[kjmclark]

Actually, I've looked for a thermostat that understood sensible temperatures, to no avail. I've also looked for a thermostat that had more than four daily programs, also to no avail. I've looked into computer-based systems, but I'm not willing to shell out the kind of money they want.

We (in Michigan) do it this way:

Cooling season
If the night time temperature is dropping to between 55 and 65 degrees (F), and the next day's high will be above 72-75, we run the whole house fan at night on low. We close the house up in the morning (like Neopeasant), and have the four settings on the thermostat set to wake @ 6am to 72, leave @ 10am to 74, return @ 2pm to 76, sleep @ 8pm to 74.

If the night time low is above 65, we just leave the house closed up and run on AC. We get lots of humidity from the Gulf of Mexico up our way, and the extra humidity makes it not worth opening the windows above that temperature. If we leave the house closed up for several days at a stretch, we increase the above temperatures on the thermostat, since the AC will have lowered the humidity quite a bit over that time.

We run ceiling fans in a few of the rooms a good bit of the time as well.

In the spring and fall we mostly don't run the furnace or AC at all, just open windows at appropriate times to cool and close them at appropriate times to heat.

Heating season
In the winter, we either run with the furnace or wood stove. If furnace, we heat things up to 65 during the day (someone's always at home) and let it fall to 55 at night. It doesn't usually get that low. If we're running with the wood stove, we only run the furnace to heat things up to 60 first thing in the morning and run on stove heat after that.

Newton's law of thermal heating and cooling says that your energy loss is proportional to the temperature differential between your heated/cooled thing and the ambient temperature. See Wikipedia.

[kjmclark]

Of course, by "We (in Michigan)" I mean my family, not everyone in Michigan.

[Ingenuity_Gap]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'H')ere in the east, a big component of comfort is the humidity. Low 80's (F) can be pretty comfortable if the humidty is low enough and 75 with high humidity can feel pretty icky.

I think there must be thermostats that also take into account humidity to control the unit? Like a comfort index rather than temperature. Anyone know of such a thing that can be used with an existing central AC?

[strider3700]

I suppose it depends on your heat source. My thermostat controls electric baseboards. Since they are 100% on or 100% off it makes zero sense to have them float a temperature. When I'm away I have the thermostat set to 10 celsius. This prevents wasting energy heating the house a little bit while I'm away just to increase the temperature differential between the inside and the outside to allow more heat to work it's way outside. I'd go lower but the plants and animals start dieing.

I don't know if gas and oil furnaces have a partial on setting my guess is they don't and you want them off while you're away.

[dbarberic]

Some additional info:

My wife and attempt to use the a/c as little as possible. Many of the non-a/c techniques mentioned, we already use when possible. (Open windows at night with window fans and close up tight in the morning to maintain the cool air inside, etc). We only use the a/c when it is miserable outside, like it has been for about the last week and half with the high heat and humidity.

Likewise, we have a wood burning fireplace insert that helps heat the house in the winter.

I like to fiddle with things, so I’m trying to determine if there is an optimal settings for my thermostat.

[emailking]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dbarberic', '
')For example, one reference for optimal energy savings indicates that you should not have more than an 8 degree deferential between you’re at home setting and your away setting. The logic is that more than an 8 degree swing uses more energy to catch up (cool or heat) when the programming turns from “away” to “home”.

[HamRadioRocks]

Since learning about the imminent nature of both Peak Oil and global warming, I've been taking steps to cut back on my energy use. Climate control is at the top of my hit list, because it's the biggest. 2 years ago, I kept the thermostat at 67 degrees. Of course, I was renting an apartment back then, and my heat was included. The following summer, I moved into the house I'm currently renting. Last winter, I installed plastic window insulation on most of the windows and kept the thermostat at 63 degrees. (This is an old house built in 1951 with metal window frames and poor insulation.) I also blocked the vents of the window air conditioner both inside and outside.

This year, I've doubled-up and even tripled-up on the plastic insulation for some of the windows. I've closed up the cracks around the windows with rope caulking. And I've been gradually lowering the thermostat over the fall and winter. (Lowering the thermostat gradually rather than abruptly eases the shock.) So while I started off the heating season with the thermostat at 67 degrees, I now have it down to 59 degrees.

Cutting back on the heating can be uncomfortable at times, but I wouldn't classify it as an extreme hardship. Even if Peak Oil, Middle East violence, and global warming are resolved tomorrow, I won't regret the things I've done to conserve. My ways of dealing with the cold:
1. Move around. I know I've been sitting on my butt for too long when I feel cold.
2. Use a humidifier. Indoor air is too dry in winter anyway. Dry air doesn't retain heat well.
3. Cook wontons for dinner. (Wonton is a type of boiled dumpling. Since I am of Chinese descent, I really like to eat it.) All that boiling water adds much-needed heat and humidity to the air. For that reason, wonton isn't very appropriate in summer.
4. Wear more clothing. In bitterly cold weather, I have to double up on the sweaters when I go outside anyway. I never could understand the concept of stripping down to a T-shirt and shorts inside when you have to bundle up outside. That just means it takes longer to get ready to go anywhere, and I can be a rather impatient person.
5. Watch movies with settings in a warm or hot place. There's something ironic about seeing a Beverly Hills Cop movie inside a 59-degree house. I should try seeing the movie _Backdraft_ (lots of fire). Conversely, movies like _Titanic_, _Dr. Zhivago_, and _Eight Below_ are more appropriate for the summer months.

Yes, I know some people would think I'm crazy for turning the thermostat so low. But it's amazing how much a person can adapt to a moderately cold environment, as I have. Given that I'm one of the thinnest people out there (and should be least able to handle the cold), everyone else should have an easier time adapting to a sub-60-degree house.

As you might have guessed, I don't have a wife. Well, if I had a wife, I'd offer her an alternative way to warm up, especially if we wanted to conceive a baby. (I'm surprised men never offer to warm up their wives in this manner.)

I think the crazy people are the ones who camped out for Playstation 3, wear flip-flops when there's snow on the ground, don't wear hats and gloves, go swimming in freezing water, etc. In fact, I swear that a lot of people out there have forgotten how to bundle up. When I was a kid growing up in the Chicago area (I now live in Iowa), we were always being told to bundle up. And I can't fathom who got the idea of wearing flip-flops in winter. The mobility of flip-flops looks poor enough in the summer. Wearing flip-flops in winter sounds like an invitation to slips, falls, and frostbite.

NOTE: In the poll, use the thermostat setting for the evening when you are home if you have a programmable thermostat.

[HamRadioRocks]

If your answer is 54 or less, select the 55-59 option. For some reason, the system refuses to print the last option.

[rdsaltpower]

I use a programmable stat in my home. I set the stat for 55 while at work and back up to 68 when my son returns from school. I get home around 5pm and turn off the gas furnace. then I use my wood burner from 5 till bedtime. It usally heats until 1 or 2 am. Then I have the stat set to 64 until awakeing . Then It kicks up to 68 for 1 hour and then back to 55 etc. I had a $155 dollar credit with gas co. and my budget fell from $56 per month last winter to $24 dollars last month. But we had a very mild winter until 2 wks ago, now its back to a normal winter.

[dinopello]

63-ish, I like it cold. I turn it up to 68 or so if I have company. My problem is in the summer, when I also would rather it cold - or at least not so humid. I keep it around 78 in the summer.

[dissimulo]

We haven't turned the heat on at all in several years. The climate is pretty mild in Seattle, plus the house is small and well insulated and we have lots of sweaters and blankets.

Lowest temperature inside the house this year was 36. We were OK, but our dog is old and got the shivers, so we bought her a sweater.

I only really notice the cold when I get out of the shower.

[WildRose]

We keep our thermostat around 60 degrees, sometimes a bit warmer when we have company over or when someone's sick. The temperatures outside have been consistently below zero this winter, sometimes quite a bit below, and the colder it is outside, the harder it is to feel comfortable inside with the temp. set at 60. All in all, though, the family has adjusted - everyone has warm slippers and fleece throws that we use when we're just sitting, and the beds have adequate blankets and comforters. I find that I like the 60 degree setting when I'm busy in the house; the cooler temperature is great for cooking and cleaning.

[Revi]

We set it to the 60's during the day, but at night it goes down even lower. We run the woodstove for more warmth when we're hanging out in the living room. We don't suffer and we don't use much oil. Every living creature in the house is drawn to the woodstove when it's burning. The cats, dog, kid and us. Hard to get a seat sometimes.

[TreebeardsUncle]

Hi.
When working for 3 years fo navair in CL and living in Ridgecrest in the Mohave Desert, I hardly ever used the heater. The apt had a swamp cooler rather than an air conditioner, and I only used that a few times when the temperature was at least 100 F outside.
At the aprt in Organvele east of Sacramento which I had for a year
I never turned on the heat, the air conditioner, the oven, the burners, or the diswasher. Have used a microwave and have run the washer and drier only once every couple of months or so. Have also used a computer and had phones plugged in and a clock for some months. My electric bill was generally in the $8 through $10 a range, and never over $10/month I think.
The biggest electrical expense for a house is heating and cooling and then the range (oven and burners). For a single occupant the refrigerator is then usually the next largest expense and for 2 or more people, the drier generally is.

G

[frankthetank]

I've done it before... (kept the bedroom in the 60's with small electric heater/would turn heat on and off depending on use...)...
Thermostat photo
Don't do it at our new place, but would if i had too. Worse that could happen would be frozen pipes...? My wife took the pic above as evidence to blackmail me, she wasn't happy with the temps!!! She'll see in 10 years when were burning garbage in our basement to cook squirrel.
EDIT:Now it stays between 59F and 65F depending on the outside temp. The basement is 43F as i type so i don't go down there much, good place for my potats and my carrots.

[eric_b]

I haven't turned the electric heat on in this apt. I'm living in yet. Been here going on two Winters now. I live in Wisconsin and it's cold and snowing out as I type this. Southern facing windows help, but I guess I must be leeching heat from my neighbors . LIving off the ground floor helps too, heat rises. The drawback is this place is a sweatbox in the Summer. Picker ur poision. Not certain what the temp is in here, but I'd guess it's in the low 60's. The only drawback is the cat becomes agressively lap-seeking and uses me as a heating pad.

I leave my Computer rig on all the time too. No, that's not a computer, it's a 250 watt space heater that does computational tasks on the side { geek grin }. My speaker box and monitor do their share also. Flipside (as above) is they really heat the joint up in the Summer. I hardly ever use my AC; it sounds like an idling jet engine and probably adds almost as much to the electric bill as turning on the electric heat.

OK I'm rambling and will leave now.

[snax]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('HamRadioRocks', '.') . . As you might have guessed, I don't have a wife. Well, if I had a wife, I'd offer her an alternative way to warm up, especially if we wanted to conceive a baby. (I'm surprised men never offer to warm up their wives in this manner.)

[gego]

What thermostat?

If it feels cool put more wood in the firebox and keep the damper wide opened. Get the fire too hot and just cut the damper down a little. Time to go to bed; load the firebox with big logs and half close the damper. I guess you might say my wife and I are the thermostats.

Ok, when I go out of town, I do turn the thermostat on the backup gas heater up to 40F to keep the pipes from freezing, but otherwise I don't use it.

If the energy collapse comes, I guess I will just stay home and tend the home fire during the winter.

[IslandCrow]

My house was 17 degrees this morning. A bit on the cool side so I turned up the heat a bit. 19 is comfortable for me, but cold for the wife, unless it is the sauna when anything under 70 is unbearably cold and 80 about right.

[strider3700]

All electric heat, 3 kw of heaters in the living room/kitchen. I set the T-stat to 17(62).

Last week it was on for 3 hours 43 minutes meaning it cost me less then a quarter.

I heat mostly with the wood stove. Sunday the inside temp was 27(81)

If it wasn't for the woodstove I'd keep the temp set at 19(66) when I'm home 21(70) when the wife is there.