Cold weather Duers, what do you set your thermostat at during the day and at night?

[GreenPartyVoter]

We have the house on 3 zones. Zone 1: Master suite, Zone 2: Great room/kitchen and guest bath, Zone 3: offices and other bedrooms.

I've been keeping the main living space at 68 during the day, and the bedroom zones at 55. At about 8pm I turn zone 3 up to 68 to warm it up for people going to bed then. At 9pm I turn up the other bedroom and turn down the living space to 55. At 5am I turn everything back up to 68 for people who are getting up at 6am, but I turn the bedrooms back down when people leave for work/school. (The offices will get turned up during the day, though, if anyone is home working.)

I think I am a good candidate for programmable thermostats. LOL

[Curmudgeoness]

1. I don't have all that fancy zone stuff.

I have the temp at 66-68 during the day if I am home, and I turn it down to 60-62 at night. The days that I work, I just leave it at the nighttime setting until I get home from work.

It is colder than I would like----I am NOT a winter loving person and love the heat. But I just dress warm and when I sit down, I have a blanket to pull over me. I survive, but I don't like it. (To give you an idea of how much I like warmth, I do not have air conditioning during the summer---by choice.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Yeah, I wear one of my hubby's quilted flannel shirts over my clothes, and like you I snuggle

up under a really warm blanket when I watch TV or read. I find it very comfy. Other people in the house complain, but they are they ones choosing to wear shorts in the winter!

[Curmudgeoness]

4. Sigh. Shorts in the winter!

I know that I have grown to hate all my sweaters and flannels, but I have never even considered putting shorts on in the winter. Even my night clothes are warm for winter!

I have a cousin who is always complaining about not being able the pay all her bills, and I just shake my head when I go to her house and it is like an oven and she is wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Don't look to me for sympathy in that case.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Children have a different internal thermostat than adults. I can remember being much

warmer as a child!

[mzteris]

3. Definitely PROGRAMMABLE THERMOSTATS!

I wish, though, I had different "zones" like you do... I'd have everything on a different schedule I think.

I set it down to 62 @ night, about 6 am it starts to kick up to 70 for getting up time (I hate to be cold in when i get out of bed!). Turns back down (during the week) to 65 during the day at 7:00 which is when we leave. Then up to 71-72 about 5:30 until about 10:00.

The weekend has a slightly different schedule of waking up time and not leaving. Though I can manually change and hold the temp up or down if I leave or turn it up if I'm unexpectedly home - like last week when I was home sick a couple of days.

[NMDemDist2]

6. we got a programmable around Xmas this year

it's set for 65 at night and 73 when we're here.

too soon to tell if it's saved us much, but i am sleeping better with the house cooler at night, and since our other 'xmas' gift to ourselves was a nice electric blanket, hubby is comfy too

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Yes! Hubby wasn't turning the bedroom down at all and I couldn't sleep because I was

actually sweating under the quilts. I think my solution is working out, though. It's warmed up for when we go to bed, but cools off once we're under the blankets.

You'll have to let me know when you sort out what financial benefits you've gained from switching to a programmable.

[maddezmom]

7. I think you could use one as well but I have one and just do it manually

I have 3 zones and when I use the heat I have it set to 68 in the zones that people are in and off when no one is using them. When the kids are with their dad, I turn 2 of them off completely. But I'm in TX and right now I'm stuggling not to turn the A/C on. It's 80 degrees today and it feels gross inside and it is worse outside because it's humid as hell. The strangest thing is in the summer I had the A/C set to 80 during the day and 78 at night.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. I'm in Maine so off is out of the question. It has been more humid than I have been used to in the

past. This is a new nearly airtight house, and it's the first time I've ever had to go around wiping condensation (and ice!) off the windows and doors. I think a dehumidifier is something to consider.

Seems like a lot of places have been warmer than usual this winter. I feel badly for you! I hate heat and humidity. I just wilt in it.

[maddezmom]

10. I hear you, I grew up in upstate NY

mine isn't new but it's rather airtight and even when I turn off the heat it seems to maintain the heat or even the cool if the A/C is on. I'd look into a dehumidifier as my folks have one along side their heating/AC system in MI and seems to work well.

I don't mind the heat but I hate humidity. Lived in AZ for a few years and as long as you keep hydrated it's great.

[jwirr]

11. I am breaking my own rules that I taught my children. At the age of 70 I find I am cold much of the

time. My thermostat is at 72 degrees. I feel bad about it but it is the only way I can stay warm.

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. I understand needing to do that. My grandparents did too as they got older. Maybe it all balances

out in the end? Youngsters running around in shorts at 65 degrees will eventually go with 68 for most of their adult lives, and then turn it up a bit more later on?

[northoftheborder]

13. In Texas, the big cost of elec. is A/C.

I refuse to run around naked; that really wouldn't help when temp. is 110 outside. So, I keep it cool at 74, with fans on; then in the winter I can put it down to 65 at night 68 in the day. I really would like to have a zonal system in my new house. It seems ridiculous to have to cool a whole house, when one can occupy only one room at a time. maybe someday we'll have a conditioned bubble of air around our bodies some way.

[Starboard Tack]

14. We don't have any thermostats, but we do have a thermometer

I just checked and it reads 65, which is comfortable enough. If it drops below that, we start closing hatches and portholes and maybe turn on the Ecofan for a few minutes. If it goes above 75, we open more hatches. Everything in between can be adjusted with layers.

Of course, southern California is the easiest place to live, weather wise.

[maddezmom]

15. braggart

[Starboard Tack]

16. Teehee! nt

[RebelOne]

17. I live in a 2-bedroom mobile home,

and my furnace has not worked in years. But that's OK because the cost of the propane gas was out of this world. So I just use two space heaters, one in the back bedroom and one in the living room, and they keep everything toasty warm. Of course, I live in North Georgia where we seldom have really bitter cold winters.

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. That was our situation last year. Dead (oil) furnace in a mobile home. Not fun, but luckily we

we able to move out before the really cold Maine weather crept in.

[freshwest]

18. Until about 2 years ago, I kept the windows open even if it snowed and the thermostat at 45 degrees.

I had a hot head and hot feet, so I couldn't stand any warmth. I started having so much muscle spasming, I had to change my ways. I endured it being stuffy and for me, much warmer than normal.

I seem to be getting worse, though, and now keep my thermostat between 51 and 61 at night, but fortunately the heat never comes on. Which is not a change. I'm still hot all night, but now I'm much colder in the daytime than I ever was, which is stupid.

When I have a bad spell, I even cover my head up during the night with the blanket to keep the muscles relaxed. I've even had the heat up near 80 some days with the stove going to boil water to warm it up too, which I consider outrageous. I do dress warmly but can't do anything around the house with a blanket on my head, although I've even worn a cap and scarf, ridiculous.

But I confess, my light bill is my lowest bill. Less than water, sewer, trash, internet, phone, insurance, you name it, it's the cheapest bill. Despite being all electric, it's the only expense I can really control, too.

I hope my years of being so frugal and keeping the heat off will make up for my current state of decrepitude. So please forgive me, my fellow frugalists, for turning my heat up so insanely high in the day somedays.

Okay, I feel much better having gotten this off my chest.

[GreenPartyVoter]

21. Oh my! That sounds so painful! Is there nothing else you can do for it other than

treating it with heat?

[freshwest]

23. I have to use hot pads all day and part of the night. There's no cure and no RX will stop it.

My big goal is to get 5 hours of sleep without having to get up to do stretching exercises or being all spasmed up in the morning. I have to do them and deep breathing exercises under the covers, too, LOL.

But I've had success with generating 'internal' heat with Indian spices as I continue to lose body heat during the day. And such things as raw garlic and ginger to get my blood warm.

Okay, enough whining! As to the condensation, you must get aggressive and work on venting it. I lived in a similar situation where my place was too tight, and had to vent all the time. You should have a screened vent from your living area near the ceiling, and not just because of the humidity of cooking, but just breathing.

I've been living in a cold, damp climate for a while and it seems less likely to evaporate and more likely to generate dangerous mold and mildew than my life in a hot, damp climate in the years before. To preserve your health and your home, you must vent. Condensation on the windows means it's inside the walls, too.

Your warming up by getting into bed is a tactic I used to do, but there's no comfort there now.

Just move around as best you can and enjoy the new house, I think you are probably living in the coldest place anyone in DU is located. You will keep getting snow until May, huh?

[GreenPartyVoter]

24. Well, we're talking about getting an air exchange system, but I need to

find out more about it. The house has hot water heat, does that mean that a place without ductwork can't use that system? (Amazingly, we are having a very warm winter. Only a few days under 30 thus far, and very little snow, but I predict Feb will be bad, just because the foxes I saw outside our windows looked very heavily covered in winter fur. They had to have grown it for a reason.)

I find it intriguing that hot spices are helping you. I've had.. not always charlie horses, but sometimes just that feeling you get right before they hit. (I do get charlie horses as well) Someone told me it was from an imbalance of potassium or calcium. I've tried both of those but can't tell if they work. And to be honest, I don't like messing with serious minerals like that in case I actually cause an imbalance. They can hurt my heart. I love hot spicy foods though. I wonder if keeping warm internally would help with those charlie horses at all? I usually crawl out of bed and try to get on the cold tile floor in the bathroom, but the other day I read that I should pinch the skin between my lip and my nose. Haven't had a chance to try that one yet!

[Curmudgeoness]

26. When I get Charlie horses, I just eat bananas

and it does seem to help me. I also prefer not to take pills for what my body might require, but will do it with foods. In fact, I always give in to any cravings that I have, because I feel like my body it telling me something is needed.

[MADem]

19. No zones--65, pretty much. Wear a sweater.

We have a little space heater that we'll use on a very bitter day (though not regularly) to warm the Very Elderly amongst us, as well as down quilts, throws, etc. that get a good workout on the cooler days.

Of course, a nice dog also works well to warm you.

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. We are out of pets at the moment, but I look forward to

getting some new animal friends this summer. Pickles used to keep me so warm when she slept on my head. Bad in summer but great in winter! I can't sleep if my nose is cold, so I would frequently turn my face into her fur until I warmed up enough to drop off.

[MADem]

25. +1! nt

[dimbear]

27. On second thought, there is a thermostat in this house. It's in the water heater.

I keep it set on the bottom setting, so that a shower is just the hot water on full.

It makes no sense at all to heat water just to mix it with cold.

[GreenPartyVoter]

28. That makes sense. We kept our electric water heater on 120, I think, mostly because

we had kids who we were afraid would scald themselves.

I have no idea what the temp is on the new on-demand heater is.

[dimbear]

29. I wish they weren't so expensive. n/t

[Kolesar]

30. Setting back by more than 10 degrees does not work

..because the walls and ceilings are cold even when the furnace is on and do not re-radiate heat back at you. Then one compensates by turning the furnace up higher when they are home and/or awake.

Our thermostat is set back about 6 degrees.

[zipplewrath]

35. Bingo

Large changes in temperature, especially over short periods of time aren't "efficient". Programable thermostats should be used to avoid "chasing peaks". When it's warm, you want to allow the peak to pass without fighting it. So if the house will naturally peak out at 84 during the day, and then settle back to 80 by 6pm, you might consider allowing that, and then starting stronger cooling at 6 pm to get it down to whatever you want it to be for evening/night.

With heating, you want the whole house to stay as close to some target temperature as possible. Small incremental changes are the most efficient way to heat things. So you can let it "cool down" a little at night, but at somepoint you want to start heating up the house very slowly. So suppose you want the house at 68 when you arise at 7 am. You'd want to program the thermostat to heat the house up about 1 degree every hour. So depending how low it will go during the night, you'll have to back calculate when to start heating the place back up. But if you lose 2 degree per hour out of the house, it will take you twice as long to heat it back up. So in 3 hours you'll lose 6 degrees, and it will take you 6 hours to "get it back". So you could let it start cooling down an hour before going to bed, and then 3 hours later, start warming it back up.

Probably not a great saver. Better to just let it drop a couple of degrees during the night and then a couple of hours prior to rising, have it come back up.

What's buried in all these numbers is the value and reality of "stored heat". Huge thrermal masses are a great way to maintain the heat of the house. Brick walls, tile floors, thick insulation, these are very useful and effective because they maintain a constant temperature and represent slow, incremental changes in the temperature of the home. Slow and incremental is the most efficient way. Blasting the AC or heat to "quickly" warm things up is the LEAST efficient way to get the job done.

Oh, and to answer the original question, we tend to leave the thermostat at 64. I've got thick socks and I drink hot tea. Lots of throws around the house as well. My hand does often get cold on the mouse though.

[NEOhiodemocrat]

31. Our zones are pretty simple

the farther you get away from the wood stove the colder you get! Also learned people are right, heat rises. If it gets to cold in the downstairs I go sleep upstairs. It is 70 right now in the living room, but we were gone most of the day so temp is down in the stove, 66 here in the next room by the computer. Probably about 65 in our bedroom. We do have one of those oil filled electric register heaters down in the cellar to keep the pipes from freezing and a heat wrap on the line out to the well. I find dressing for the weather is very important. I can really layer on the clothes in these cold months. When it went to 15 degrees a couple of nights ago I wore a knit hat in the morning until the house heated back up a bit. And I never go around in bare feet, good houseslippers are a must.

[GoCubsGo]

32. Another fan of programmables here.

I only have one thermostat as my house is not that big. In the winter, I keep it at around 68 during the daytime, and it goes down to about 62 at night. Since my thermostat has something like 4 settings per day, I set it so the heat comes on about an hour before I get up. If I'm not at home during the day, I'll drop the temp down a few degrees and have it come back up to 68 about an hour before I come home. An couple of hours before bedtime, it's set to drop two degrees. By bedtime, it's down near sleeping temperature. I like my room cold at night. In the summer, everything gets set around 10 degrees higher.

Programmables are really easy to install. They are not all that expensive, either. You can get a decent one for under $40.

[randr]

33. We are on a peak demand meter

We pay 9 cents per KWH during off peak hrs, 10:30am-4:30pm and 9:30pm to 6:30am. Peak times we are charged at 13 cents KWH.
I use programmable thermostats set at 68 during peak and 70 off peak. Only use them in two zones and turn the others off as we have a super insulated home with a sun room that heats the whole house when the sun shines. Wood stove backs us up when the temps stay in the teens all day and especially when the sun don't shine.
The programmable thermostats are almost a must have in my situation. For homes not on peak demand meters I am not so sure as it always best to try and maintain a constant temp rather than going up and down. When you increase the temp all the mass of the home is affected.

[maddezmom]

34. I finally caved today and put on my A/C

it's only 77 degrees but it's also 77% humidity. Been running around getting prepared for company and was drenched. Will keep it on until after dinner and then the temp will be down and looks to be cooling off the rest of the week.