Is there any harm in keeping heat off in a closed off room?

[Fern]

My house is heated with oil (forced hot air thru floor vents) except for a family room that was added on to the house later; it's heated with electric heat and since CT's electric rates will as of Jan 1 be double the national average, i don't want to heat the room. It sits above a garage and there are no plumbing/pipes in the room.

In the past, i kept the electric thermostat set in that room at about 55 degrees cus i was afraid very cold temps might somehow harm my wood furniture (thru expansion/contraction) or allow mold to grow?

What do you think?

[tinapbeana]

Originally Posted by Fern

In the past, i kept the electric thermostat set in that room at about 55 degrees cus i was afraid very cold temps might somehow harm my wood furniture (thru expansion/contraction) or allow mold to grow?

What do you think?

well, mold should only be an issue if there is significant moisture in the room. if that's the case, you'd likely have mold issues with the heat on in this room, too. and honestly, mold doesn't like it really cold, so the lower the thermostat goes the better of you'd be mold wise!

as for expansion/contraction i guess it might depend on how the furniture is made. seems to me stuff that is glued together would have more chance of having issues that items that are nailed/screwed/dovetailed together.

[MonkeyMama]

The weather is pretty mild here but when we moved in we had 3 rooms completely unused. The upstairs and downstairs has separate heating and cooling, and just enough heat would waft upstairs to heat the hall and our bedroom so we didn't turn it on upstairs for the most part for 3 years. So 3 closed off bedrooms had no heat.

No prob.

OF course I don't think it really dropped below 50 inside so maybe more of a consideration in colder climates - I don't know. We had nice wood furniture in the rooms- they are all fine. I would guess if you set it to 45 or 50 should be just fine. You get lower than that, I have no idea...

YEah now we turn on the heat upstairs for the kids who now fill the once empty rooms. One more way they cost us money - LOL.

[sparkysgirl]

I was always told to keep closet doors shut if you do not want them to cool down the house. I don't think their would be a big issue with keeping a room blocked off. I keep my bathroom blocked off,but like first person said.I would be worried about mold, unless you wanted to keep a dehumidifier in there.

[Ima saver]

I thinnk you will be fine to close off the room. As mentioned, mold does not like cold weather.