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Is it best to lower the heat setting or raise the A/C setting 7-10 degrees when at work for the day and let the system adjust when you get home or are you better off keeping it within a few degrees all the time? I have a sizable house and it seems it takes the systems a while to adjust if I set back too far. The house is new, built and insulated very well and the HVAC systems are some of the market's best.
I think it depends on the system you have. It takes an electric ground source heat pump much longer to catch up in warming a house than forced gas heat. Conversely, the groundsource heat pump will cool a house much more quickly than a unit attached to the same gas HVAC system described before.
I usually back mine off about 4 degrees when I am going to be gone for most of the day. However, I also do the same at night when I go to bed. If I am going to be gone an extended period of time, say more than 24 hrs., I back it off at least 10 degrees as well as cutting the power to my water heater.
I agree. If I am going to be gone all day, I lower the heat by 5 degrees. We have a 2 year old gas furnace and it takes very little time to heat things up once I get home.
I did an experiment keeping the temperatures down/up about 10 degrees depending on season vs. just keeping the system at the same temp and found it actually cost more to turn the temperature down/up. I could see it saving if you are going to be gone for a few days or more, but otherwise cutting it back just during the day makes the system run for some time just to get back to the desired temperature. The best I can offer is set the heat as low as you can handle and as high as you can on the AC and leave it there.
I did an experiment keeping the temperatures down/up about 10 degrees depending on season vs. just keeping the system at the same temp and found it actually cost more to turn the temperature down/up. I could see it saving if you are going to be gone for a few days or more, but otherwise cutting it back just during the day makes the system run for some time just to get back to the desired temperature. The best I can offer is set the heat as low as you can handle and as high as you can on the AC and leave it there.
What you're suggesting defies the basic laws of thermodynamics. Not running the heat costs less than running the heat. So any time that you are not running the heat, saves money. It costs more money to maintain a temperature than it does to turn off the heat when you leave and then turn it back on when you get home.
What you're suggesting defies the basic laws of thermodynamics. Not running the heat costs less than running the heat. So any time that you are not running the heat, saves money. It costs more money to maintain a temperature than it does to turn off the heat when you leave and then turn it back on when you get home.
This is mathematically correct. You can't control for outside temperature, so if you set back the thermostat one month and then don't the next month, unless you do June and July or December and January (and even that is not exact, what you really would need to do is take the 30 days before and after the winter and summer solstices assuming the weather and temperatures are otherwise identical both months, which in general they won't be but doing the test near the solstice gives you a better chance of similar temperatures - anyway...) the difference in actual heating or cooling degree days would almost certainly swamp your setting back or not.
The only way setting back can be a loser for you is if you use aux heat on a heat pump to quickly warm the house rather than use the heat pump per se. One has to look at his own system to figure out how to heat back up without turning on the aux.
The other would be if someone over-stresses how cold or hot the house feels and over-shoots the heating or cooling.
People who whine whenever the house gets outside 65 to 75 F are wimps, IMHO. Dress for the season. Think, "WWVVPD?" (What Would Vladimir Vladimirivich Putin Do?) Or substitute some other macho type.
Answer is simple. They would man up and bear it without comment.
People who whine whenever the house gets outside 65 to 75 F are wimps, IMHO. Dress for the season. Think, "WWVVPD?" (What Would Vladimir Vladimirivich Putin Do?) Or substitute some other macho type.
Answer is simple. They would man up and bear it without comment.
So, you do that too.
Actually, Putin invaded Georgia for control of their oil ports and of thermostats in Western Europe. But, that is a discussion for a different forum as I'm certain you are not suggesting we each invade a small country.
You all leave out an important part in your calculation, the ambient temperature... Do you live in Alaska where over night temperatures are minus -35 degrees, or are you in Southern California, where overnight temperatures may get to plus +40 degrees, or somewhere in between.....?????.
I turn off all heat sources a couple of hours before I go to bed. The coldest it gets in doors by the next morning is plus +60 degrees... It takes very little to heat the home from 60 to 66 or 68...
it's already been proven by tons of people and their bills that setting the tstat back when your not home is more cost effective than leaving it the same temperature 24/7
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