When Do You Turn On The Heat?

[DivaJen]

We have our thermostat set to go on at night if it drops below 60 in the house, or below 66 during the day. (I think - it hasn't kicked on in a long time!) It does its thing automatically, so I don't turn it on or off. I need to take another look at the settings, come to think of it. With all three of us gone during the day, it doesn't need to be at 66 for the cats. I love the programmable thermostat - we can set it for different times throughout the day as well as for each day of the week.

(We're near the coast, but 10-15 miles inland it's been much warmer during the day and much cooler at night. If we lived more inland our heater might have actually started kicking on at night.)

[Ima saver]

Eleven days straight, no heat, no air conditioner!

[shelbylovesmelby]

Dh has turned it on in the mornings when he's getting ready for work as it's freezing in here. But I have been checking it & turning it down when I get up & he's gone.

I would of liked not to but we've been getting into the 30's @ night & our house isn't very air tight.

[Cheetahwoman7]

Around here, it's usually around the middle of November when I have to turn on the heat. This year, winter is early (I just hope it's not as long as last year when we had all that rain out here!) and it feels like it's already time to turn on the heat. I'm not looking forward to having an extra couple of months of higher gas bills.

CJ

[lrjohnson]

We have a disagreement in our house. My Guy wants to be comfortable in shirtsleeves. I say that wearing a sweater or sweatshirt inside is perfectly fine.

[getforfree]

Wearing just one sweatshirt is fine, but when you get to the point where you have to wear 2 sweatshirts and a hat, then there is a problem. I can't have really low temperature in the house because i have little kids, but in the winter time I keep it about 68-65, and they are wearing long sleeve shirts+sweaters+thickmaterial pants+socks+sleepers. I just check if their hands are cold. If the hands are warm, than they are ok. Or I would turn the music on and we would be jumping and dancing, I will let them to take sweater off while doing that, but when they stop, they have to wear it again after 30 min or so.

[Ima saver]

We haven't turned anything on yet, it has been 15 days with no heat or a/c. It gets down in the 40's but my house is very well built (of course) When it gets cold, I usually wear 2 sweaters and sweat pants.

[Gruntina]

I remember my apartment building that I lived in during College in Montana had a huge problems with the pipes froze up and did some damaged. College student would go home for the Christmas breaks and turn off the heat while away. Every year a letter is sent out to remind us that it is required to leave the temp on 55 or 60 degrees. Now I am so pampered in CA!

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by lrjohnson

We have a disagreement in our house. My Guy wants to be comfortable in shirtsleeves. I say that wearing a sweater or sweatshirt inside is perfectly fine.

I've got it worse. I am comfortable in a t-shirt when my wife is wearing a thermal undershirt, sweatshirt, sweatpants and two pairs of socks. If we turned the heat up until she was comfortable, I'd be roasting (plus the bill would be insane).

[abowers]

It's been getting into the 40's at night here, but our apartment temp hasn't dropped below 65-66 to my knowledge. We're holding out as long as we can! We have a pup though, and she's sensitive to temperature (She's a greyhound, she has no fat on her bone-and-muscle body), so we'll probably be turning on the heat when the inside temp drops to 60.

We've only turned on the heat once so far and that was to test it. (We moved here July 3, so we haven't used the heat at all). The heat works, but there must have been dust in it, because it smelled funky and set off the smoke detector!! Luckily we tested it when it was still warm out - because we had to open some windows to get the smoke detector to turn off.

Anyway, we'll turn on the heat when it's too cold for us or the dog. We're probably going to get an efficient space heater as well when it gets colder, because word on the street is that the heaters don't heat the whole apartment too well in this complex.

[twinsmommy]

I am going to buy the babies some blanket sleeper and leave the heat off as long as possible. I will probably use a space heater for a while before heating the whole house. Of course, I live in Texas and had the air conditioner on today so heat may not be an issue for the next six weeks or so. It has been a brutal summer! TXU's prices are ridiculous but we are supposed to get some relief from full deregulation in January. I hope so. I am tired of having a house at 80 and still getting a $400 electricity bill.

[PRICEPLUS]

We have our MIL with us and she can't take excess in either heat or cold. We have to heat the house to about 70 degrees. It kills my wallet but what can you do?

[Lori63]

It was 54 yesterday upstairs where the bedrooms are so I put it on. We have tri-level heating so we only have it on the level we need it. The basement is still warm and the middle level is cool but tolerable.

[catlinye_maker]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

I've got it worse. I am comfortable in a t-shirt when my wife is wearing a thermal undershirt, sweatshirt, sweatpants and two pairs of socks. If we turned the heat up until she was comfortable, I'd be roasting (plus the bill would be insane).

We've got the same situation. I bundle up in sweaters while my husband is still in T-shirts. Fortunately we're of the opinion that running around in T-shirts in the winter is silly, so the heat, when we turn it on, is set at 65-67 during the day and 55 at night. We fire up the furnace when it gets below 65 during the day inside. The cats resent it but we do fine. It's a progression. First, one quilt on the bed, then two, then the flannel sheets for the winter, then we turn on the heat.

I have a medical quirk that at relatively cool (not cold) temperatures, my body shuts down circulation to my extremities (like frostbite but much earlier). Down booties and microwaveable hand warmers really help with that.

[Ima saver]

Ikeep my house cold, but I have a tiny dog that gets cold. I have a heating pad that I put in her chair and that keeps her warmer.

[LuxLiving]

I like it cold, The Hubster likes it warm. Bought him a 'granpa sweater/coat' and he deals.