Heating your house?

[ripvanwinkle]

I'm having a disagreement with a lady friend of mine. We both use natural gas to heat our homes. It's about turning off the heat when you go to work and saving money. In the winter when I go to bed, I turn the heat down to 66. It's at 66 when I wake up. I go to work and turn the heat off. I get home about 8hrs later and the house temp is usually about 61-62deg. I turn it on to 68 when I get home and it takes about 30 min to get up to temp. The average yearly low temp here is 42.5deg. If I expect a freeze spell of a few days I'll leave the heat on at 61.

My friend on the other hand, leaves her heat on to 66 when she goes to work. Ok, she has a cat but it has fur. I don't have any pets. I say I save money by not heating when not there but she says she only has to raise the temp 2 deg to 68 while I have to raise mine 7 deg.

I wonder who's saving more money? Anyone want to chime in?

[Tennesseer]

Jan 7, 2020 22:22:46 GMT -5 ripvanwinkle said:

I'm having a disagreement with a lady friend of mine. We both use natural gas to heat our homes. It's about turning off the heat when you go to work and saving money. In the winter when I go to bed, I turn the heat down to 66. It's at 66 when I wake up. I go to work and turn the heat off. I get home about 8hrs later and the house temp is usually about 61-62deg. I turn it on to 68 when I get home and it takes about 30 min to get up to temp. The average yearly low temp here is 42.5deg. If I expect a freeze spell of a few days I'll leave the heat on at 61.

My friend on the other hand, leaves her heat on to 66 when she goes to work. Ok, she has a cat but it has fur. I don't have any pets. I say I save money by not heating when not there but she says she only has to raise the temp 2 deg to 68 while I have to raise mine 7 deg.

I wonder who's saving more money? Anyone want to chime in?

I assume your friend is local to you. Have the two of you compared your gas/heating bills for the same time periods?

[Deleted]

I’m not sure who’s saving more money, but I believe I read that if you lower the temp more than a few degrees, the furnace has to work harder (run longer or whatever) to heat the house back up to the desirable temp and negates some of your savings. Not a very precise answer, so definitely worth what you paid for it.

I’ve had programmable thermostats for almost the entire 19 years I’ve been a homeowner. In the winter, I set it at least 10 degrees lower while I was at work and the kids weren’t home, even though I had dogs. It was set to be warm again by the time I got back home. But my brick house held its temp pretty well, and it rarely if ever actually got that cool inside, maybe if we had unusually cold weather. I also set it to get a lot cooler during bedtime, and warm up just before it was time for me to get up in the morning.

DBF and I do the same in our new house. It’s brick too, and is decent with maintaining the temperature, but it could be better. This house has single pane windows (my other house has double pane) and you can feel the cold air near the windows, plus there are some drafts around at least a few of them. DBF wants to replace the windows, but I don’t see that happening for a few years.

Even with that, although this house is more than twice the size of my other one, the difference in the heating and cooling costs aren’t as big as I feared they might be. For December, the utility bill (electric, gas and water combined)  at my other house was ~$190, and the new house was $263. The programmable thermostat at the other house isn’t programmed anymore, there’s someone at home 24/7 and the temp is kept pretty constant as far as I know.

I still didn’t really answer your question though, did I? Sorry.

[ripvanwinkle]

Jan 7, 2020 22:35:57 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Jan 7, 2020 22:22:46 GMT -5 ripvanwinkle said:

I'm having a disagreement with a lady friend of mine. We both use natural gas to heat our homes. It's about turning off the heat when you go to work and saving money. In the winter when I go to bed, I turn the heat down to 66. It's at 66 when I wake up. I go to work and turn the heat off. I get home about 8hrs later and the house temp is usually about 61-62deg. I turn it on to 68 when I get home and it takes about 30 min to get up to temp. The average yearly low temp here is 42.5deg. If I expect a freeze spell of a few days I'll leave the heat on at 61.

My friend on the other hand, leaves her heat on to 66 when she goes to work. Ok, she has a cat but it has fur. I don't have any pets. I say I save money by not heating when not there but she says she only has to raise the temp 2 deg to 68 while I have to raise mine 7 deg.

I wonder who's saving more money? Anyone want to chime in?

I assume your friend is local to you. Have the two of you compared your gas/heating bills for the same time periods?

We haven't compared bills yet. She works 4 days a week so may not be comparable. This is probably a wash on cost. Both houses are "weatherized". Newer double pane windows, insulation etc.

[countrygirl2]

Ours is newer and well insulated.  Since we had work done on the geo thermal system this summer I believe my bills are going to be lower.  We turn ours down to 72 at night and 75 during the day.  It's just we sleep better at night that way.  I too think turning it really low just costs more to get the temp back up. But again can't prove it. Maybe others have your answer. I do close my drapes on really cold nights and have  cellular blinds on most of the windows and again on very cold nights pull them down to. 

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

I have heard that furnishings cool down, too, when you lower the heat so that you have to not only rewarm the air but couches, mattresses, and the like.

[wvugurl26]

I don't think there's that much saved by turning it up and down. When we got our new AC I was turning it up in the morning and down before we went to bed. It didn't really save anything. I just leave the upstairs on 69 now.

The biggest gas/electric bill since having the new HVAC installed has been $120.

[TheOtherMe]

My heat in the winter is set at 64 degrees.  I don't change it unless it gets way below zero.  Then I turn it up.

I'm home all day but when I worked, I still left it at the same temperature 24/7

[countrygirl2]

I couldn't keep it that cold. I even turn a heater on in the bathroom before a shower to make it warmer. I do not like being cold.

[mroped]

Having the temperatures set up-down constantly puts unnecessary stress on your furnace and water pumps.
When you set it lower then the furnace gets “harnessed” so to speak and your pumps relax. When you turn it back up is the other way around.
You might save fuel playing with it but shorten the life of furnace and pumps.
Keeping it constant regulates the environment easier and sets the pumps and furnace on a patern.

[gambler]

Get the cost per cubic foot (company can and should supply). Who ever used more cubic feet pays more

[Tiny]

You have to consider outside weather conditions and sun light as well.    If there's enough sun hitting the house during the day - the interior temperature might not drop all that quickly once the heat is shut off (or if it's still on it might not need to run as often to keep the house at the set temp).     That would mean that the objects in the house might not have "cooled" down to the temperature on the thermostat when one gets home in the evening.    The interior of the house hasn't been at the low (61 or 62 dgrees) the entire time the heat has been off.  

I would also think the cost per therm of natural gas comes into play.    If it's inexpensive (NG costs are pretty low right now)  the savings might only be a couple of dollars per heating month.  
 
My personal experience:    
As for saving money by lowering the heat when I'm home or overnight - I use a programmable thermostat.   During the 3 months of "need heat" but it's not super cold out and my house gets plenty of sun during the day - I have it set to 68 during times I'm home and active, 65 degrees while I'm at work, and then 65 degrees over night.  Sometimes the house won't drop below 65 degrees during a sunny day  (even if it's 40 degrees outside).  Usually by January 1st I've set it to be 68 degrees around the clock.  If I have guests I will bump it up to 72 or 74 temporarily (while they are there).   And at the end of February when the sun comes back and the temps are staying a little higher during the day and over nite - I'll switch back to the 68/65/65 routine- until I don't need heat or AC.     

I tracked my usage more than 10 years reviewing 2 prior years (records provided by the Gas company) and then 2 years going forward (examining my bills and pulling the yearly data from the gas company as it was avialable).  The result was that I am sort of certain that lowering the heat for parts of the day (or over night) does save me a few therms ( 10 or less therms)  over the course of the month (unless it's January and we have 15 days or more of teen and lower day/night temps - there's no hope of saving anything at that point).   
When the cost is low (.39 cents)  it might be $3.90 in savings.   When the cost is high (it was 1.80 a therm and higher)  for a while there...about $20.00 a month.   Since there are only  3 really cold months and 3 sorta cold still need heat months - it certainly makes sense to attempt to use less when prices are high and/or  during the 3 sort of cold still need some heat months.   During the really cold months I want to be comfortable-ish most of the time when I'm home.   The extra dollars are worth it.  

My house is poorly insulated and if it's in the teens outside and there's no sun during the day parts of my house get really cold - there will be a 10 degree difference between the thermostat and the bedrooms for example.      In a typical year (with a typical winter) I use about 1000 terms of Natural Gas for the year.   If it's a colder winter (30 degrees or lower day/over night combined with a couple of weeks of teen and lower temps day and night) I'll use an additional 100 to 300 therms.    When it's in the 30 degree and lower over night for days time of the year, I've found having the thermostat stay at a steady temp - keeps the house more comfy and it doesn't feel like the heat is running endlessly trying to get back to the higher temp after being at the lower temp for hours and hours.  

What I've really found to be helpful is saving on the cost of electricity -- running the AC is a far bigger expense than heating my house (using the gas dryer, water heater, stove)  so I try to focus my "saving" endeavors on summertime Electric bills.   

[Tiny]

Jan 7, 2020 22:22:46 GMT -5 ripvanwinkle said:

My friend on the other hand, leaves her heat on to 66 when she goes to work. Ok, she has a cat but it has fur. I don't have any pets. I say I save money by not heating when not there but she says she only has to raise the temp 2 deg to 68 while I have to raise mine 7 deg.

I solved the crazy temperature differences in my house and dealing with what temp to set the thermostat at and having cats - by getting the cats heated cat beds.   The cat beds didn't change my over all electric usage (I think one of them uses a 1 watt per day - so 30 watts per month - a kilowatt of electricity is about 8 cents).   The cats also have assorted "cat houses" cardboard boxes with a cat sized hole cut into the side and some bedding inside (a towel or an old pillow).    When they are feeling 'feral' they sleep in the cat houses.  When they are feeling Upper Crust  they sleep in the heated cat beds.     Everyone is happy. 

[Bluerobin]

Get an auto set back thermostat.  One temp for when you are there and another for when you are not.  Being retired, I have one for daytime and a lower one for night.

[Tiny]

Jan 7, 2020 22:48:02 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

 I read that if you lower the temp more than a few degrees, the furnace has to work harder (run longer or whatever) to heat the house back up to the desirable temp and negates some of your savings. Not a very precise answer, so definitely worth what you paid for it.       

Just adding to this concept:
The cost savings comes in from leaving the temp set low (or off) long enough to offset the cost of the longer run time when it heats back up.  (the furnace isn't working harder - it just runs longer)       

Let's say it uses 10 therms to keep the house at 68 degrees for 10 hours during the day

Let's say you'd use a total of 6 therms if you kept the house at  65 degrees for 10 hours during the day and then use 2 therms to get it back up to 68 when you got home.  That's a cost savings of 2 therms per day.   If therms are expensive it could add to be significant over the long term.  If therms are cheap it might be negligible to your spending/budget.    If you are a "pro environment" person, using less resources is always better  so the cost may not even come into play (but you may have to balance your comfort with your ideal of using less). 

I'll be honest and I'm not really sure if those therm usages are legitimate (I probably knew a good estimate 10 years ago when I was tracking my useage).  I just picked round numbers.  

That said:  for my house - my tracking/research from 10 years ago made me decide to  set my thermostat lower for the 10 hours I'm away M-F and then for 7 hours over night.  During the 'not so cold months' --  I'm doing it more from the "using less is better for the environment" side of things.  Especially since this doesn't effect my (or my cats) over all comfort.   I change the heating pattern during the "really cold"  6 to 8 weeks for the sake of comfort.   I also bump up the heat when I have guests (who seem to like to live in shorts and short sleeves during the cold winter and sweats/sweatshirt layers during the summer heat).   It's a compromise with my "green" conscience.