Mad Dawg Wiccan
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Post by Mad Dawg Wiccan on Jan 31, 2011 23:02:07 GMT -5
What temperature do you keep your home thermostat set at? If you live with others, is the setting a bone of contention?
Right now, I keep mine set at 73. That's a little higher than I would normally keep it, but I work from a home (apartment) office. I set up the office in what was meant to be the dining room, which is pretty small and has two windows. Since this place was built back in the early 70s, of course the windows are single-paned, so the one about a foot from my right shoulder radiates the cold right down on me as I sit at my 'puter. I have to raise the temp of the whole apartment to make the office bearable, but I'm going to get a space heater soon. If my furnace were gas I wouldn't bother, but I'm "all electric" which means I pay dearly for heat.
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Befferz
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Post by Befferz on Jan 31, 2011 23:21:11 GMT -5
What temperature do you keep your home thermostat set at? If you live with others, is the setting a bone of contention? Right now, I keep mine set at 73. That's a little higher than I would normally keep it, but I work from a home (apartment) office. I set up the office in what was meant to be the dining room, which is pretty small and has two windows. Since this place was built back in the early 70s, of course the windows are single-paned, so the one about a foot from my right shoulder radiates the cold right down on me as I sit at my 'puter. I have to raise the temp of the whole apartment to make the office bearable, but I'm going to get a space heater soon. If my furnace were gas I wouldn't bother, but I'm "all electric" which means I pay dearly for heat. Target has their little electric heaters on "end of season" clearance right now! Home Depot also sells films to put over the glass that help filter UV rays, and I think they have some insulating properties too, but I'm not sure. I don't mean the thin plastic that looks like you taped plastic bags across the windows; there's stuff that adheres directly to the glass. I have gas radiator heat, with 4 zones. I keep the living room (biggest area) at 62 I think during the weekdays, and 69 in the morning/evening and weekends. I keep my bedroom the same, but even though I have brand new double pane windows, the house is 100 years old, so during the bitter cold spells the heat can't keep up. When I get up in the mornings, it's frequently only 63-65. I could set the thermostat to turn the heat on earlier, but the area's fairly small, so instead I have a small electric heater in my bathroom that I turn on as soon as I get up, and can turn off after my shower, so maybe 30 minutes. I imagine that's cheaper than turning the radiator on an hour or two earlier, but maybe not?
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Befferz
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Post by Befferz on Jan 31, 2011 23:23:05 GMT -5
Oh, and there are no wars on the temps in my house. My dogs haven't figured out how to change the settings yet.
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Mad Dawg Wiccan
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Post by Mad Dawg Wiccan on Jan 31, 2011 23:34:42 GMT -5
I should have added, my thermostat has no time setting on it, it's just on or off. I do turn it way down at night and let the electric blanket take charge. Summer here isn't quite so bad. It gets hot here, 110+, but I am surrounded bu huge Redwoods which mostly keep the place shaded, so the UV filters wouldn't do any good. I'm going to try to get over to Home Depot this week and get a space heater, I really don't need a very big one. I know space heaters draw high current, but the area I'm heating isn't that large and I know it will be cheaper than heating the whole danged apartment.
BTW, my dog and two cats also love the electric blanket. I often wake up at the bottom of a critter pile in the morning.
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Peace Of Mind
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Post by Peace Of Mind on Jan 31, 2011 23:40:29 GMT -5
Befferz, LMAO!! DH and I pretty much agree in the winter. We both hate it. But during the summer he wants it cooler than I do. And our electric bill this winter has been awful! $300.00 the coldest month so far and the bill for last month was $268.00. I don't think it's that high during the summer months when it's in the 90's when we run the air constantly. Mad dawg - During the day that's what we keep it on - 73 degrees. And I bump it to 74 when I need to get in the shower. At night we put it at 70. We tried 68 and 69 but couldn't get out of the bed in the mornings. Our master bedroom is colder than the rest of the house. Yeah, nights are a 3 dawg night. Or for us a 3 cat night.
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TD2K
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Post by TD2K on Jan 31, 2011 23:42:59 GMT -5
I keep the house in the low 60s when I at home. The programmable thermostate drops to about 50F during times when I'm not usually at home (I can always over-ride the unit if I'm home). I always wear a fleece in the house and slippers as nedded.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Feb 1, 2011 0:24:24 GMT -5
What temperature do you keep your home thermostat set at? If you live with others, is the setting a bone of contention? Right now, I keep mine set at 73. That's a little higher than I would normally keep it, but I work from a home (apartment) office. I set up the office in what was meant to be the dining room, which is pretty small and has two windows. Since this place was built back in the early 70s, of course the windows are single-paned, so the one about a foot from my right shoulder radiates the cold right down on me as I sit at my 'puter. I have to raise the temp of the whole apartment to make the office bearable, but I'm going to get a space heater soon. If my furnace were gas I wouldn't bother, but I'm "all electric" which means I pay dearly for heat. Natural gas isn't cheap either. My December bill was equal in natural gas and electric. Try buying one of those electric oil-filled radiator type room heaters. They put out a good amount of heat and you can place it right by your window so your room won't get too hot. I bought several via on-line and one or so at Home Depot. Your pets will like laying next to it too. Mine do.
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Mad Dawg Wiccan
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Post by Mad Dawg Wiccan on Feb 1, 2011 0:27:40 GMT -5
Howdy Tenn.
<< Natural gas isn't cheap either. >>
It is here, FAR cheaper than electrical heat.
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Mad Dawg Wiccan
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Post by Mad Dawg Wiccan on Feb 1, 2011 0:29:36 GMT -5
<<Try buying one of those electric oil-filled radiator type room heaters.>>
I will look into it, I really just need to heat a 10 X 10 room during the day.
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❤ mollymouser ❤
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Post by ❤ mollymouser ❤ on Feb 1, 2011 0:34:04 GMT -5
<<< ---- tree-hugging, green, energy-saving weirdo, here. I don't use central air or heat 99% of the time. (I did turn the air on when I had a houseguest for 4 days in July 2009) Outside? Our temps range from the 30s in the winter to 115 in the summers.
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Peace Of Mind
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Post by Peace Of Mind on Feb 1, 2011 0:34:10 GMT -5
Or you can get an electric fireplace if you want something more attractive. And they seem safer to me with the fireplace framing around them. I've never not had a fireplace until we built this house. I would love a gas fireplace in the master but they make me nervous. Every time I see an explosion/fire caused by a gas line leak I change my mind.
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DebMD (banned)
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Post by DebMD (banned) on Feb 1, 2011 7:08:40 GMT -5
Mine is set between 53-55 in winter. I would set it lower but am worried the pipes might freeze and burst. I work out when I get home from work eat some food and hit the bed. I lounge in a fleece top and leggings.
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DebMD (banned)
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Post by DebMD (banned) on Feb 1, 2011 7:12:16 GMT -5
"lowest we can go and still sleep at night"
I sleep on an 'opened/unzipped' sleeping bag[41 degree type] under my sheet and comforter and am usually tooo warm
House is well insulated and costs of Electric and Gas=~60-100$ each per month.
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EveryWhichWay
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Post by EveryWhichWay on Feb 1, 2011 7:14:57 GMT -5
We keep ours set at 69. I've read that turning it up and down only uses more energy unless you have a well insulated home. It takes more energy to get the heat back up if you turn it down while sleeping and while not a home. Google it, lots of info.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2011 8:25:40 GMT -5
Ours is at 68 during the day and 62 at night. PLENTY warm!
Oh, and no war about it. We have a programmable thermostat, and no one likes messing with it!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2011 9:10:54 GMT -5
I used to live in an old fourplex that had really drafty windows and we used that insulating film over the windows and it made a HUGE difference! It's basically like shrink-wrapping the window so that the drafts don't come through. It's really not expensive (very easy, too) I'd suggest trying that.
We keep our heater set at 68 downstairs, 71 upstairs. A lot of heat from downstairs goes straight up the stairs and the thermostat upstairs is at the top of the stairs... so while it's set at 71, it actually just keeps the rooms at ~69.
This past summer was one of the hottest summers we've had in a long time... and I was pregnant. DH was none too happy when we got the utility bill, I kept the AC at 68 and our bill was almost $400. But it was worth it to me! ;D Usually we keep it around 72 in the summer.
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The J
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Post by The J on Feb 1, 2011 9:20:04 GMT -5
I primarily keep the heat off. In the master bedroom and kitchen, it's set at 52 degrees. My roommate has his bedroom programmed to turn on to 60 just before he gets home, turning down to 50-something around when he goes to bed, and then back to 60 when he gets up for an hour. There's really no contention about the heat. Particularly when we used the heat a little more frequently last month and I got the electric bill.
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Befferz
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Post by Befferz on Feb 1, 2011 9:24:36 GMT -5
In the master bedroom and kitchen, it's set at 52 degrees. Yeah, well, you're a penguin.
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cael
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Post by cael on Feb 1, 2011 9:26:39 GMT -5
<<< ---- tree-hugging, green, energy-saving weirdo, here. karma for you! We keep it pretty low - 63-64 while we aren't home and while we sleep, and 68ish when we're home until bed. Sometimes we turn it up more if it's freezing out, but we're usually pretty comfortable (even though I'm usually in a sweatshirt). I usually get one $100 gas bill per winter, after which I flip out & keep it real cold. DF forgets to turn the heat down before he comes to bed sometimes, and I wake up dying of the heat if it's at 68 or 70. Our old roommate we lived with for 2 years used to keep it at 74 AT NIGHT with his window open, I almost died I was always getting up to turn it down.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Feb 1, 2011 9:26:40 GMT -5
I keep my thermostat at around 60 deg at night and when I'm not there. First thing in the morning, I crank it up to 70 to get a shower, then drop it back to 60 before I leave. While I'm home, before going to bed, the thermostat's set someplace between 62-65, depending upon whether or not I've got the fireplace going.
I have a down comforter, so once I've crawled into bed, it quickly gets toasty under the covers. It's just getting out that's the problem!
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Feb 1, 2011 9:44:39 GMT -5
Our place is newer so is very efficient. 64 seems quite warm but of course, with it being so cold, the bill is high because it is always going. 60 at night is fine for me but poor DF gets up at night for the bathroom and freezes his buns off!!! We set the programmable once, what a pita!
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MN-Investor
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Post by MN-Investor on Feb 1, 2011 10:13:58 GMT -5
During the winter we have the thermostat set at 65. If I'm just sitting around, I'll put on a flannel shirt. If I'm doing chores, it's a good temperature. At night, we have one blanket, plus I have an additional twin-size light weight blanket on me. We tried having it cooler at night, but I wake up with a cold nose!
During the summer we keep it at about 73. Neither my DH nor I like to be hot.
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kimber45
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Post by kimber45 on Feb 1, 2011 10:18:34 GMT -5
We keep ours at about 66-67 during the winter and about 75 in the summer. We have fuel oil forced air heat. So far I've spent about $1000 in fuel oil (just filled a couple weeks ago). Hopefully we won't have to get much more, but it is only Feb 1, lots more winter left here
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2011 10:50:01 GMT -5
We have our set to 66 when we are home during the day, 63 at night and 58 when we are not home. No wars in our house. Some times one of us gets cold and kicks is up a degree or two.
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Mad Dawg Wiccan
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Post by Mad Dawg Wiccan on Feb 1, 2011 12:13:47 GMT -5
<<We have fuel oil forced air heat. So far I've spent about $1000 in fuel oil (just filled a couple weeks ago).>>
We don't have fuel oil heat here, I doubt the Air Quality Board would allow it. I wonder if you would be better off converting to natural gas or propane?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2011 12:27:44 GMT -5
<<We have fuel oil forced air heat. So far I've spent about $1000 in fuel oil (just filled a couple weeks ago).>> We don't have fuel oil heat here, I doubt the Air Quality Board would allow it. I wonder if you would be better off converting to natural gas or propane? I just replaced my 60 year old oil fired cast iron boiler with a mod/con gas fired high efficiency natural gas boiler and I freaking love it!!!!!
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tractor
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Post by tractor on Feb 1, 2011 12:31:37 GMT -5
We keep our house at 70 in the winter and 74 in the summer. We use geo-thermal for heating and cooling and it seems to work best if you leave things at a constant temperature.
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Post by hawkeyes2001 on Feb 1, 2011 12:54:37 GMT -5
When we are home and awake it is set to 63/64. When we are home and asleep it goes down to 61/62. When we are not home it goes to 60.
We both are good with this. We recognize others are not. When we have guests we turn it up. On Saturday I hosted a gathering for about 14 extended family members. I turned it up to 65 or 66. Several hours after everyone had left I realized I was sweating and went to turn it back down.....it was on 69! One of our guests must have turned it up without asking! I thought this was RUDE. All they had to do was ASK and I would have turned it up.
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Mad Dawg Wiccan
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Post by Mad Dawg Wiccan on Feb 1, 2011 12:58:22 GMT -5
<<When we are home and awake it is set to 63/64.>>
My parents are like that, and so is my MIL. I hate going to see them in the winter, just too freaking cold for me!
<<I thought this was RUDE.>>
It was.
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MB-NY
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Post by MB-NY on Feb 1, 2011 13:02:00 GMT -5
We live in a middle unit of a townhouse, so only two sides of the house is exposed. I used to use the thermostat timer and had different temps at different times, but I think we did spend more money when we had to get the temps back up. Now we have it at 65 during the day and 67 at night. If we're gone for a couple of days, I'll drop it below 60. If we're both out just for the day, we may set it to 63. If we have company, we'll raise the temps, especially at night. The heat in our two extra bedrooms doesn't work all that well on the lower temperatures. We also bought new windows two years ago and they have really made a big difference.
The only battles we have is on occasion, my wife will sneak downstairs at night and drop it a couple of degrees. I think she's more warm-blooded than I am, and she loves the cold.
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