thermostat setting for winter.

[WhoDaresWins]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ls99 I am curious. AFIK Ventless gas heaters dump a lot of moisture into the enclosure. From memory a gallon of nat gas burned creates roughly one gallon of water wapor. How is the indoor humidity?

Is, I don't know what my indoor humidity is, but there are certainly no signs of excess humidity in my home (mold, mildew) and my white walls are perfectly clean with no streaks. My fireplace is located between two windows and I use it in a very limited way (maybe a half an hour a couple of times a week when it is really cold). I know they are not meant to be a sole source of heat or to be run for hours on end. I also have the fireplace professionally checked/cleaned every October by the area's most reputable chimney and fireplace retailer. I have hard-wired smoke/CO-2 detectors throughout my house also.

[ls99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhoDaresWins Is, I don't know what my indoor humidity is, but there are certainly no signs of excess humidity in my home (mold, mildew) and my white walls are perfectly clean with no streaks. My fireplace is located between two windows and I use it in a very limited way (maybe a half an hour a couple of times a week when it is really cold). I know they are not meant to be a sole source of heat or to be run for hours on end. I also have the fireplace professionally checked/cleaned every October by the area's most reputable chimney and fireplace retailer. I have hard-wired smoke/CO-2 detectors throughout my house also.

Thanks for the answer. Might be useful to measure the humidity level, they are cheap enough at Wallyworld.

[eytonxav]

I think some of you would be good candidates for the polar bear club

[meierlde]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulligan Currently 25 degrees outside here. My thermostat is set at 71 during day and 67 while sleeping. I have natural gas heat and it is pretty cheap. I am in my house a lot during winter and I damn sure am not going to be cold to save a $1 a day by lowering it. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

In Tx hill country using a heat pump. 72 heat all the time 78 cool. (It actually runs in this mode a few times in the winter if very sunny). Note that with a heat pump unless you have a special thermostat a change of more than 3 deg in the setting will turn the backup electric heat on. (Plus spend most of my time at home).

[rodi]

When we use the heater we set it to 68 during the day, and 60 at night. Night is defined as 9pm to 5am... (We're morning people and it's nice to warm up the house a bit before getting out of bed between 5:30 and 6am.)

That said - haven't turned it on yet this season. We had new windows put in for most of the house over the past 2 years (5 windows left to do in this DIY project). The new windows and added installation to any wall we've opened up have improved things. It was 43 degrees outside last night - but only dropped to 70 in the house.

Today's sunny - so we have windows open and fresh air blowing through.

[aaronc879]

I move into the master bedroom in the winter. I have electric baseboard heat so I can heat different areas to different temp. The master bedroom is set at 68 when i'm home-day or night. If I leave for at least 3 hours I turn it down to 60. If I leave overnight it goes down to 50. The rest of the condo is set at 50 all the time. The heat is on right now to keep it at 50. I have a bathroom that is right off the master bedroom and I just open that door occasionally to warm it up using the heat from the bedroom. I may turn the heat up to ~70 before and during a shower/getting dressed. I can save $100/mo in the winter by doing this. That is between 7-10% of my total monthly spending so it makes a real difference to me.

[WhoDaresWins]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ls99 Thanks for the answer. Might be useful to measure the humidity level, they are cheap enough at Wallyworld.

Thanks! You have piqued my curiosity. I will visit Wal-mart and inquire what devices they have to measure indoor humidity. I should add that I have never noticed any kind of smell from my fireplace and the windows on either side of the fireplace stay very clean with no condensation at all.

[ls99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhoDaresWins Thanks! You have piqued my curiosity. I will visit Wal-mart and inquire what devices they have to measure indoor humidity. I should add that I have never noticed any kind of smell from my fireplace and the windows on either side of the fireplace stay very clean with no condensation at all.

You noted having a CO2 detector. A CO detector is more useful as that stuff is more harmful.

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulligan Currently 25 degrees outside here. My thermostat is set at 71 during day and 67 while sleeping. I have natural gas heat and it is pretty cheap. I am in my house a lot during winter and I damn sure am not going to be cold to save a $1 a day by lowering it.

+1. Except 70 deg daytime, 68 at night. Natural gas heat, the house is fairly well insulated/sealed. I'm not going to be uncomfortable for the minimal savings to be had.

[jim584672]

75
Heat included in maintenance.

[sengsational]

I can't believe so many 66's in the daytime! Polar bear club indeed! Mine is 70 or a bit more if I'm not active. In NC so have not seen bone chilling temps. Natural gas bill is not too bad, so don't sweat it(see what I did there?) The upstairs furnace is off since we're empty nesters and have the master downstairs. The 2 story foyer allows a buncha heat up there, just not to warm in the individual rooms.

[LOL!]

We have natural gas heating, hot water, and the clothes dryer. Last month's bill for gas was under $22. The electric bill was under $40. Those numbers are too low, so I've raised the thermostat to 71 deg F in order to spend some money.

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational I can't believe so many 66's in the daytime! Polar bear club indeed!

Some of us have "tropical moments", don't you know.

When I go to Ireland I dread staying with relatives because they keep the overnight temperature close to freezing.

OTOH I would collapse from heat exhaustion in Walt's house.

[Sunset]

Ours is set to 70 in day and 65 at night for sleeping.
I have not yet changed the thermostat from work mode to RE mode, so it drops the temp in the day to 65 and I have to manually up it to 70 when I notice the chill.
However, we have a computer room which warms up nicely due to running 2-3 computers a lot of day. It can be 5 degrees warmer than rest of the house.

[NgineER]

67-68 degrees during the day, 60 at night. 140 year old house in Minnesota, so a little drafty, but greatly improved since I moved in.

[DayDreaming]

~64F day and night.

[Greg V]

65 Day and 60 Night

[jon-nyc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LOL! We have natural gas heating, hot water, and the clothes dryer. Last month's bill for gas was under $22. The electric bill was under $40. Those numbers are too low, so I've raised the thermostat to 71 deg F in order to spend some money.

Wow. Last winter my combined gas/electric bill peaked at 900/mo.

[LOL!]

^Not to worry, last month was October and not winter. Plus the house is small at only 3000+ sq ft. We average about $150 to $200 per month annually for gas & electricity. Gas for heating in the winter, electricity for A/C in the summer; spring and fall are cheap.

[ERD50]

I don't understand threads like this. To me, this is like asking "how much pepper do you use on your eggs? Maybe I should reconsider how much pepper I use on my eggs based on your inputs?"


So I'll answer in a general way first - for winter, we set the heat as low as we can and still feel reasonably comfortable, balancing that with a desire to save money and reduce the environmental impacts of setting it higher.

I pretty much do not pay attention to the numbers. I use comfort as a guide.

But for reference, we turn it down to ~ 58~60 at night. Once you are under the covers and warm, the air temperature isn't much of a factor, and it takes hours for the house to lose a few degrees. We are already asleep.

In the AM, I turn it up to take off the chill, and adjust it when I feel reasonably comfortable. I wear socks and slippers, long pants, an undershirt, shirt and sweater (layers are key). Often, I feel fine at ~ 62~64. If I'm actively working on something, that might feel too warm. If I'm not active, I might turn it higher, might not. Depends on how I feel.

By dinner, we turn it up, maybe 68 for the rest of the evening.

A lot depends on your heat type. With forced-air and Natural Gas, the house feels warmer in minutes, as the warm air circulates. Yet, it takes hours to cool appreciably, due to thermal mass.

When we go to MIL's, the heat is stifling. I need to dress like summertime in the middle of winter. I may start taking a fan. But that is what she needs to be comfortable.

-ERD50