What do you keep the thermostat at inside the house in the winter?

[newbury]

And is it effective?

All temps in degrees Fahrenheit

There are so many threads on effective ways to lower heating costs. But it all boils down to how much heat you need.

I'm sitting here in my living room comfortably typing, SWMBO is in the chair next to me reading and using my IR thermometer gun the temp on the floor is 58, the ceiling is 60 and most of the objects around me between the two. SWMBO says she's comfortable, and when we get up and move around we warm up. Temp outside is 30. The thermostat is set at 62, but it's two rooms away in the core of the house.

We let it get cooler at night, but I have not checked with my thermometer. But generally it's warm enough so you don't see your breath.

I've read so many advice clips where people are told things like

"To achieve optimal comfort, it is recommended for homeowners to set their thermostats between 68 to 72 degrees while there are people inside of the home."

here

In the winter, you can save energy and keep your costs in check by keeping your thermostat at 68 degrees Fahrenheit while you are at home during the daytime.

here

I'm pretty sure now that we've gradually adjusted from the 76-80 in the summer if I turned it up to 68 now SWMBO would be complaining it's too hot.

I've found that the closer I can keep the temp inside to the temp outside the less we mind going outside.

But when relatives come to visit I've learned to crank up the heat to decrease complaints.

So what's your temp set at compared to your outside temps? I realize some of you in Florida might have to run the a/c to get it DOWN to 68

 

[Code54]

71 here

 

[aarolar]

65 any more heat needed is provided via the wood stove.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

Thermostat? We don' have no thermostat. I don' gotta set no steeenking thermostat!

Wood heat. We keep it in the low 70s, usually about 74.

 

[Infinite Wisdom]

We keep it at 70. (propane warm air furnace)

If we want ambiance we fire up the pellet stove and give the furnace a rest.

 

[WM75Guy]

Autoseason thermostats set for a range of 68 - 72 year round except for the bedrooms which drop to 68 - 70 at night.

 

[atsah]

I'm on the Canadian border, I need wood and propane to heat my log house when it gets below 0F, otherwise the wood heats my house, I leave the propane thermostat at 68 and 74 if I need to leave overnight. I probably use 200 gallons of propane and six cord of wood..

 

[hawkeye08]

We leave ours at 65 or so, but the thermostat is in hallway and the propane stove in the family room. Family room is 69-73 depending on several factors, such as which ceiling fans are on moving air. We have vaulted ceilings throughout and need the fans to move the heat. Bedrooms are cooler (wife likes 62, I like it warmer so I have a heated mattress pad). We heat with a single propane stove in central location and control temps in other rooms by what doors are open and what fans are running... No central air for summer, just a window AC and a Costco floor AC with exhaust pipe.. summer temps can be high 80s in hot parts of summer, but usually cool down at night.

 

[s219]

Ours set at 67 night, 70 day. When running the fireplace, the downstairs temperature (thermostat is across the house from the fireplace) will usually hit 72-73 so the heat doesn't come on.

 

[Piston]

Thermostat is showing 84 in the living room right now. I let the Woodstoves go out one time since the end of November and that was just because we took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge indoor water park for a few days. Other than that, we stoke the Woodstock Fireview full of wood and enjoy the warmth.
That soapstone stays hot for a long time.

We also have a very drafted house with no insulation, so the rest of the house is much cooler. I've been in homes that are 65 degrees and felt hot to me. A lot depends on the home, and type of heat. For instance, forced hot air is terrible, about the worst possible way to heat a home if comfort is concerned.

 

[SJay]

66 when we are home from work and 58 at night(11:00pm until 6:30am) - 68 if the grand babies are over - Gas forced air (210$ in December (Electric and Gas))

 

[check]

And is it effective? All temps in degrees Fahrenheit There are so many threads on effective ways to lower heating costs. But it all boils down to how much heat you need. I'm sitting here in my living room comfortably typing, SWMBO is in the chair next to me reading and using my IR thermometer gun the temp on the floor is 58, the ceiling is 60 and most of the objects around me between the two. SWMBO says she's comfortable, and when we get up and move around we warm up. Temp outside is 30. The thermostat is set at 62, but it's two rooms away in the core of the house. We let it get cooler at night, but I have not checked with my thermometer. But generally it's warm enough so you don't see your breath. I've read so many advice clips where people are told things like here here I'm pretty sure now that we've gradually adjusted from the 76-80 in the summer if I turned it up to 68 now SWMBO would be complaining it's too hot. I've found that the closer I can keep the temp inside to the temp outside the less we mind going outside. But when relatives come to visit I've learned to crank up the heat to decrease complaints. So what's your temp set at compared to your outside temps? I realize some of you in Florida might have to run the a/c to get it DOWN to 68

58 degrees??!!! Are you nutso? Who the heck can stand 58 degrees?! No way, man. I need at least 70, and I freeze my a__ off if my wife turns it down to 68 for sleeping. (Same with our daughter, who doen't have an ounce of fat on her.). And we are in Canada, where everyone lives in igloos!

Brrrrr! I have to go and get a blanket now.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I have the propane furnace shut off, as we heat the whole house with a wood fired furnace in the basement.

We spend most of our time in the living room, so I keep it 70 to 71 in there... The rest of the house is 68 or so, except our bed room, we like to sleep in a cold room, so it's 60 or so in there in there...

SR

 

[CADplans]

We have a heat pump, on the rare occasion it is below 30 degrees,,
we switch to the emergency packup.

We have been doing that for 5 years,,, and have seen no increase in the electric bill.

The hall thermostat stays at 72 degrees.

One thing we added was a plug-in 1,500 watt radiator looking heater.
It is next to the 6X7 foot sliding door.
After 30 years of no one being able to sit near that door,,, the room is comfortable.
That heater is on less than 10% of the time,,, so it costs almost nothing to run.

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

67 during the day and 62 at night when we are sleeping. Propane forced air furnace.

 

[Dutch445]

i burn coal in winter, use a propane furnace for late spring or early fall when it gets chilly
and it's not cold enough to justify keeping the stove running.
we use a digital thermostat for the stove, the stove is a stoker type, just like a pellet
stove, but i have to load the hopper and empty the ashes daily... takes 3 mins.
the thermostat stays at 69 all winter, thermostat is in the kitchen area of the house while
the stove is in the basement. i run the furnace on "fan only" and it circulates the air throughout
the house to keep temps fairly even . i close vents where i don't want heat (bedroom) and
have closed off house cold air returns and pull air from basement cieling and stove into the
furnace ductwork. works great... just steady temps ALL of the time...
the thermostat is a Coal Trol built locally in Syracuse NY, and is much better than
the analog controls that came with my Alaska stove.
69 is comfy for us... and my bathrooms are very warm! (small rooms with head ducts,
and usually doors closed)
plus the floors never get cold with the stove in the basement.

 

[Turbys_1700]

71 in the winter using a heat pump...
Hall mounted thermostat...
We run a cool mist humidifier in the bedroom at night...
Feels cooler than 71...

 

[Dftodd]

We do a combination heat pump and wood burning fire place insert. Temps below 45 during the day, we fire up the stove. Above 45 and the stove will run you out of the house. Electric bill went from $180 in the winter to $60. Thermostat is set for 73 degrees but gets dropped to 68 when running the wood stove.

 

[zzvyb6]

Natural gas high efficiency furnace. Our setback type thermostat is 68 daytime and 62 at night. Night starts at 11:00 pm and day starts at 6:30 am. Humidifier makes a huge difference in comfort level. Summer A/C is set to control for 76. Furnace is a Trane variable blower speed unit that is running all the time (low speed is about 25% of max). This keeps heat and cool air temps uniform in the whole house, and has a huge effect on dust reduction. I have two furnaces in the house for upstairs and one for the downstairs entertaining area (and also as a backup heat source). When we had the previous HE furnace, it frequently overheated because of the use of the new style high efficiency filters which starved the furnace for makeup air. The installer also measured all the ducting and showed us that the main furnace had insufficient cold air return flow volume, so some of the basement heat ducts were rerouted to be cold air returns.

A good question to ask would be how long does it take for the warm temp to drop 5 or 10 degrees for lets say 32 deg outside air temp and low wind. That's a gauge on your insulation performance. Shades open in the daytime if sunny, closed at night.

BTW: My dogs would not accept any other temp settings, so we are stuck with these ranges.

 

[MossRoad]

72-73 winter on our gas furnace, but we have a woodburner that supplies 80%-85% of the heat. The gas is only in case we don't refill the stove or there is an extreme wind which blows all the heat to one end of the house. House is not insulated very well... pushing 100 years old.

The woodburner is in the basement. I have a greenhouse thermostat in that room. When the wood heat gets up to 78 in that room, it kicks on a fan in a duct that blows the warm air upstairs to our living room. When the basement cools down to 74, it shuts off the fan. The woodburner room is directly under all 3 bedrooms, so they stay warm, too. If it gets really cold outside (Around 0F) I'll hang a bedsheet over the stairway to the basement to keep more heat upstairs. Works well.