When do you turn OFF the heat? (old)

[hotzcatz]

We don't have a heater to turn off, wish we did it can get coolish in mid-winter down to the mid-fifties. No A/C either, it can get up to almost ninety sometimes. I keep thinking one of those mini-split systems would be nice, but haven't bothered to install one yet.

[mshultz]

We had a frost this morning. Now this is not unusual for Wooster, as the 50% last frost date is May 8. Our growing season is only 150 days. However, the weather report indicated that this would be a more severe frost than usual for this time of year.

[Ohiogirl81]

I turned the furnace off on May 1, but I may have to turn it back on on May 9. Brrrrr.

[mofford]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

We don't have a heater to turn off, wish we did it can get coolish in mid-winter down to the mid-fifties. No A/C either, it can get up to almost ninety sometimes. I keep thinking one of those mini-split systems would be nice, but haven't bothered to install one yet.

I want one of those mini-split systems, window AC units are noisy and a bit of a hassle to clean, install and remove each summer. I depend on a small bedroom window as the best location for my AC unit, to cool down both the bedroom and living room, the problem is the window only opens up 12 inches. The only models small enough to fit the window, are 5000 BTU. I suppose I could cut a hole in my living room wall and frame in a big hole for a 12,000 BTU, but that sucks and I hate the tacky look, weather you put an insulator bag over the AC during winter, or take it out and put a cover lid on both on inside and outside of hole, stuffed with insulation. A mini-split system seems like a nice compromise between window AC and central air, and I have no duct work in this house, thus the reason for the wall furnaces and window AC. Those mini-split systems look hard to install, having read the details you need a refrigerant charging system, lots of plumbing and electrical connections, copper tubing with O ring fittings and drilling holes in the walls and building a solid mount for the unit outside, looks like a big pain in the ass, almost as hard as installing a central AC unit. Ranks right up there with putting in a tankless hot water unit, which will never happen for me either, lol.

I'm sure the power and gas company hate my setup, as they have sent me "Home Energy Reports" to notify me about my energy use in comparison to 90 other similar homes within 1 mile of my house. It says for similar homes, on average they used 1136 units, efficient homes used on average, 700 units, and my home used 469 units, which probably made it the most efficient home out of the 90 they selected. That report was for summer season, another report for winter season produced similar results, with my house blowing away average homes, and efficient homes, ending up around 25% more efficient than the efficient homes. The reason? Wall furnaces do not draw in cold air from outside, they reheat the air in the room, they don't have 400 watt fan motors to push the hot air thru duct work, they don't even need electricity to run the thermostat, which operates on a special thermocouple device that produces a small voltage from the heating of the pilot light, wired to a wall mounted thermostat, which looks like any regular thermostat, only it runs on less than 1 volt, and will still work when the power goes out.

As for turning off the heat on the third week of May, I don't think that's going to happen, lows forecast in the mid 30's with frost warnings up north, seems awful chilly for this time of year, probably wait until June and see if we can stay above the 40's before I shut it down. If the coolest it gets for you is mid 50's, I would just turn on the oven overnight and that would probably warm you up enough, lol.

[ilovemycomputer90]

Snowing out tonight so I think the heat will turn on.

[chattyneighbor]

Heat went out after the mid life crisis was over. Now we cuddle.

[anononcty]

Can't always go by a calendar date for heat or a/c. Personally after living in different climates I always found it best to try to adapt to outside temperatures as best as possible. I dress for the weather and not fashion which is the most common mistake I see people doing. Also if I do use the heat or a/c I try to keep as close to the outside temperature. Again trying to control the environment rather than one's body & clothing is not always effective or cheap.



Also one has to/should alter habits in different weather besides fashion. Too much alcohol in hot or cold weather can affect the body. I know alcoholics that are never comfortable it's either too hot or cold. Same for too many caffeinated products which also can make one hot or cold. These things affect blood flow which in turn affects how the body keeps warm/cool. In extreme heat or cold I never drive a car completely sealed either being a fresh air person . But even those radical changes from an climate controlled car to the outside world and then back into a artificial environment is not good for the body.

[galaxyhi]

OP here,

I guess the night of June 1(&2), we will STILL have the heat on.

It will be a whole 35° those nights. Actually the day temp will only be 58°, so, yeah, probably need heat.

Grr.

And to think yesterday was 90°,today high 80s and we were using the AC!!

[mofford]

I finally shut off the living room wall furnace, on June 1st. 80's forecast for the rest of the week, summer came with the turn of the month. Cant believe how cool it was in May, my house couldn't warm up enough during the day with all the clouds, even if the overnight temp was in the upper 50's, if the highs only make it into the low 60's, I still need 15 minutes furnace time, a couple times per day to keep it warm enough. But that was May, this is June and I think the chilly weather is behind us now, it reached 91 yesterday and it felt good, my little 5000 btu window AC kept up just fine. At least we got plenty of rain later in May, good for the plants.

[sxmfan2018]

i live in CA what's heat. in the 20 years here i never used the heat