Where do you set your thermostat?

[threeboysmom]

For us, the cost is the major factor. I'd rather spend our money elsewhere (like Disney!) We keep the temperature at 66 day and night, and I have to admit I do freeze even though I am layered up (my nose and fingers are usually icicles). The boys still run around in T-shirts and bare feet!!!

If I was going for comfort, I'd have it set to 72-74 during the day and probably 68-70 at night.

I find if I'm really SUPER cold, I will go iron clothes. That usually warms me up! LOL!

 

[Momof6]

We have 6 bedrooms in our 1915 house...we live in Rochester, NY - WE ARE COLD ALL WINTER! We did lots of research to be sure we stayed safe - and had to invest in a few small space heaters for the third floor bedrooms. I highly recommend good socks and slippers for everyone in the family, very warm fleece sweatshirts/pjs. Also, we have a couple of warm throws on the back of every livingroom chair/sofa.
We keep our heat at 68 from 3-11pm. It is lower during the day (even though I work part time and am home during some of the time it is 62!) and I think dh has it set for 65 at night.
We pay for our own heat. We keep it cooler because it costs us a fortune, even with our brand new furnace.
Funniest thing is going to WDW and watching people shiver when it is 65 out! Heck, we're swimming in that weather! LOL!

denise

 

[Lorikr65]

Funniest thing is going to WDW and watching people shiver when it is 65 out! Heck, we're swimming in that weather! LOL!

denise

That's too funny!! We're in RI and think the same thing. 65 is perfect pool weather! I was laughing because on an earlier thread people were suggesting to others to bring hats and mittens for their December trip - that's perfect weather for us.

 

[cepmom]

I tried to hold out for November 1st, but I had to break down and turn it on yesterday. When I woke up, the temp in the house was 58 !!

I just reset my programmable thermostat...it comes on at 6:00 AM at 67 to warm things up, goes down to 65 during the day (I am a SAHM), 62 at night when we are sleeping. It is usually a little higher than that, but with this year's rising gas prices, I am determined to save a little money.

We also have a wood stove that I am considering using as much as possible. We did not order wood since we don't have a place to store it, but DH bought some bundles of wood at Lowes (I know...not cheap) and I was thinking of supplementing the wood with "newspaper logs". My Dad used rolled up newspaper logs in the 70's to supplement our wood stove. I figure, we have the newspaper that just gets put out for recycling every week anyway so why not?

 

[alicenwonder99]

I keep ours set at 62-64 degrees. Any higher and it gets too stifling in here. I used to think that our house was just old and the thermostat was off, but we moved over the summer and in our new house I still keep the thermostat at 62-64 degrees. We also close the vents upstairs because it gets too hot upstairs. So, I guess I keep my temp there for comfort, because any higher and it's uncomfortable. We have natural gas (forced air) and we pay for it. I'm expecting our bills to skyrocket this winter.

I have a friend who keeps her thermostat set at 70-72 in the winter and I don't know how they live like that...it's always so hot and uncomfortable in her house.

When we were in college, we kept the thermostat at 58...couldn't afford it any higher...lol.

Mary

 

[disneysteve]

I voted 70-71 but it really depends on who is home, time of day, outside weather and what we are doing in the house.

This time of year when it is just starting to get cold (40's at night, 50's during the day) I'll keep it at 69-70 during the day when we are all home and 66 or 67 when we're all out for the day. If it is just me home, I'll leave it at 67 and only turn it up when DW comes home and complains about it.

When we get into the heart of the winter when it is in single digits outside, we may up the thermostat to 71 or 72 during the day depending on how we all feel.

Yes, we pay for our own heat and our main concern is comfort.

 

[HayGan]

We have ours set at 72 degrees for 6:30am- 8:30am while everyone is getting ready for school/work. At 8:30am it is set to go to 66 degrees until 6:00pm when it is set to go to 70 degrees for the house to be warmer when we get home. We keep it at 70 degrees until 11pm when most of us are sleeping and then we have it drop to 67 degrees until 6:30am.

On the days that I work from home or on the weekends, we are trying to keep it at about 68 degrees during the day. We are opening the drapes to let more sunlight in as well to help heat up some rooms.

 

[Cthia]

My goal is to keep our two programmable thermostats set for 70 degrees and our manual one at 70 degrees. I figure since we set our A/C to 70 degrees I should be able to handle that all winter. I haven't had time to play with the programs and set them for away, etc. But I am not against turning up the heat if I get cold. I would rather be comfortable than freezing.

Last year we had our heat on at 72-74 degrees and lowered to 70 when we were sleeping and away from home. We are hoping since we had a new system put in our kitchen area we will be saving on our heating bills since we seemed to lose a lot of heat in that room. Crossing our fingers.

We pay for on our oil. Two systems are forced hot air and the other one is baseboard. We did turn on the heat back in September.

I am prepared to pay about $2500 in oil this winter.

 

[jay-nee]

66, but man, it is so damp lately! I HATE to be cold. The kids don't seem to mind the cold, but I'm always chilly. And, I dress in layers and layers.

I think that different houses set at the same temperature can feel very differently.

We have had monthly oil bills as high as $600 with a newer very well insultated home. I pre-paid this year to lock and am hoping that we can keep the temp set at 66 to make ends meet. This year they estimated our heating bill for this heating season at $3300. Ouch! I really need a smaller house...

Usually, we start at 66 and gradually move it to 68. By January I can't take it cold in here anymore and I just want to feel warm again.

BTW, we have a forced hot water furnace burning #2 oil.

Happy Tuesday!

 

[shaylahc]

I live in NC so it doesn't get unbearably cold. We keep our thermostat set at 74 degrees year round. I have 4 small children, including a baby, and I want them to be warm. They often like to peel off their clothes so I take that into account when I set the thermostat.

I grew up in Michigan and Ohio and my mom always kept the thermostat cold I hate being cold.

 

[summerrluvv]

I haven't turned the heat on yet. It's cold in here, about 64 degrees, but with a few blankets, it's fine. It's just the walking into a cold house after work part that I hate. My gas bill is already $100 a month and that's without turning the heat on, so I'm scared to use it until it gets really cold!

 

[Servants of Evan]

We keep our thermostat at 64 when we're awake and in the house, and 60 degrees when we're away or going to bed. I change the air filters monthly (high efficiency plus standard fiberglass), and make certain the motor and fan bearings have been lubricated, belts are checked every now and then, and check to ensure the burners are adjusted and we're getting a "good burn."

While our fireplace is probably more decorative than intended for primary heating -- it was originally equipped with a steel insert when it was built (1947) which is designed with a rear "duct system." This pulls air in from the outer bottom sides of the mantle, circulates around and overtop of the insert then vents through louvers in the face of the mantle. With a small to decent fire going it's amazing how much heat it'll put out. To improve effieciency, I've toyed with running two 120mm 12V computer fans off an old PC power supply of mine. While it's not perfect, I'm now forcing air in and over the insert as opposed to simply relying on convection. The air coming out doesn't seem to be quite as hot as without, though it's only an observation and I have yet to measure it. What it may lack in temperature however, is more than made up for in volume. If I can manage to better circulate that air throughout the house, I could probably cut my dependance on my furnace even further... Now if I could only find something which would automatically close the flue when the fire goes out at night!

Servants of Evan.

 

[BethR]

Yesterday I posted that I had set our thermostat at 68 for the daytime while I am home since I would be busy around the house.

Today I bumped it up to 69 degrees. It just seemed so much colder at 68. Like I said, I am experimenting right now and we will see what the gas bill ends up being.

 

[Kaa]

I really can't stand to use the heater in the winter because it messes with my head. When my husband finally says it has to be turned on, we set it around 74 degrees. Thankfully, we don't have to use it much at all during the year. In fact, there are times when we use the heater one day and end up turning back to the AC the next. That's Texas for ya!

 

[mom2alix]

DH had the programmable thermostat set to 68, but I've found it a little too warm, so I changed it to 66. May turn it back up when it gets colder, but right now 68 is too hot for me!

 

[summerrluvv]

Well, I decided I was going to use the heat today. Changed the filters and turned it on and what do you know, it doesn't even work! It doesn't even "click" on when I lower the thermostat. Guess it's time to call maintenance

 

[mom2jamie]

I usually try to keep it around 60. If we put it any higher it gets extremely warm upstairs. Also with the price of oil, I would much rather to put on a sweatshirt , it is cheaper that way.

 

[MELSMICE]

Just this year I decided to change our settings to 67 during the day & 62 at night. In the past we have always done 68/daytime & 64/nightime.

Because they are saying heating costs will be much higher this year I am hoping to save a little money. I am usually fairly warm during the day because I am always doing something. I am usually wearing a tee & sweater/sweatshirt, socks & slippers.

I told DD's to start putting on sweatshirts when they get home from school if they are cold instead of complaining.

 

[bethbuchall]

Where do you set your thermostat?
Let's answer regarding during the day when people are home. Not at night or when the house is empty. We generally set it around 65-68 degrees. It is an older thermostat and difficult to know exactly where it is set. Right now we only have the heat on in the bedroom zone, because it was getting too hard to get the kids out of bed in the mornings. The temperature in my bedroom is 67. The living area of the house is about 60 right now. The problem comes in the winter. Even though we have the thermostat set around 65, the furnace has a hard time keeping up if it stays single digits or low double digits (no insulation!). Then the house is in the high 50's which is freezing to me.

Is your main concern cost, comfort, environmental impact?
I think that we weight comfort a bit higher than the other two, but they are fairly equal.

Also, very important aspect-- do you pay for your own heat?
Yes, we have a natural gas, baseboard hot-water system.

Beth

 

[Maybelle]

Last year we had our programmable thermostat set at 63 during the overnight, with it coming up to 66 in the am, and staying there most of the day since we homeschool, and are home most of the day. When I would go out I would bump it back down to 64.

This year, with the increase in oil prices yet again, we set it one degree lower all the way around. I am often cold, though, and often bump the heat up a couple of degrees and let the house warm a little more in the evenings. We have cast iron baseboards, so they hold the heat a long time. DD and DH never seem to be cold though, only me!

Our heat NEVER gets set over 68 though. Last year it cost us around $200-$225 per month to heat our 5 room house...and that's with a new furnace and windows!

I would love to have June weather all year...or maybe we shoud just consider moving into POFQ for the winter!!!!

Stay warm!!