what temp do u keep heat on?

[Snowgirl]

I keep at 70 (21C), and have programmables thermostats that go down at 64 (18C) for workdays/night. First years I used to go down to 61(16C), but it seems a differential of more that 3 Celsius costs actually more, since the house "envelope" gets too cold and you loose all that saving going back higher.

Like other, I don't compromise on the heat, I don't want to wear gloves/mittens in my own house!

[Angio333]

Constant temp of 62.

[JBinKC]

I have been heating with firewood since 2005. Typically, I try to keep in a 64-72 range in the room furthest from the heat source.

It sure beats paying $400/month and keeping it at 60 F.

[vole]

Wearing long underwear and sweaters, clutching a hot water bottle, drinking hot tea, and occasionally turning on the space heater, I keep the temperature at 61 degrees day and night.

I've heard lowering the temperature at night is less efficient than keeping it steady.

I'm flirting with 59-60 degrees but find I need to use the space heater more often and it gets to feel really cold. Maybe I need to add glove to my indoor clothing.

-Dave

[red92s]

Wearing long underwear and sweaters, clutching a hot water bottle, drinking hot tea, and occasionally turning on the space heater, I keep the temperature at 61 degrees day and night.


-Dave

Wow, I must have a pretty high tolerance for cold. It's 61 in here right now and I'm wearing jeans and a sweatshirt . . .don't even have my slippers on!

[Thrifty Ray]

Our central air/heat has been out of comission for at least 10 years...we rely solely on our wood stove.. thankfully, the hub runs a firewood business as pt job to his ft job....so our heating costs are minimal...the problems come when we dont wake during the night to stoke the fire. There are mornings I can see my breath as I get ready for work.... brrr

[My English Castle]

I keep it at 68 when we're home, and it drops down past 60 when we're at work and at night. But even being a native Minnesotan, and always having a fleece vest on, I'm cold throughout January and February. We have flannel sheets, have put plastic on our leaky window, but still I'm cold.

The gas/electric bill was so ugly last month, I don't even like to think about it.

[srblanco7]

69 when we're home, 67 at night, and 60 during the day when we're at work & school.

[disneysteve]

I've heard lowering the temperature at night is less efficient than keeping it steady.

This is totally false. There are numerous sites that explain it in great detail. If you can't find it, I'll post links.

I'll never understand why this rumor continues to spread. How could it possibly be more efficient to run your heater more? The less you run it, the less it costs. Period.

[kork13]

This is totally false. There are numerous sites that explain it in great detail. If you can't find it, I'll post links.

I'll never understand why this rumor continues to spread. How could it possibly be more efficient to run your heater more? The less you run it, the less it costs. Period.

The idea behind it is that for some things, it IS more efficient to leave something running at a single, steady pace than it is to constantly turn it on and off. Think of a car... You get better mileage on the highway, where your speed does not change much, than you do in town, where you're constantly speeding up and slowing down. So when you turn off the heater, the room cools down. When you return from work (or whatever), you turn it back on. If the room was able to get too cold, the heater would have to consume more energy to bring the room back up to normal that it would have taken to just leave it on constantly. The though process is valid... Invariably, however, the failing of this is that most homes are insulated well enough that you aren't going to have a 20 degree drop in temperature in a matter of 8 hours at work, or while asleep.

Another thought... Often, the starting up and shutting down portion of machines is when they are most likely to fail, but while running, they have a much lower probability of experiencing any sort of mechanical failure. This is true for computers, cars, and aircraft. This is why my office's policy (we have literally hundreds of computers) is to never shut them down, and also why aircraft must start up their engines and such in progression, to make sure they get started properly. Once going, they're much less likely to have problems.

[red92s]

The on/off energy savings debate is probably more relevant to air conditioners, where you have a compressor cycling on and off. A compressor kicking on draws a LOT of power, and it can be beneficial to find that "sweet spot" where you minimize how frequently it is cycling.

[Cylenchar]

We keep it at 65. But we also have a older house so the windows and doors leak something fierce. We will be getting more insulation put up in the attic this spring (want done by May) to help keep house cooler in the 100+ degree summers.

[Cylenchar]

My parents live in michigan, and they keep their house around 60 during the day in the winter, turn down to mid 50's at night. Too cold for me... I can be wearing a coat and still cold. We gave them a plant we had had in our apartment because we were going to me moving cross country and didn't have room. this plant survived the 8 hour drive down to there house, but the next morning it looked like someone had sat on it because it didn't like the cold in their house.

[indycobra]

We keep ours on 74 around the clock.

[kilapapipa]

66 here in Central Wyoming but we run a wood stove also when we are home and everyone has electric matresses for just before bedtime. I like that drop it 1 degree a year theory. I am going to try that.