View Full Version : What temp do you keep your home?
Ours is at 63F. This has not been empirically tested, so it's possible we could go lower though there is a limit in terms of pipes freezing (around 55F I think). With testing, we found our upper limit (in summer in a hot climate) was 85F during the day, 82F at night. Most people I've talked to in either climate think our temps are extreme. I think fleece pants are pretty cheap compared to natural gas....
How about you? What are your temps and have you tested to see what you really can and cannot stand?
58F is about as low as I can go. I've been keeping it around 60F, however, it's been a lot colder than normal so far this winter, so I've kicked it up to 65-68 some days. Nighttime is always about 60. I have a good down comforter on my bed, plus the heat vent in the ceiling is right next to my bed (no other way to place bed in BR), which makes me stuffed up. So colder is better.
I'm using space heaters so it's hard to say. The thermostat on the central never goes higher than 65.
Usually 52F, but it is colder than expected this year, so I have been nudging up to 59F, or so. It is not enough heat, but it is all my budget can handle. I have been keeping the cabinet with the pipes open so that they do not freeze, and that is not helping with the inside temperature.
I tried a space heater and it really drove up my electric portion of the utility bill. I do have nice fuzzy pants, great socks, a lovely cat robe and the best blankets ever.
You know, they, whoever they are, say that money cannot buy happiness, but I call baloney on that. It can absolutely purchase freedom from fear...and the darn cold...and happiness comes right along for the ride.
I do not think that I love winter all that much any more. I am feeling old and cranky. And, cold. Well, I am not so cranky, but I would like to be.
Used to be 60 but has gone up a few degrees as I age and is now at 63. My husband works outside even in minus degree weather so I hike it up to 65 when he gets home as he is out in the cold all day. This is the coldest winter I remember with minus, 0 and single digit daytime highs.
65 here. I agree, it is much colder right now than I can remember it being in a couple years. And we are supposed to hit another day or two of minuses. sigh......
Miss Cellane
1-5-14, 8:51am
At night and when no one is home, 55 degrees. When someone is home, 64.
However, this house was built in 1900, and the heating system isn't perfect. When the thermostat is set to 64, the back of the house can reach 68, while the front rooms hover around 58-59. So we have a space heater to boost the temperature in those rooms. It ends up cheaper to do that for a few hours a day than to turn the heat up and heat the whole house to a higher temperature just to get those to rooms to above 60 degrees.
We estimate that using the space heater last year saved us about one entire fill-up of the oil tank, which would be about $400. The space heater added about $30 a month to the electric bill for December, January and February, so there was a bit of savings there.
Winter - 18C or 64.4F using a air-to-air heat pump and wood for supplemental heat but occasionally during the night the auxiliary electric heat will come on.
Summer - just enough to dry the humidity in the house so around 27 or 28C or 80F if it runs at all.
We do 66 or 68, which seems hot by the standards posted above, but we do have DS and DDIL living here and so this temp is really a compromise. And DBIL tends to be ridiculous with his temperature--he keeps his house (which is next door) warm for the dog, which is mindboggling to me. My VT son slept at his house over Christmas and couldn't sleep well because it was so hot.
The other night we were watching TV and DH asked if everyone was comfortable and there were some grumblings, so he got up to look at the thermostat. I asked him what it was set at. He said, "oh, actually it's 70!" Ii said, "Wow, it's up to 70? OK, leave it!"
I noticed DBIL rolling his eyes and exchanging looks with DS. Oh, well, too bad. DS is paying money toward utilities, but I still think compromise is in order here.
We are on the Texas Gulf Coast so we don't get the very cold temperatures that many of you do. 65 during the day and off at night suits me just fine.
The first 6 or so years that we lived in MN, ours was set around 62 at night and 65 most of the day. I was cold a lot, even with wool socks, heavy sweaters, etc. I'm cold enough most of the time going in and out, and don't care to be cold when I'm trying to relax, too.
So now we keep it at 63 overnight and about 68 during the day when someone is at home (programmable thermostat). Oh, it is nice to be cozy! And it did not impact our bills as much as I expected. During those same years we invested in improvements such as a more efficient furnace and increased attic insulation. Putting plastic over the windows in winter also keeps things much more comfortable and air-tight.
We also do 63 at night and 68 when people are home during the day. I do turn it down to 60 during the day when no one is home. I use a programmable thermostat also. If I get home before the time set to go up to 68 I will usually leave it.
We renovated and included all the energy upgrades we had always wanted to its pretty easy to keep the house warm. 68* feels perfectly comfortable to both of us then down to 62* at night. We'd go lower at night except it takes more energy to charge the house's thermal battery back to 68* than it does to maintain a tighter temperature range.
Its funny how people are different. DD2 is still at home for just a little longer and she likes it HOT. The kid hates air conditioning, even when its 105*. She is perfectly content sleeping at 85*. I won't let her get her room that hot, but I did install an electric wall heater on its own thermostat in her room. She gets good use out of that! Its probably expensive to run, but her room is completely insulated so it doesn't have to run very often.
70-73 depending on who is home ... But usually off during the day. Since our highs are 60-74 all winter in AZ.
Lows in the 30s and we heat at night. although we wouldnt have to for any reason other than comfort for us.
66-68 in winter and about 70-71 in summer. I've heard that dropping it at night isn't really being efficient, since it has to work harder in the day to catch up.
We have zone heating in our house. Most zones are set between 58 and 60 degrees. Occasionally, we'll kick it up to 62 or 63 in the zone that we're currently spending time in if we feel cold. But usually we just drink hot tea and wrap up in a blanket.
In the summer, the A/C kicks in around 78 degrees, although I'm always trying to push it up to 80 or even 82.
During cold snaps, we keep it at 63 during the day (if we are here). At night, we roll it all the way down and pile on the blankets. It is supposed to get to a ridiculous 10-15 degrees tonight here in central TX.
70 during the day when I'm home and working (because I'm just sitting). Usually 60 at night. All the energy sucks out of me if I'm cold, and I usually have at least 2 layers on during the winter already.
Simpler at Fifty
1-5-14, 1:08pm
We keep ours at 68 in the winter, day and night. In the summer if there is humidity we turn the air on between 74-78.
We have electric baseboard heat so each room has its own thermostat. We keep living room, dining room, kitchen and hall at 68-70 during the day, then down to 55-60 at night. The bedroom and bathrooms are colder- kept at 60 . My husband gets colder than I do, sooner. We do have a space heater to supplement, but haven't needed it yet. With deep cold and strong winds we have been keeping the temp up in the nights so the house will have warmth in case the power goes out.
Gardenarian
1-5-14, 2:57pm
We also have zone heating (gas wall heaters), and live in a warm area, so I only turn the heat on when I feel chilly. I'm sensitive to the cold so if I'm not moving around a lot I might keep it as high as 70 degrees, which means turning the heater on for 10 or 20 minutes every few hours. We always keep it turned off entirely at night and use warm blankets. The temp inside rarely drops below 60.
I've been researching sleeping bags and everyone recommends buying a warmer bag for women, as they are "scientifically proven" to sleep colder (on average) than men. This is from REI and other backpacking sites; I haven't seen the actual research on this.
Teacher Terry
1-5-14, 3:11pm
We have electric baseboard heaters so each room is different. We keep our main living areas at 68 because we have 3 tiny dogs that wear 3 layers of clothes in winter as it is so can not be any colder. At bedtime we turn it down to 59 and close our bedroom door and set heater at 63. In the am we reverse the process.
We heat with a wood stove & have two area electric heaters, so it all depends upon how long the stove is burning & the outside temp. Today it's hovering around 30 outside, the fire has been burning about two hours, and it's comfy in the living room, where the stove is. Cooler upstairs, which is fine, as we keep our bedroom cold for better sleep. Our house is very well insulated, which is awesome. I'd say it's 68ish in the LR, a very comfy temp for me.
I've found that the size of the house also affects the temperature I set. When I lived in 2400+ sq. ft. houses every extra degree cost a lot. Now that I'm living in an 840 sq. ft. house (and not even needing all of that space) I find that leaving it at 65 and then cranking to 68 occasionally doesn't change my monthly expenses much.
I find a windy day is more likely to encourage me to raise the temperature. My house is a breezy old cottage that some day will get new windows, the damper and fireplace replaced with a woodstove (and of course while I'm spending dream money I might as well add in passive solar and and everything I need to go off-grid.)
We have ours set to kick on to 68 for an hour before we get up in the morning. It only needs to come on if the day before was cloudy. The rest of the day it's set at 60 but won't come on unless it's really cold and cloudy out. Both our living room and bedroom face the south with big whole wall windows so as long as we have sunshine it's plenty warm in here. Warm enough to open windows. I'd much rather have it be a little on the cool side. Going to visit my dad is torture. He tends to keep his apartment around 78.
We have electric baseboard heaters so each room is different. We keep our main living areas at 68 because we have 3 tiny dogs that wear 3 layers of clothes in winter as it is so can not be any colder. At bedtime we turn it down to 59 and close our bedroom door and set heater at 63. In the am we reverse the process.
This sounds cute. I think we need pics! :)
Teacher Terry
1-5-14, 5:56pm
Tradd, I will ask my hubby to send some pics. My kids call me a techo-klutz:~) My smallest is only 5lbs so she has 3 layers because she gets cold. The 8lb dog wears 2 layers and the 10lb one. I expected some people to say this was silly for keeping the temps up for the dogs but our kids are grown & these are my babies. Also we do rescue work so these babies were not spoiled until we got them.
Blackdog Lin
1-5-14, 6:16pm
Gas-fired central heat in our 1680sqft house, and we keep it at 70 for daytime, and 66 at night. We've found we get a lot colder as we've aged - it used to be that 68 degrees would be way too warm.....
We are able to cut off our main living area down to probably less than 500sq feet and I keep it at least 72 or more. I get cold very easily, my fingers start to go numb long before anyone else is even cool. Plus I do a lot of fine crochet and embroidery work which I need warm hands for. I really hate having to cut off my house like that, I'd really rather just have a much smaller house.
Trips to the bathroom are like going out to the latrine, thankfully we have one of those fancy schmancy heated toilet seats =)
In the summer time my ac doesn't start until it is over 80 or more, and usually for my husband's sake. I really hate air conditioning.
At the museum of science a couple months ago they had a test to see how well your fingers retain heat while cold air blows on them. I "won" against DH and a friend. True to that, I seem to require the least amount of insulation when sleeping or camping. So there does seem to be a biological basis for temperature regulation/comfort, as well as acclimitization.
Not sure why our discussion just struck me this way, but if we've ever had a thread about something that is truly a first world problem this might be it. As it hit -16* this morning and I simply cranked up the heat, damn the cost, I couldn't help but wonder how many people in the world would love to have a new blanket or a little more fuel. Suffering is relative I guess.
67 while DH is at work, then up to 68 or 69 when he gets home---then back to 67 at bedtime
Miss Cellane
1-14-14, 5:13pm
Tradd, I will ask my hubby to send some pics. My kids call me a techo-klutz:~) My smallest is only 5lbs so she has 3 layers because she gets cold. The 8lb dog wears 2 layers and the 10lb one. I expected some people to say this was silly for keeping the temps up for the dogs but our kids are grown & these are my babies. Also we do rescue work so these babies were not spoiled until we got them.
I don't think it's silly to keep the dogs warm. They are living creatures and if they can't take the cold, they can't take the cold.
The last few years of my elderly cat's life, I kept the heat up a few degrees from what I normally do, and got her a heated cat bed as well. Just because they are animals doesn't mean they don't suffer from the cold.
Teacher Terry
1-14-14, 5:54pm
Thanks! These are my babies and the Maltese do not do well in either temperature extremes. They also shake if they are cold which is really bad for small dogs. Probably our biggest financial leak is vet bills but I have to say that the joy these little ones bring me is truly incredible. Glad to see Miss Cellane that you were so careful with your kitty.
At the museum of science a couple months ago they had a test to see how well your fingers retain heat while cold air blows on them. I "won" against DH and a friend. True to that, I seem to require the least amount of insulation when sleeping or camping. So there does seem to be a biological basis for temperature regulation/comfort, as well as acclimitization.
I would be the biggest loser at that experiment, my internal heater is defective :(
All those years ice fishing, cross country skiing, etc in the north woods of Wi really affected me. Too often I was just miserably cold, fingers and toes completely numb and my father's answer to my complaint was to just put more brandy in my hot chocolate. Grew up and realized I don't need to live in a miserably cold climate any more! Still cold here in Tokyo but no where near as bad :) The trains have heated seats!!
Teacher Terry
1-14-14, 7:25pm
Dhiana, I also grew up in S. Wis and my parents owned a summer resort near Cable on Lake Namekogen. I know that I am spelling that wrong. Anyways I have the opposite problem where I am too hot a lot of the time.
Not sure why our discussion just struck me this way, but if we've ever had a thread about something that is truly a first world problem this might be it. As it hit -16* this morning and I simply cranked up the heat, damn the cost, I couldn't help but wonder how many people in the world would love to have a new blanket or a little more fuel. Suffering is relative I guess.
I agree. I have to stick to my budget, but it is comforting to know that I could crank the heat up if I absolutely had to. Which I do not. Have to.
Well I'm on the other side of the spectrum here in SoCal as we are having a heat wave (85 at the beach tomorrow - UGH!). I don't have A/C in my house but would use it if I did as I like it to be around 65 - 70 inside (lower than that if I'm doing anything physical or sleeping). So I rarely have to put on the heat (gas) at home except maybe in the late evening when the temps drop into the mid-50's. I just got my gas bill - which includes my gas hot water heater and gas stove and dryer - and last month(34 days) I used a total of 40 therms, Bill was approx. $30. I have always loved living in very cold and snowy/stormy places but don't think I could hack paying those high heating costs!
Here in San Francisco we're having the same heatwave, although not as heated as you Spartana. We did, though, have to leave all the windows wide open last night. We like to sleep in 65-70 also. It was still 70 inside this morning and back up to 75 right now. I'm somewhat concerned that it's late January with no rain in sight. We've had two very very minor rainshowers so far this rain season. We should be in the thick of rainy weather by now.
Here in San Francisco we're having the same heatwave, although not as heated as you Spartana. We did, though, have to leave all the windows wide open last night. We like to sleep in 65-70 also. It was still 70 inside this morning and back up to 75 right now. I'm somewhat concerned that it's late January with no rain in sight. We've had two very very minor rainshowers so far this rain season. We should be in the thick of rainy weather by now.We are having a pretty big wildfire up in the hills above LA. Very dry everywhere. Last year was dry too but nothing compared to this year. Soo we'll have to start sucking water from Oregon and Washington to fill our swimming pools and water our golf courses :-)! The heat/dryness and winds are suppose to be better today but it still seems hot to me - and I'm only 3 miles from the ocean in Huntington Beach. Nights are pleasant though. Windows open and a fan on me all night long too!
We try to climate control just the things that need it, not the whole house or even rooms. Mostly humans, dogs, and keeping computers cool. We use an electric space heater in the office (and the adjoining bedroom gets some of the benefit), and we have a propane heater in the bathroom, and a portable propane Mr. Heater. The electric heater is set between 60-65 when we are in there, and the propane is used when the temp drops below 50 and we are going to be in that room for any length of time (about 2-3 times a week for a few hours).
Bacawind, is the portable propane heater rated safe for indoor use? Burning propane produces carbon monoxide and if you're using it when you're asleep, well... Just want to be sure.
Good point, Gregg! No, our heaters are not claiming to be safe indoors.
We use propane heaters 2 or 3 times a week, for a few hours at a time, when that room drops below 50 degrees, and just when we are going to be in that room for a while. I do think with space heaters and such, carbon monoxide testers and smoke alarms are needed. We don't have a fire department or hydrants on street corners (we don't have streets for that matter, just highways and dirt roads) so if there's an accident, we're on our own.
Rather than saying we live in a drafty old house, we like to call it, "well ventilated".
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