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Old 12-06-2010, 07:28 AM   #1
Northendzone
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For those of you that have programable thermostats in your homes what temp do you set it at during the night and when nobody is at home?

I let the temp drop to 16.5 both times - although sometimes I wonder if I use more energy to warm the house back up to ~20 than I would if I let the temp only drop to about 18.
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Old 12-06-2010, 08:49 AM   #2
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Good question I have wondered this myself. In the end, am I burning more gas when it ramps up from 16.5 to 20, than I would be if it was going from 18 to 20?
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Old 12-06-2010, 08:51 AM   #3
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I dunno either... I've always just ramped up from 17 to 22 and never let it fall below that.

Now would be a good time for us to find out tho... one month to the next we could test it out of need be
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Old 12-06-2010, 08:51 AM   #4
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Just leave it at 16.5. We aren't living in Palm Springs here.
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Old 12-06-2010, 08:52 AM   #5
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I've asked the question before and I wasn't able to find a concrete answer. My guess is that it largely depends on the size of your home and how easy/hard it is to heat. I used to be a real "put on a sweater and shut up" kinda guy, but I'm getting soft and weak in my old age and am cranking the heat more and more.
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Old 12-06-2010, 08:55 AM   #6
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16 at night (which is admittedly a bit cold), 17 during the day when we're not home because my dogs are sissies, and 20 when we're home. I might bump the overnight temperature up to 17 as well.

I read somewhere (can't recall where), that even though the furnace has to run a bit to get it up to 20 again, it is still more efficient than maintaining that temperature all day when the house is empty. I'd be interested in seeing something to back it up though.
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Old 12-06-2010, 09:02 AM   #7
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Sorry, don't have any numbers here, just what I've read from people's observations. If your house if even half decently insulated it is more efficient to keep it cooler during the day and "reheat" it at night as opposed to maintaining the same temperature 24 hours a day.

Last edited by Komskies; 12-06-2010 at 09:06 AM.
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Old 12-06-2010, 09:07 AM   #8
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Sounds like something Jamie and Adam should sort out for everyone.

When I used to live in Jolinar's basement, the temperature never rose over 16 degrees at any time. Cheap ####### didn't want to pay Enmax any more than he had to.
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Old 12-06-2010, 09:20 AM   #9
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By setting it lower, you are making the house lose less heat to the outdoors - thus saving on gas during the day.

Heat transfer is proportional to the difference in the temperature. So you lose more heat from your house being at 20 and outside is -10 than when it is at 16 and -10 outside.

I suspect that is also more efficient for the furnace to go from 16 to 20 when you come home in a single shot than it is for it to go 18 to 20 continously throughout the day.
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Old 12-06-2010, 09:55 AM   #10
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I think I read on a BC Hydro site that dropping the temperature by more than 1 degree Celcius for every 2 hours actually ends up being a waste of energy; as the system needs to work that much harder to recover.

So if your "overnight" period is 6 hours; dropping it more than 3 degrees is a waste. However for myself during the day, that time period is 10 hours for me; so I can drop it by 5 degrees.
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Old 12-06-2010, 10:00 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fredr123 View Post
Sounds like something Jamie and Adam should sort out for everyone.

When I used to live in Jolinar's basement, the temperature never rose over 16 degrees at any time. Cheap ####### didn't want to pay Enmax any more than he had to.
Couldn't you have run a cord to an electric heater?
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Old 12-06-2010, 10:03 AM   #12
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I put it down to 20 and leave it at 24. I love my house very nice and warm. That said I put on like 5 layers when I go outside even if it's -15
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Old 12-06-2010, 10:23 AM   #13
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Couldn't you have run a cord to an electric heater?
You should have heard him complain about the electricity bills! No win with that guy...
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Old 12-06-2010, 10:38 AM   #14
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I put it down to 20 and leave it at 24. I love my house very nice and warm. That said I put on like 5 layers when I go outside even if it's -15
My in-laws always have the thermostat at 24 and it nearly makes me puke because it is so stuffy. They're Italian, however, and I'm a pasty white Anglo Saxon - that might have something to do with it!
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Old 12-06-2010, 10:55 AM   #15
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^^^ My in-laws are also like this - it is like they feel the need to bake you out of bed in the morning......place is 24 on a year round basis......
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Old 12-06-2010, 11:01 AM   #16
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I have one of those many times a day programables, which I love - I use it like an alarm clock

M-F 5am - goes to 25C at 5am, so I am hot when my alarm goes off at 5:15 and I want to get out of bed....Really helps avoiding staying in bed past 5:30am.

M-F at 6:15am - When we leave the house for work it goes down to 18C - Cool, but comfortable for our little pup while we're away

M-F at 6:15pm - back up to 23 as a "while we're home" temp. Wife gets cold quickly, so anything below it and I get the nagging "I'm cold!" comments - I'd rather pay an extra ~10-20 bucks a month to avoid that.

Weekend - I have it set the same way, but letting me sleep in until 7am, then bake me out of bed, then 23C during the day.

At night, all week, it's about 22C, I don't like to be cold...
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Old 12-06-2010, 11:04 AM   #17
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^^^ My in-laws are also like this - it is like they feel the need to bake you out of bed in the morning......place is 24 on a year round basis......
The funny part is, they decided to get a programmable thermostat after some costly heating bills a few years back (you think?), but the thing stays on override at 24 degrees 24/7. Add in the heat from the oven/stove, and the body heat of a family gathering, and we might as well be in a sauna.

To each their own, I suppose, but I plan to have to peel off a layer whenever I go there so I ensure that I have a t-shirt on under my sweater. And I sneakily turn their thermostat down to a more reasonable 21 or 22 when they're not looking.
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Old 12-06-2010, 11:08 AM   #18
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You are all wimps.

At night my thermostat drops to 13.5.

During the day it rises to 18.5.

My wife is a homemaker and we have two small children and we get along just fine. With the cheap gas this season we will sometimes get a little crazy and bump the thermostat back up to 19.5. The other cheat we use is the fact that we have a gas fireplace in our family room and some evenings we will fire it up for an hour or so.

EDIT: Just checked out my most recent gas bill (Nov 29, 2010) and we were charged $105.01 in total (12.92 gJ). This bill covers our home (3yrs old) of ~2,200 sq ft plus I have a detached heated garage ~700 sq ft with an occupied carriage suite above ~576 sq ft.
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Old 12-06-2010, 11:09 AM   #19
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^^^ My in-laws are also like this - it is like they feel the need to bake you out of bed in the morning......place is 24 on a year round basis......
Too much! Anything over 20 and I have trouble sleeping.
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Old 12-06-2010, 12:05 PM   #20
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24 is perfect!!! I hate going to people's houses who have it set at <20. My hands and feet are cold and I walk around with a jacket. Kinda weird.

I have a friend whose parents put the house at 15 degrees. Last time I'll ever play video games there. I spent more time warming up my toes than playing the game.
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