets below freezing and stays below freezing almost all winter. Some nights below zero. Burrr.....

 

[phred52]

We leave ours at 55 when away, 63 when we are home. Sometimes it gets bumped to 68 when visitors are here, but for the most part our house is at 63.

 

[Lintasare]

70. Never goes lower than that in the winter.

 

[tlkgt76]

What is lowest setting that is safe to leave the thermostat while away?
Forecast is for below freezing.

We live in Central Illinois, where it can be anywhere from -10 to 60 this time of year, but usually its around 30 as an average. When we went to Disney last December, we set the thermostat at 55 degrees, which worked beautifully. No frozen pipes or damage and one day it was 12 degrees at home. (Native Floridians must have thought we were nuts swimming at the pools in WDW because it was around 60 at night lol).

 

[Riles_and_Gabe]

We keep our house at 50 while we are sleeping and when we are away from our house.

 

[bdcp]

My family (parents/in-laws mainly) complain the house is cold when it's set at 69 lol. 69 is what I keep it at during the day in winter, 68 at night and it runs quite a bit when it's cold. At 55, I'd be freezing and I'm VERY warm natured.

When we're away I set it at 64 in the winter.

 

[mom2val]

!

 

[bdcp]

Wow! I live in Texas and i keep ours set at 69 and my family complains CONSTANTLY that i am freezing them to death!

I agree. There's also health issues with keeping a house that cool. Flu viruses spread much quicker in cooler and drier conditions. The humidity level is much lower at 55, which means the flu virus lives longer. Another reason we have a whole house humidifier and keep our house at 68-69. At temps above 60 degrees, the virus has a harder time transmitting as the temps affects the outer shell of the virus. At temps below 60 degrees, the outer shell is firmer and therefore survives longer and can be transmitted easier between people. There's a whole NIH article on the subject.

 

[kamik86]

Honestly for frozen pipes it really depends alot on your house. My parents house never had the thermostat sent under 65 and would still often get frozen pipes even when we were home because it was an old badly insulated house. (They had to keep the cupboards under the sink open all night to get enough heat around the pipes to keep them from freezing and even then on REALLY cold nights had to have the water set to a slow drip!)

My house doesn't go below 62 at night and that is the coldest I would keep it when away and most of the time higher then that... but that is because my kitties are still home and someone will be dropping by to take care of them so I keep the heat on for the people that will be there when I'm gone.

 

[WantToGoNow]

Ours stays at 60 whether we are here or not. It's really not that cold in here - put on some slippers and put a blanket over you when you're not doing anything active. My dd9 had a sleepover 2 weeks ago and the kids were complaining it was too hot. Our family consists of 3 adults (my oldest dd, me and dh), ds11, dd9, a cat, a dog and 6 fishes and we are in Ohio.

 

[Keegansmommy]

Our house is 68 while we're home and 60 degrees when we're away or sleeping.

I would turn the heat down more at night but my 3 year old will not leave covers on at night and he is like a little popsicle in the morning as it is.