removed

matti · Post by **matti** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:01 pm

We live in northern Minnesota and typically have the heat set at 68F when we are home (occasionally this doesn't feel warm enough in really damp weather, so we might bump it up a degree or two). We set it at 55F overnight.

Wanderingwheelz · Post by **Wanderingwheelz** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:03 pm

We are usually at 66/67 and we leave it there 24/7. Electric heat.

Our RV has propane heat and we leave it set quite a bit lower. 60/61 most of the time.

investor.saver1 · Post by **investor.saver1** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:03 pm

69 day and 62 night time. This is for a could midwestern winter location

redmaw · Post by **redmaw** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:08 pm

You aren't going to win an thermostat argument with a significant other based in what your internet friends say. So if that's where this is going you might as well give up.

Right now we leave it at 69 all the time. I've got 2 kids under 4, 1 which kicks off blankets no matter what...if he gets cold he ends up in my bed. Before kids I think 68 day and we dropped it to 64 at night,when i lived by myself...I don't remember maybe 64 for the day and 50 something at night. But it was a mid-level apartment so I got some heating from the neighbors.

Jack FFR1846 · Post by **Jack FFR1846** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:14 pm

redmaw wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:08 pm You aren't going to win an thermostat argument with a significant other based in what your internet friends say. So if that's where this is going you might as well give up.

Au Contrair!

Wire a second, series wired thermostat in a hidden place, like the back of a closet. When the "public" thermostat is set to 83 (because I'm cold right now), the one in the closet set to 70 governs the max. Yes, I have done this after too many times arriving home with the house at 80 and windows open.

We set it to 70. But we have a wood furnace, so it depends how the wood is burning. It'll obviously drop during the night and if I overdo it, it can get to "open some windows" temp inside. I set the oil backup to 65. But we rarely get there.

MrBobcat · Post by **MrBobcat** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:18 pm

68 day (when home) 55 night & when not home

Kenkat · Post by **Kenkat** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:20 pm

70 Day, 65 Night

123 · Post by **123** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:21 pm

I used to set things to 68 degress for our "active" hours (get up and get ready for work, arrive home and evening hours). With the pandemic (we're home all the time) I'm trying to get us to live with 66 though I bump it up to 67 if needed. We get used to wearing a sweatshirt so it works out okay. Due to our climate the temperature will rarely drop below 60 inside otherwise.

bloom2708 · Post by **bloom2708** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:24 pm

Middle North Dakota, next door to Northern Minnesota

Day 70, night 69.

Nobody in the family likes to be cold.

In order for these replies to make sense, you must add context.

Temps for winter range from -20F to 20F most of the winter.

In AZ or FL or CA, setting the house at 65 and outside is 70+, the heat may never turn on.

If you cool to 65 in Phoenix, Arizona during the summer, it is 40+ degrees colder in your house than outside. I wouldn't want that AC bill.

If it is 110F out, 80F inside doesn't feel too bad. It actually feels pretty nice.

mrmass · Post by **mrmass** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:27 pm

72 ish on the main floor during the day, turn that down to 65 at night. I let the heat flow up to the bedroom-so heat is off upstairs

I have a small radiator space heater on a timer in master bath to turn on in the morning.

azanon · Post by **azanon** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:28 pm

Instead of giving a number, I'll say whatever's optimally warm to me. In other words, I could not care less how much it costs. I have an efficient unit, and a very reasonably sized house. I guess depending on the humidity levels cause what I set it on to vary somewhat.

I kind of treat gas (for my car) the same way - when I fill up, I set the clicker, then gaze around at people until I hear the pop. I honestly couldn't get close to telling you what gas costs right now in my city without googling it.

JS-Elcano · Post by **JS-Elcano** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:28 pm

72 during the day (or higher if it feels too chilly)
76 in the evening (6-11 PM)
off at night (we are in the southeast, so never drops below freezing)

jebmke · Post by **jebmke** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:30 pm

Usually 66-67 during the day when we are active. 62-63 at night.

OffGridder · Post by **OffGridder** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:31 pm

Eastern Washington State. (cold winters)

68 during day.
60 at bedtime and when we are out of the house.
55 if we are travelling.

Natural gas furnace.

Ferdinand2014 · Post by **Ferdinand2014** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:33 pm

Northern Maine. 65 day, 55 night with oil. However, we mostly heat with wood which typically overrides the set temps unless I get busy at work. Our wood is free except a quart of gas for my chainsaw.

squirm · Post by **squirm** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:36 pm

We live in the boonies, heat with a wood stove day and night. Pay zero. Constant 70+, I cut and split firewood from our forest every year.
Not sure how this is actionable.

evancox10 · Post by **evancox10** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:37 pm

Last winter was my first winter in a new apartment/condo in Texas. I believe I set the heat to around 68, maybe 70, during day and night. During the day, the heat did not turn on very much if at all. The temps stayed in the 70’s without running the heater, thanks to the warm climate, good insulation, apartment living, and solar heating through floor to ceiling windows. I think a few times I needed to run the AC to counteract the (to me) superheated fresh air intake that is piped in to every unit.

Currently it is still in cooling mode, set to 76 during the day and 74 at night. Averaging ~3 hours of AC usage each day for the last three days, ~1 hour per day last weekend when it got “cold”.

LittleMaggieMae · Post by **LittleMaggieMae** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:45 pm

My house is set to 68 during the day and 65 at night thru the end of November... at some point after that it will be set to 68 day and 68 night thru the end of January (in a usually vane attempt to keep the bedrooms from going below 60 degrees). At some point in February I will reset to the 68/65 plan.

Now that I'm working from home there are more variables. I'm working on the North side of the house. The thermostat is on the "gets a lot of sun when it's not cloudy/overcast" South side of the house. It's a bright sunny day -- so right now the thermostat is showing 68 degrees and my bedroom/office temp is 65 and chilly. I've seen the bedroom temps drop to the upper 50's on a sunny January day with outside air temps in the single digits and a brisk North wind - while the thermostat was happily reading 68.

I recently purchased a radiator style space heater for the office so I don't freeze this winter while WFH.

As for 'fighting' over the temperature in the house - why not consider that NOT all the rooms in the house are the same temperature that's showing on the thermostat and that maybe some sort of remedy (a space heater) might make a difference if someone is spending time in a "cold room".

Munir · Post by **Munir** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:48 pm

73 day and night-old man syndrome

.

SchruteB&B · Post by **SchruteB&B** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:51 pm

Cold Midwest: 67 during the day, 62 at night. If it was just me it would be 60 or lower at night, I love to be cold and have multiple blankets at night but other family members do not.

Register44 · Post by **Register44** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:56 pm

OldBallCoach · Post by **OldBallCoach** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 2:02 pm

We have in the floor radiant heat on a slap and have multiple zones in our home. The garage stays at 45 degrees. The rest of the house is 70 degrees constant as it takes a while with this heat system to really make up much temp. We are heating 5400 sq ft on one level and will sometimes crack a window in the bedroom if it gets a little stuffy. We have a large fireplace in the living room and that will really warm that room up if we want.

matti · Post by **matti** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 2:09 pm

Register44 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:56 pm Thanks for all the responses. I really enjoyed reading them and seeing all the different options.

I think for me my considerations are the cost and noise. When the HVAC goes on it wakes me up. So I would rather be a little cold and sleep through, but then it gets so cold that I can't sleep because I am freezing. I also like it to warm up before getting out of bed. I have been just using manual settings, but am going to try the program setting. It looks like you can have up to 4 settings.

So I am thinking of doing a
9 pm 71
10:30 pm 63
4am 66
7am 70

Try to heat it up before I go to bed, have it stay off as long as possible, then heat up for the morning. What do you think?

For cost I would rather pay more to be comfortable, but I wonder how much more we are really talking here.

Instead of heating up the whole house for bedtime, you could consider putting electric blankets on your bed. Not sure how the cost would differ, however.

Beach · Post by **Beach** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 2:09 pm

Have a Nest so it self learns when you are not home and does not turn on heat unless it hits a specific per-determined degree.

Typically set it at 74 in the midwest and forget it. Originally from Florida and the wife would have it hotter if I'd let her.

runner3081 · Post by **runner3081** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 2:22 pm

65 degrees.. all day and night. We are in Arizona.

mmmodem · Post by **mmmodem** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 3:19 pm

We live in New Hampshire. DW sets the bedroom at 64 all day and night. I set the rest of the home at 42. We have a very efficient home and/or a very inefficient master bedroom as the rest of the home has never dipped below 47. Most of time in winter, it will be around 50.

Grew up poor where the thermostat was set at 55. So I'm used to bundling up inside. Even 64 is too warm for me in the bedroom. She wants 68 so we both compromise. She puts on a sweater and I put on a t-shirt.

Sheepdog · Post by **Sheepdog** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 3:23 pm

We are in Indiana
In Winter we set at 68 day and 65 night

In Summer we set at 78

GerryL · Post by **GerryL** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 3:28 pm

I'm in the Pacific Northwest. Gas/forced air heating. My thermostat is set at 67 days / 62 nights -- when I finally turn on the furnace. If I will be gone for the day (not often currently) I move it down to 65. As I have gotten older, I have taken to goosing the day/evening temps up to 69 or 70 if my hands get too cold.

Colorado13 · Post by **Colorado13** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 3:37 pm

Denver metro area:

Day 64 to 68
Night 64

I've started to use a space heater in the morning in my work from home office so the whole house thermostat can remain at 64. With a west facing office, it warms up nicely on sunny afternoons. I'm uncertain if this approach is energy efficient or not... Next month's Xcel Energy bill will provide insights.

Note that I will increase the setting to 69 or 70 for an hour or so on very cold days. That short time at the higher setting takes the chill out.

littlebird · Post by **littlebird** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 3:48 pm

Munir wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:48 pm 73 day and night-old man syndrome .

Old women have the same syndrome. I’m thinking of raising it a degree a year. Last year was 73. In the summer I make up for it by keeping the a.c. at 80. Sometimes I get chilly and turn it up to 81. It’s very hot outside here.

Hockey10 · Post by **Hockey10** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 3:49 pm

When we were paying a small fortune in winter to heat with oil, the temp was set to 66 at night and 68 during the day. When we switched to an efficient natural gas heater about 8 years ago and upgraded our insulation, we went to 67 and 69. This year I have gotten lazy and have kept it at 70 all of the time.

MathWizard · Post by **MathWizard** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 3:54 pm

68 day, 64 night

We raise it up if we have guests.

halfnine · Post by **halfnine** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 3:57 pm

64/60

Van · Post by **Van** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 3:59 pm

PA. Pretty cold during the winter.

70 during the day and 65 overnight. We used to do 70/60, but I'm not sure that saved much $.

Van · Post by **Van** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:04 pm

runner3081 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 2:22 pm 65 degrees.. all day and night. We are in Arizona.

Really? Your bill for air conditioning must be brutal.

d0gerz · Post by **d0gerz** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:05 pm

67 when we're home, which is all the time these days.

For those setting to lower temp at night, how does that work. Don't you wake up freezing (because body temp drops when you sleep, and presumably everyone here sleeps at night)?

LittleMaggieMae · Post by **LittleMaggieMae** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:06 pm

Register44 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:56 pm I think for me my considerations are the cost and noise. When the HVAC goes on it wakes me up. So I would rather be a little cold and sleep through, but then it gets so cold that I can't sleep because I am freezing. I also like it to warm up before getting out of bed. I have been just using manual settings, but am going to try the program setting. It looks like you can have up to 4 settings.

So I am thinking of doing a
9 pm 71
10:30 pm 63
4am 66
7am 70

Try to heat it up before I go to bed, have it stay off as long as possible, then heat up for the morning. What do you think?

For cost I would rather pay more to be comfortable, but I wonder how much more we are really talking here.

I wouldn't bump the heat right before bed. I'd just leave it and have it drop down at 10:30pm. I'd set it to come back up to 70 degrees about a 30 minutes before you get out of bed. With your schedule you'll be waking up at 4am when the heat comes back up and runs longer than your "sleeping mind" sez it should be on, and then again at 7am if you are not already up. If the heat coming on/rising wakes you up - think of it as an "alarm clock".

A space heater (appropriate for the size of your bathroom) can be used to get the bathroom a comfy temp for showering and such in the morning.

I use an electric blanket (in the depths of winter my bedroom drops to 60 or lower... no matter what the thermostat is set at. ). When I was going to work - I used a small space heater in the bathroom. I'd get up plug it in/turn it on, make coffee, tend/feed the cats and when I was ready to shower the room was warm. The cats have heated cat beds - so they can "roast" at will. None of these "appliances" effected my winter electric bill. OK, maybe a dollar or two a month if that. I have cheap electric rates.

Meant to add - most "appliances" have a rating. The cat beds are like 5 watts each (so like a night light). I think the electric blanket is also in that range. The small space heater uses a surprising amount - but when it's for 30 minutes or less per day - not a big deal. I wouldn't try to use it to heat a room for the day - I'd look for a more economical way to accomplish that.

canderson · Post by **canderson** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:08 pm

PA here. 69 when home, 64 at night.

It is funny cause with our old furnace (replaced last year) it was 74 and 68 and felt colder than now. Efficiency matters!

iamblessed · Post by **iamblessed** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:28 pm

Heat 68
AC 78

surfinagin · Post by **surfinagin** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:43 pm

Northeast -Gas furnace

65 day
60 night

marcwd · Post by **marcwd** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:08 pm

d0gerz wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:05 pm 67 when we're home, which is all the time these days.

For those setting to lower temp at night, how does that work. Don't you wake up freezing (because body temp drops when you sleep, and presumably everyone here sleeps at night)?

Here’s how it works. I’ve been setting the thermostat for 65-67 during the day and evening. And I turn it down to 50 at night. So the the indoor air temperature drifts down overnight to no lower than maybe the upper- or mid-fifties by morning, depending, of course, on the outside temperature.

My thermostat is programmable and I can set it such that the house is warming up by morning. But in the spring and fall, I generally just turn the thermostat up manually when I get up. And, mind you, I have steam heat, which is relatively slow to start heating the air from a cold start.

I think it’s utterly unnecessary and a waste of energy to heat a whole house full of living space when I’m not using it. That is, when I’m in bed with as many covers as I need to be comfortable. And I sleep much better in a cool room.

When I was working and there was no one in the house during the day for many hours, the thermostat was down at 50 deg. And, no, it doesn’t less energy to maintain a constant temperature than to adjust the thermostat as needed.

runner3081 · Post by **runner3081** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:12 pm

Van wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:04 pm
runner3081 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 2:22 pm 65 degrees.. all day and night. We are in Arizona.
Really? Your bill for air conditioning must be brutal.

The original post asked about heating. We heat to 65.

For the summer "cooling", we are as follows;
8pm to 2pm - 83 degrees
2pm to 3pm - 81 degrees
3pm to 8pm 85 degrees

MarkBarb · Post by **MarkBarb** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:14 pm

Houston area - 74°F

JoeRetire · Post by **JoeRetire** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:15 pm

Register44 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 12:58 pm Day and Night settings?

We have radiant heating in the floor. It's always set to 67.

marcwd · Post by **marcwd** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:16 pm

MarkBarb wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:14 pm Houston area - 74°F

Is that using heat or air conditioning?

bob60014 · Post by **bob60014** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:17 pm

68/60 Chicago area, condo, gas forced air.

SC Anteater · Post by **SC Anteater** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:23 pm

Register44 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 12:58 pm Day and Night settings?

63 day (50 when we're away at work, unfortunately won't be able to get away with that this winter) 50 night.

megabad · Post by **megabad** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:24 pm

Register44 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:56 pm Try to heat it up before I go to bed, have it stay off as long as possible, then heat up for the morning. What do you think?

I run mine sort of like yours. Same issue. Sounds like an earthquake when it comes on. But AC is way worse than heat. Depending on your heat type you ought to be able to turn it up sooner to bed and closer to wakeup to save some money but you can tweak that as you experiment. Unless it is very cold, my house can heat from 55 to 75 in less than an hour easy.

In winter I run mine at about 61 during the day, 62/63 at night (I turn it up when I brush teeth). If no one is home 55. If people are visiting 73.

UpperNwGuy · Post by **UpperNwGuy** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:26 pm

The older I get the more I feel the winter cold, and the more I run the heat. Don't judge me.