What temperature to heat house at for fuel savings? - Page 2

[34me]

I live at about 6500 feet in CO.  I have a gas fired boiler and keep it at 60 all day/night.  We have electric mattress pads on all the beds.  On the really cold night that I'm worried about pipes freezing I set the dishwasher to go off at midnight and the clothes washer at 2:30am.

[swede]

Hod do you set those appliances to go off?  Are they on timers externally?

[Poddi]

We keep ours at 65F all the time.  That's the lowest we can comfortably go without layers.  At that temp everybody wears just one long sleeve t-shirt, and one layer of pants, plain cotton socks.  If I sit around too much I might start to get cold, then I put on another layer and fuzzy slippers.  We all have sensory issues and being a bit cold is much more tolerable than wearing layers or wool stuff. :)  Our heating bill is usually not very big due to the mild winter here.  Usually only 3 months every year it's over $100 a month (and our house isn't small), so we haven't been too vigilant about saving heat.

My grandma however wears two layers of shirts, a wool sweater and a vest at 65F.  But then she's tiny and 92.

[worthy]

Wow, I guess I shouldn't fret about not setting ours colder than we do.

We have three zones.  I currently have the lower level (rarely used) at 50F, the bedrooms at 50F, and the main level at 60F during the day and 50F at night.  I can't remember exactly what we did last year, but I might move it up a degree at a time if 50F feels intolerable.

We just got programmable thermostats on our lower and main level.  I have the lower level set basically to reset itself to 50F 4x/day if anyone bumps it up because they're using that space.  So if the kids won't bump it up high and forget to turn it down, it will go back down on its own.

On our main level, I might set it to bump up to 65 for half an hour before we get up and then back down to 60F.  Haven't decided yet.

We may install a woodstove on our main level, which will help at least give us a locus of warmth to gather around.  We are also getting solar hot air blowers through a subsidized program that will blow into my bedroom, which is also my workroom.  The blowers run on their own thermostat and only run when there is sufficient sun.

Also, when we had more income, over the past few years, I invested in woolen longjohns in each kid size (to be handed down - I mend these diligently throughout the winter!) and good Smartwool socks and woolen balaclavas and good slippers.  I'm kind of fanatical about kids wearing slippers over their socks to keep their socks from getting holes.  We wear lots of layers in winter.  If the kids are cold, they put on more layers, hats, wrap up in blankets, snuggle a cat, or make hot tea or something.  I do think the woolens, though expensive (we got a deal through a group we are in) help us save money on oil.

Money is very, very tight this year.  Last year was easier; we kept it between 55F and 65F and it felt toasty.  The previous two years we kept it between 50F and 55F.  This year I'm aiming for 50-60F.

Today the temp ranged from 61-64 indoors.  The heat hasn't kicked in yet at all.  There was a frost last night.  We got weatherized through the state program two summers ago and I am so grateful - I think it makes a huge difference.

[my2girlz]

I haven't turned ours on yet since most times it warms up in the house. It's dropped down to 59 overnight, but then warmed back up during the day. I normally set it to 66 and leave it, but I'm looking at purchasing a programmable thermostat and having it drop down to 60 overnight.

[tccandlsccmom]

Been using our heat a bit, my second winter back north.  Set it at 65 or so when we get home, lower it at bed, and really lower it when out of the house.  Thinking of getting a heated mattress pad or something like that..

[onlyzombiecat]

I try to keep the main floor of our old house around 65F. Any cooler than that starts to get uncomfortable. The upstairs is often much cooler than that. 

I don't change the thermostat between day and night much. 

We are on an equal payment plan with our gas and electric companies so we pay the same all year round... between $100- $120 for each.

[blackannis]

In our old house (~1300 sq. ft, 2 floors, 94 years old but with newer windows, in Rochester, NY), we kept the thermostat at 66-67 during the day when we were there, and 59-60 at night or when we were going to be gone all day. We did have a programmable thermostat, thank goodness. There were a fair number of cold spots in the house, though, and I tended to spend most of my time bundled up in at least a sweater over a long-sleeve t-shirt, sweat pants, and thick socks. Sometimes I'd add on a shawl too. DH was fine, though, and DS, who seems to be warm like his daddy, was as well.

Now we're in basically a 2 and 1/2 room cabin in Virginia. We've had a couple of 30-something nights where we lit the small woodstove (our only source of heat besides some electric baseboards upstairs) and good HEAVENS does it get warm . . . we're in the low 70s before we've had the stove going for an hour. We're definitely not worried about the winter. Yay for a small, open floorplan house.

Edit: argh, DH has decided 69 is too warm and he's opened the door to the porch. It's in the mid-50s still, but really.

[cappuccinosmom]

PA, natural gas here.

I have had to put it on earlier than I'd hoped, as we are having moisture problems and I need to get the air flowing and drying out a little.  It's set at 63 right now, and I hope to keep it there through the winter.  We have done 68-72 in other years, but I don't think we can handle a $400 monthly bill.  We could get LIHEAP to help with that but in our experience they take months and months to approve your application, which doesn't help when your acct is low and you're suppose to pay the bill tomorrow. 

[jemmyk]

We live in Indiana and when I lived at home with my parents, my dad always had the temp at 68 in the winter. I hated it because it was so cold! but now having my own home and family we do the same to save money. We can always put on more clothes

[autumngrey]

Thanks for the links with advice about thermostat savings. I knew that dropping the temp when no one's home is good, but wasn't sure about the amount/duration to make the most impact.

We turned on our heat a week or so ago, and this year we're aiming to keep the house between 63-72, dependent on the hours when someone is home or in the 50s if no one is home for a few days. DH and I both shiver even at 72, so it took some efforts to convince him to let it be that low, even though I have to wear two layers from neck to toe and cuddle under blankets too. I must admit I steam a little hearing the furnace kick in at 5am when no one gets out of bed until 7:30, but I haven't figured out how to reprogram the thermostat since DH usually does that. We just got a new furnace so hopefully there won't be any $300+ energy bills this year. We have a 95 year old 2-story house with original windows and a few newer storms, and just upgraded to a 96% efficiency natural gas furnace from a 30-some year old not efficient unit, in a region that stays (well) below 0*F for weeks at a time (let's just say the locals often wear shorts--outside--when temps get back to +10F because it's so warm, and the water lines from the city to our house freeze, prompting the city to send letters asking us to keep a faucet on 24/7). Cold. I really want to deal with blankets and slippers and dial down the temp a little further, but DH is a tougher egg to crack. If money (and the environment) were no object, I'd keep the house at 76 always. Maybe I should buy DH some manly slippers for Christmas...

[MommyDOK]

Glad I"m not the only one that is cold at 68.  At night, we keep it at 58 and during day 68, but if it's a gray cold day, I turn it up to 70.  I HATE the cold.   I walk around my house with a wool hat on.  Seriously. 

Does anyone have any suggestions for super warm sweats??  I really don't like the look of fleece sweat pants.  I see so many brands and it's hard to choose.  Under armor really that much warmer??  I wish I could move somewhere warm, but no way. 

Our heating bill is very high.  For last two years, went way up bc of taxes and govt regulation.  I cannot believe it.  This is killing my very tight budget. 

[zannster]

I've been trying to keep it at 65 degrees all the time. As it gets colder, certain parts of our house don't stay as warm (remodeling, poor insulation), and I may sometimes bump it up to 68 or so.

[DoubleDouble]

Layering helps. Some thin long johns under sweatpants make a big difference. Tank top + t-shirt + turtleneck + sweater, that kind of stuff.  Or, thin cotton long johns + woolen "tights" + heavy warm pants. Two socks (cotton + thick wool.)

A while ago, I went through some hormone disturbance (side effect of the meds I had to take) and I used to be cold no matter what temperature indoors. I'd wear all those clothes, a fleece robe, and then a fleece blanket on top. And a cat, when I was web surfing.

[Lovesong]

We aim at 68 in the room where we have the thermostat for the furnace. This room does get a little bit of spillover heat from the kitchen, when we are really cooking, but generally is a reliable room that is not too affected by different weather conditions and sunlight since the windows faces west. The moment the thermostat in this room feels it dropping below 68 it sends a signal to the furnace to fire up.

68 is really rather high, if this was the temperature all over the house. Problem is, on a windy and cloudy day or when temperatures really drop outside (5 degrees is not uncommon during winter) we have several rooms that struggle to reach 64. Mainly because of insufficient radiators and windows that really do need fixing (we do go over the winter stripping and replace it as needed, but it only goes so far).