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We are a family of 2 adults sleeping dowstairs, 2 kids upstairs in as pretty big house in Chapel Hill. I'm home during the day. I set the thermostat at 69 for the daytime and 67 at night. This is main level. I try to keep upstairs set at 67 all the time as the kids are usually downstairs with us.
When we are going to be gone for more than an hour I move mail floor temp to 67.
I was trying to think of ways to help our budget and wondered if we could tolerate lower nighttime temps. just one degree seems to make a big difference. for example when I'm busy house cleaning I move to 68 but if just reading or watch tv it stays at 69. On the mornings it was 26 I moved to 70 to warm up the house for a hour or so. In other words I am moving the thermostat quite frequently. Is that counterproductive?
I turn mine down to 64, mostly because I have a 2-story foyer (and 1 zone heat) - the upstairs gets excessively warm if I go any higher than that. It's chilly when I get up, but really not that bad (and I turn it up then). I think you could go lower than 67 at night, especially if you have a programmable thermostat.
The type of heating system effects this (i.e. heat pumps vs a natural gas furnace). If raising the set temperature causes your electrical strip heaters to operate the efficiency of your heat pump system plummets (Heat pumps alone have roughly two to three times the efficiency of strip heaters depending on outside/inside temps - this is given by the COP rating of the unit). Strip heater operation is usually indicated by a light illuminating on your thermostat. If you have gas heat then this is not an issue.
We have two programmable thermostats and heat pumps. We have programmed setbacks overnight (62F) but otherwise don't touch them. Even so, the largest demand on the system occurs at the coldest time of time when its least efficient so its a double whammy.
Without getting a gas assisted or geothermal coupled heat pump there is really no great solution.
Ours is programmed down to 62 at night upstairs (where all the bedrooms are), and I think 60 downstairs. We have it programmed to warm up to 65 downstairs before we wake up. I sometimes bump it up to 67 during the day if we're home and feeling chilly, but usually 65 is fine for us.
(Heat pumps alone have roughly two to three times the efficiency of strip heaters depending on outside/inside temps - this is given by the COP rating of the unit).
Our house is 67-69 degrees most of the time. I set the thermostat to 65 during the night but it still feels too hot in the master bedroom. Last night I just turned off the thermostat and it was 59 degrees in the house when I woke up around 6am. I turned on the heat and went back to sleep!
ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, lovelovelove my down! My doggy loves my down as well! She's asleep on it now! In fact, I sleep with 2 down comforters & keep my BR at 60. LOVE IT cold to sleep!
i keep the bonus in the 50s. it warms up very fast!
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