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My cold weather practice has always been to set it at 72 during waking hrs. and 60 at bedtime. Just this week, a customer rep at the utility recommended 68 all the time.
I know that there can be many variables coming into play here depending on specific weather patterns, but I wonder if there is any general "rule." The customer rep implied that more energy is wasted for the temp to rise from its low point to 72. It would be better, according to her, to keep it at 68 even though it would run during the night.
So far this particular autumn, the temp has dropped to 60 indoors on three occasions, triggering the furnace. The other nights, it ranged 62-67, and so the furnace was quite all night.
I do one in winter and the other in summer. In winter I set the thermostat at 65-68 during the day and 60 at night because I enjoy sleeping in a colder house and also the furnace seems to be able to handle the temp difference. In summer I set it at 73 all the time because I sleep better at that temp and also because the A/C unit is very old and has trouble recovering the difference, making it uncomfortably warm for a long time before it cools down sufficiently.
My cold weather practice has always been to set it at 72 during waking hrs. and 60 at bedtime.
Just this week, a customer rep at the utility recommended 68 all the time.
He's mostly right.
The specific number is the main argument... the severe variance is the other.
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Your thoughts...
The specific number is about YOUR interpretation of comfort.
if that means 72 daytime... so be it.
The variance is about making the system work too hard to catch up in the AM.
There are far more serious issues to concern yourself with than this bit of waste.
Quote:
opinions, if you please.
My opinion is that it's too high for most people... absent elder/fraility issues.
(which I know you have) I keep my house at 67.
Scrounge around for a "recording thermometer"
Used to be able to borrow them from libraries even.
Get some objective data over a few days.
See how much the temp really fluctuates over 24 hrs
I have a horribly old oil furnace, and over the past few seasons, I've noticed that the furnace does use less oil when I lower the thermostat consistently at night and when I'm out during the day.
60 when I'm gone, 62 when I'm asleep, and 66 when I'm awake. A thermostat with four settings/day helps.
The basic answer can be had by simply extending the extremes. If you lower your thermostat overnight, it will save X amount of fuel. If you lower it for the entire winter, it will save X times 100 days (or however long your winter is) of fuel.
The only time that reducing the temp and bringing it back up will cost money is when you have a heat pump and bump the thermostat enough to kick in the auxiliary (more expensive) heat. Even then, the difference is marginal enough that if you were to leave it low for an extra day it would still be cheaper to reduce the temp and bring it back up.
If you have a heat pump, you can avoid much of the auxiliary heat coming on during moderate weather by only raising the thermostat a couple of degrees at a time.
I think the OP wants to know if it take so much energy to bring the temp up a large delta, e.g., night temp to day temp (12F deg difference), vs. maintaining a constant temp that the energy saved by dropping the temp is offset by the energy used to bring the temp back up.
I believe it is more efficient in general to run the heat longer but fewer times, than constantly cycle on/off. Plus, when the inside temp is lower, it is closer to the outside temp which means the rate that the inside temp drops is less steep (slower). Therefore, it's more efficient to heat up a large temp delta at once, than to constantly maintain a higher temp.
I have a horribly old oil furnace, and over the past few seasons, I've noticed that the furnace does use less oil when I lower the thermostat consistently at night and when I'm out during the day.
60 when I'm gone, 62 when I'm asleep, and 66 when I'm awake. A thermostat with four settings/day helps.
Try 60 when you sleep and see?
Works great for me.
My cold weather practice has always been to set it at 72 during waking hrs. and 60 at bedtime. Just this week, a customer rep at the utility recommended 68 all the time.
I know that there can be many variables coming into play here depending on specific weather patterns, but I wonder if there is any general "rule." The customer rep implied that more energy is wasted for the temp to rise from its low point to 72. It would be better, according to her, to keep it at 68 even though it would run during the night.
So far this particular autumn, the temp has dropped to 60 indoors on three occasions, triggering the furnace. The other nights, it ranged 62-67, and so the furnace was quite all night.
Your thoughts / opinions, if you please.
Any extra energy expenditure involved when warming from 60 to 72 is offset by the period of non-heating when cooling back from 72 down to 60.
If you don't have a programmable thermostat, get one.
Easier and best way to save money on fuel.
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