What is your average household temperature in the winter?

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I'm in Georgia. In Winter we keep the furnace at 72 all day. I'd like to put it colder at night but my husband is cold all the time and doesn't want it turned down that low.

Usually I wake up in the middle of the night very hot so I get up, have a drink of water and move to the couch where it's cooler.

 

[Nancyg56]

NOrth Central CT and we are a house divided. I would keep it at 64 during the day and 60 at night but DH mutinies!

We do try to keep it at 64 during the say though, and I htink it makes a difference keeping us from getting sick. I have not won the nightime temp though.

 

[macraven]

Georgia also and have electric heat pump
Set at 73

24/7

Units for both floors same temps

We hate being cold....

 

[kuhltiffany]

Not sure what the conversion is, but 21 during the day and 18 at night.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

70-72. I'm in Wisconsin.

 

[FINFAN]

66-68...except when DS sneaks in and puts in on tropic mode lol (which I am in agreement on if cost weren't an issue))

 

[lovin'fl]

Maryland and 72

 

[ronandannette]

'Winterpeg' chiming in here. We have a ton of windows and I don't think they're very well insulated because the cold really comes off them.

I keep the thermostat at 20 and bump it to 21 when the wind is a'blowin. I prefer it cooler so when it's just me during the day I lower it to 19.

Brrrr You must hive ice-water in your veins to be comfortable at 19C.

The window thing is an issue I work through with hundreds of customers every winter. Your windows are likely installed just fine. In even the best, triple-glazed units, glass has a far lower R-value than the insulated wall around it. When temperatures get vicious as they can around there (and here) it is inevitable that the glass will cool from the outside in (unlike insulation, which keeps the heat in not the cold out). As warm air from your room rises past the cold glass it cools as it moves - this gives the impression that a "draft" is coming in. You will also get frozen condensation (unavoidable) if your room air is too humid.

I just keep it set at 70 all winter, no lowering while we are gone or at night. I tried one year lowering during the day when everyone was gone to 66 and increased up to 70 when we were home. I didn't see any different in my heating bill, so now I just leave it at 70 all day.

If you have a high-efficient furnace in a reasonably well insulated house, it will not be an energy savings to cool the house and then re-heat it. It's more efficient (meaning cheaper) to achieve and maintain a comfortable temperature.

 

[leebee]

I'm in Maine. DP likes it cool, while I like it a little warmer (although still cool by most of the posts I see here.) I like it 64-66 when home and no lower than 58 at night. I've woken up to 53-55 if DP sets the thermostat before going to bed. Of course, I bump it back up after!

I'm in Maine, too, in the Bangor area. We keep the thermostat set at about 57*F in the winter. Yup, that's brisk! My 115 year old house has lousy insulation, so after a certain temp we can turn the thermostat up and up and it makes no difference; it doesn't get any warmer in here, and we burn through oil. DH used to joke that if the thermostat is set about 60, we're just heating the front yard! This winter is better as we finally finished replacing the windows, and we'd already put down additional insulation in the attic. We have a space heater we use in the family room when it's really cold in the evening, but mostly we just each have our own throw blanket. DD's room has a space heater; she'd turn it on about 45 minutes before going to bed, but shut it off once she was tucked in. THere's an electric blanket on my side of the bed, but I don't really use it. I'll turn it on for about 15 minutes when I'm getting ready for bed and first snuggled down, but then I shut it off. Plenty of blankets are available, and we are comfortable- can't decide if I'm a hardy New Englander or just frugal (aka, cheap)!

 

[xlxo]

Not always. My mom lived to age 90 and in her senior years always kept the house cold in the winter. But she also grew up in the depression, and pointed out putting a sweater on was free, turning the heater up costs money.
She had an energy audit on her house and her furnace. Guy came in and inspected her then 45 year old furnace and said she was a perfect candidate for saving money with an energy saving unit. Only THEN did he log into her utility provider to get her usage information. He just shook his head. It would take 150 years for her to save enough money to pay for the new furnace! He asked her if she ever even ran the furnace!

Sounds like one of my cousins.... her thermostat is set to 57.... When visiting in winter.... I'll gladly pay for a hotel instead of staying at her place.

I'm in a similar situation with solar. My monthly electrical bill is something like $40. Could not justify getting panels installed.

Another personal reason for turning up the thermostat to 71... helps prevent the pipes from freezing. My wall insulation is so poor, the leaking heat has an added benefit. The agony when my furnace motor died on Xmas Eve and they could not get parts until after the holidays 5 days later.

 

[ronandannette]

I'm in Maine, too, in the Bangor area. We keep the thermostat set at about 57*F in the winter. Yup, that's brisk! My 115 year old house has lousy insulation, so after a certain temp we can turn the thermostat up and up and it makes no difference; it doesn't get any warmer in here, and we burn through oil. DH used to joke that if the thermostat is set about 60, we're just heating the front yard! This winter is better as we finally finished replacing the windows, and we'd already put down additional insulation in the attic. We have a space heater we use in the family room when it's really cold in the evening, but mostly we just each have our own throw blanket. DD's room has a space heater; she'd turn it on about 45 minutes before going to bed, but shut it off once she was tucked in. THere's an electric blanket on my side of the bed, but I don't really use it. I'll turn it on for about 15 minutes when I'm getting ready for bed and first snuggled down, but then I shut it off. Plenty of blankets are available, and we are comfortable- can't decide if I'm a hardy New Englander or just frugal (aka, cheap)!

Not much you can do if you house is leaking heat like a sieve. We've got a miserably cold spot in the floor of our master bedroom - 2' of the room is cantilevered out into thin air and I suspect it's not insulated correctly. The condo board will not allow us to have the cantilever opened up from the outside (which would be the easier fix). To make proper repairs we'll have to pull our carpets and remove the floor sheeting in that area and acces it from the inside - a big pain so we're just living with it.

 

[jo-jo]

We keep it 64-67....some days we just feel colder. But we turn it up to 72 when the grand kids come over. At night we have a mattress warmer on for about an hour. Nice toasty sheets. One of those things we can live without, but glad we don't have to.

 

[tvguy]

Sounds like one of my cousins.... her thermostat is set to 57.... When visiting in winter.... I'll gladly pay for a hotel instead of staying at her place.

I'm in a similar situation with solar. My monthly electrical bill is something like $40. Could not justify getting panels installed.

Another personal reason for turning up the thermostat to 71... helps prevent the pipes from freezing. My wall insulation is so poor, the leaking heat has an added benefit. The agony when my furnace motor died on Xmas Eve and they could not get parts until after the holidays 5 days later.

Most folks here that go solar go with a PPA. Costs you nothing out of pocket, you just agree to buy all the power off your panels at a rate lower than the electric company charges, then you sell any excess electricity back to the utility. I'm saving $25 a month, not much, but if I bought the panels, it would have cost $36,000 before tax credits. Couldn't justify that.

 

[blana]

68 for when we're awake at home. 65 when we're not.

 

[Momto2minniemice]

73 when we are home and at night about 70

 

[kimblebee]

Brrrr You must hive ice-water in your veins to be comfortable at 19C.

The window thing is an issue I work through with hundreds of customers every winter. Your windows are likely installed just fine. In even the best, triple-glazed units, glass has a far lower R-value than the insulated wall around it. When temperatures get vicious as they can around there (and here) it is inevitable that the glass will cool from the outside in (unlike insulation, which keeps the heat in not the cold out). As warm air from your room rises past the cold glass it cools as it moves - this gives the impression that a "draft" is coming in. You will also get frozen condensation (unavoidable) if your room air is too humid.

That's really interesting about the 'draft' feeling and thinking about it now, it makes total sense. Thank you for passing that on

I do like it cooler because I naturally run hot. If I get cold I put on a pair of socks or sit under a blanket for a while. Yes, even in the dead of winter if I'm home..I'm usually barefoot.

 

[martikus]

68 during day and 62 at night. Everyone says our house is freezing so we kick up a couple if someone is coming over. We got dual zone a couple years and it helped a lot. Now we don't have to keep our downstairs as a freezer to ensure upstairs isn't an oven. It is much more even feeling.

 

[georgina]

If you have a high-efficient furnace in a reasonably well insulated house, it will not be an energy savings to cool the house and then re-heat it. It's more efficient (meaning cheaper) to achieve and maintain a comfortable temperature.

Do you have a source for this? i have heard HVAC people say this, but most of what I have read says the opposite.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/01/07/curious-if-better-to-keep-thermostat-level/

 

[tvguy]

Do you have a source for this? Most of what I have read says the opposite.

I have a heat pump and they are more efficient leaving them at a set temperature.
I think with programmable thermostats the problem is people set them to warm up the house before they get up in the morning, instead of turning up the heat when they get up. Running the heater longer uses more energy.

 

[georgina]

Perhaps a gas furnace is different than a heat pump in this regard. It may run a bit longer in the morning, but running less for 8 hours before that will save more. Plus it goes back down for a large portion of the day if no one is around.