Thermostat--your winter LOW

[enjoy the ride]

Farmerchick- I went to that sight you listed- on it he said-

Turn off the heat overnight.
Except for the most northern climates, you should be able to remain warm enough to sleep comfortably without any heat as long as you have sufficient blankets. If you can't stand to have the heat off completely then set it to as low as you're comfortable with -- 60, 50, 40. I've never used heat overnight and it gets into the low 40's in my room sometimes when I get up in the morning. Some people like to keep their houses warm all the time to prevent pipes from freezing, but if it's so cold that your pipes are at risk for freezing then you should be dripping your faucets anyway (or turning off the water at the meter and opening all the faucets, or using cheap heat tape), whether you're heating your home or not.
It doesn't take more energy to heat your home in the morning than it does to keep it heated all night. Think about it: As you heat your home all night, some of that heat is lost through the walls to the outside, so your heater has to keep working to keep the temperature up. So overnight your heater is heating your home over and over and over again. If you turn it on in the morning then it's heating it only once.

 

[FarmerChick]

yeah that makes sense now. it said if you heat and lose heat thru walls etc...and keep heating the house all night, then there is no diff. if the house is colder and you bring it up to heat. I knew it was something like that but I forgot..HA HA

thanks for reminding me. I like his sight. just has some good old timey info I just forgot about.

40s....whew...I know I ain't got it in me to go that low. I must be a wimp.

but I did buy 2 new down blankets for the bed and WOW they are hot. I am surprised how much warmer they are than my regular type blankets.

 

[PamsPride]

We only heat with a woodburner and we let it go out when we go to bed. It is usually around 9 AM before 13 yo gets up and lights it. I am in NE Ohio so we have had outside temps in the low 20's at night already and I think the lowest the house has gotten is around 59F. Usually it is between 62-64 when we wake up on really cold mornings. We try not to light the fire and use up the wood unless it is below 64 in the house.

 

[enjoy the ride]

Generlly I seem to get kind of used to the level I set it- but I do admit that as I get older, I have become more self-indulgent about heat. Sometimes I just want to be warm..................

 

[FarmerChick]

yea, (big sigh here)
I know what you mean. sometimes just comfort of warmth on a howling cold wind chill day is just wonderful...bill or no bill..HA HA

 

[lupinfarm]

Yeah, we have our heating set to automatic, it's usually 14C in here, but if it gets below that, the heating kicks in and brings it back up to 14C. We haven't had any issues with frozen pipes, all our plumbing comes in through the root cellar below the house which stays okay, probably about 1 degree since it's below ground.

 

[Cassandra]

Oh, this is an old thread. I did an experiment that is relevant, so wanted to post it here.

A few nights ago, it was supposed to get down into the upper 20's F here. I talked my husband into us leaving the heat off all night. I wanted to see how cold it would get. He's like "You're nuts!" and I said, "I'm not trying to freeze anyone to death. If I wake up in the night blowing steam out of my nose, I'll get up and turn the heat on myself so you don't even have to get out from under the covers." He reluctantly agreed.

We all go to bed and it's probably 65-68 F inside when we turn in. I slept, as I always do, with my big wind machine fan on my nightstand, less than 2 feet from my head. And during at least part of the night, I was hot enough to kick the covers off.

John got up before I did (this was on a Saturday morning) so the heat was on when I got up. He said when he woke up the thermostat said 60 F in the house. (It was 29 outside and getting warmer.) About 30 minutes after he got up, it was 59. He decided since it was getting colder that he could turn the heat on. LOL

I got up and was running around in shorts and a t-shirt. John & my older son Aaron had sweaters on and blankets around their shoulders.

I think most of the winter, I could probably live with no heat at all. John said it's because I'm like a little Sun. Which means, of course, that the summer time is a different matter. I've got to figure out some alternative cooling ideas!

Cassandra

 

[FarmerChick]

good experiment....it is amazing how low we can go on a thermostat thinking we can't....or might freeze to death..HA HA

I was that way definitely.

BUT it is wierd. Since I put the thermo to 68....I noticed I am more warm at night also...WIERD.....so I turned the thermo to 67 and am still warm. Now I will try 66 and see how I fair.

Maybe we just get more adjusted if we let the old body adapt to it? I don't know....I remember when I went from 70 to 68. The first night I thought I was a frozen popsicle.....LOL....now it is comfortable! Hmm....is it all in our own personal thermos in the body....we just need to adjust them to adapt??? could be.

Being a gal and hitting into menapause, that could be it too..HA HA HA HA HA

 

[miss_thenorth]

Since this post started , I too, have been experimenting. I just find that if I dress appropriately, as in layers, I am fine with the day time temp at 65. I wear an undershirt, and sweatshirt, warm polar fleece pants, and I am fine. And when I am kneading or anything like that, or vacuuming, etc, I find the sweatshirt comes off.

ETA, my kids have not complained about being cold, they put on sweaters if necessary. Hubby too.

 

[enjoy the ride]

Darn it- I turned on the propane powered radient floor heating yesterday. It was about a month later than normally due to our unusually warm November.
I run this heat about 4 hours a day because it warms everything, walls, floors, etc so that a lower temp feels much more comfortable.
I do wonder why my house, which is only 7 years old and has six inch walls to add insulation gets so cold.
Unlike FarmerChick, when I turn my heat off at night, it will be about 10-15 degrees warmer in the house than outside when I get up.
Probably time to do an energy audit and figure out where the heat is going.