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I'm looking for some direct advice since searching terms on this can be kind of vague and not to-the-point on the 'Net.
Are there times (days or weeks) of cold (say, at below 40 degrees) that I don't have to turn my furnace on?
If it's below freezing outside (just barely, let's say - say 30 degrees out) do I always have to keep my furnace on?
Can I turn the furnace off at night and turn it back on to low (55 degrees) during the day? Or vice versa?
I want to cut cost in a house that is far too big for me at any way I can. I work a strange shift (4pm to midnight, roughly) and obviously don't want to have the heat on in the house when I'm gone If I don't have to.
Minnesota gets serious cold. You don't want to let the house get too cold, because it is the radiant heat from the house that will keep the walls and basement pipes from freezing.
It's usually more efficient to keep the house at a steady moderate temp, than it is to let it cool down and then try to warm it back up again.
You might be able to close off some rooms you don't use, but be mindful of exterior walls that may have plumbing it it that you aren't aware of.
It's usually more efficient to keep the house at a steady moderate temp, than it is to let it cool down and then try to warm it back up again.
You might be able to close off some rooms you don't use, but be mindful of exterior walls that may have plumbing it it that you aren't aware of.
I find this tends to be the case for my homes too. I have aviary birds so can't just shut the heat off entirely. A steady modest (like low to mid 60s) setting plus closing off rooms I don't use, not actively heating the upstairs (just letting the heat from downstairs radiate up), thermal curtains, good caulking and seals, double-pane, gas-filled, low-e glass windows, keeping boilers serviced and tuned, insulation jacket on water heaters, all help the bill. If your house has defined heat zones make use of them. Make sure you know which exterior walls have ANY plumbing in them and keep those heated. Shutting the heat off not only chills the structure but all the contents. When you turn the heat on it will have to heat all of that mass up again; doing it every 12 hours? You'll definitely feel that.
Last edited by Parnassia; 11-30-2018 at 08:51 PM..
If you have forced air heating, shutting one or 2 vents is ok but more than that can cause problems with the unit and/or ductwork due to over pressurizing the system. With hot water it's not an issue.
Can I turn the furnace off at night and turn it back on to low (55 degrees) during the day? Or vice versa?
There is very little if any savings doing this unless the temperature inside the house reaches that of the outside temperature, the makeup heat is going to be about the same as keeping it a constant temperature. Think of heat as water in a glass, this glass has a hole in the bottom to represent heat loss from your house. Whether you fill it up when it's empty or a little at time it's still the same amount of water. It's only when the glass is completely empty and you are not adding any water you are saving anything.
The one place you may see some minimal savings is generally speaking any heating unit is more efficient the longer it operates. This isn't going to be much relative to the overall heating bill. This is why thermostats have setback, typically 2 degrees below the desired temperature. That prevents the heating unit from short cycling where it's going on and off constantly. That may be something to look at, setting this back further can help with efficiency for most heating units.
I'm looking for some direct advice since searching terms on this can be kind of vague and not to-the-point on the 'Net.
Are there times (days or weeks) of cold (say, at below 40 degrees) that I don't have to turn my furnace on?
If it's below freezing outside (just barely, let's say - say 30 degrees out) do I always have to keep my furnace on?
Can I turn the furnace off at night and turn it back on to low (55 degrees) during the day? Or vice versa?
I want to cut cost in a house that is far too big for me at any way I can. I work a strange shift (4pm to midnight, roughly) and obviously don't want to have the heat on in the house when I'm gone If I don't have to.
BUT I DO NOT WANT OR NEED WATER PIPES TO BURST.
Assume you mean forced air heating when saying "furnace", and not steam or hot water.
For forced air and central AC (if you have it as part of system), you should look into setting up zones for your home. A good HVAC contractor can give an estimate...
By dividing up your home into zones you can set separate temperatures for different areas thus control how warm (or cold) as needed. Throw programmable thermostats into the mix and you can adjust heating or cooling to suit your schedule/living habits.
You *can* do any of the above things mentioned in your OP; but it would be like going back to the 1800's or early 1900's with coal fired boilers or furnaces where fires were "banked" for the night. Read you'll wake up to a *VERY cold home, and worse objects inside (walls, fixtures, floors, furniture, etc....) will be cold as well.
Other posters are correct in that more energy will be expended each morning or whenever bringing a cold house up to temp, than rather keeping things at an even temp day then at night.
That being said many people prefer sleeping in a cool home and set back their heating thermostat to between 60F to 66F. Fifty-five effectively shuts our heating system off.....
That being said many people prefer sleeping in a cool home and set back their heating thermostat to between 60F to 66F. Fifty-five effectively shuts our heating system off.....
LOL My high temp isn't even 60 most days.
OP, you really need to know what type of system you have first, and if you have any water pipes in the wall. My neighbor has second floor bathroom pipes running up the north exterior wall and has a difficult time keeping them from freezing. Mine run up an inside wall and I don't have that issue.
I have steam heat so there's no water in the radiators, but it does run through the boiler. I don't have any exterior water pipes except for the outside faucets and they get turned off from the inside.
I keep my heat at 49 at night and when I'm away. It rarely gets down that cold though. It's at 56 when I'm home (which effectively brings it to at least 58, more if it's a sunny day). Right now I haven't acclimated to the cold yet, so I keep pushing it up a degree or two if I'm not moving around.
When I started working from home more, I paid attention to what the house would naturally stay at, and then worked with that temp. It will stay in the mid to high-50s all day without the heat coming on, as long as it's not too cold and/or grey. A prolonged freeze, northern wind, lots of cloudy days, it's going to drop to around 53 during the day. If I try to keep it in the low 60s, it will turn on and off all day. I'd rather wear an extra base layer than pay for that.
I also have a couple of radiators turned off upstairs: a spare room, and my office, which gets full sun all day and has a couple of computers that generate heat.
If you have too big a difference between your low and high settings, it will take forever to warm back up again. And definitely get a programmable thermostat! I remember the days of running downstairs in the wee hours of the morning, kicking the heat up and running back to bed for an hour until it was tolerable - not fun!
But before you do any of that, find out your system. And get the thermostat no matter what! They are worth their weight in gold. Good luck
I'm looking for some direct advice since searching terms on this can be kind of vague and not to-the-point on the 'Net.
Are there times (days or weeks) of cold (say, at below 40 degrees) that I don't have to turn my furnace on?
If it's below freezing outside (just barely, let's say - say 30 degrees out) do I always have to keep my furnace on?
Can I turn the furnace off at night and turn it back on to low (55 degrees) during the day? Or vice versa?
I want to cut cost in a house that is far too big for me at any way I can. I work a strange shift (4pm to midnight, roughly) and obviously don't want to have the heat on in the house when I'm gone If I don't have to.
BUT I DO NOT WANT OR NEED WATER PIPES TO BURST.
The way I look at something like this is different. At the core, it appears that you have just two parameters - extreme cost reduction, irrespective of comfort level, and not wanting to damage plumbing (and incur other costs).
So, the MOST extreme solution is to blow out the plumbing lines with air, drain water heater, put anti-freeze in the various traps, and shut the furnace off completely. If the house is large, there may be shut-offs where you can do this to all but one bathroom in the interior. So much depends on the design of the house that other specifics may not fit, like the use of heat tape or space heating.
Another option is to shift the confines of the problem definition. Rent rooms to offset costs. Close the place entirely and use an apartment. Sell.
When I lived in Vermont during the oil shortage and rationing of gas, I built a barrel stove to burn scrap wood and stayed toasty warm all winter.
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