Way OT - Keeping the house warm

[Bob Hancock]

for less. OK....since this is winter and I'm in a new (to me) house, I've been wondering how to run the thermostat in the most efficient manner when it really gets cold. Specifically, should I turn the heater down at night? I normally run it at 70F during the day and turn it down to 62F at night. But then it takes about 3 hours in the morning for the house to come up to temp. So would it be more efficient to not turn it down? Or to turn it down more....or....? Heat is from a central propane furnace.
Thanks...and stay warm y'all. You too brad.

[shreddr]

why not ask Mr. Electricity!

Ask Mr. Electricity: Saving money on heating

[cageyar]

Go to Home Depot and get a programable thermostat.
Our heat goes off at 10:00PM and only comes on again if the temp falls below 55 degrees. It automatically comes on at 5:30AM to warm the house back up.
My wife keeps it at 67 during the day.
You can also program it for a 2nd cycle during the day if the house is empty.

[ckcarr]

Close drapes when sun goes down.
Open in morning to gain all the solar heat you can.
Keep at a constant temperature. Or mild deviations. I like 80+
Use an electric space heater occassionally.
Does it have a ceiling fan? You can use to disperse the warm air, although I like some rooms warmer than others.
Close doors for unused rooms and turn their heat off. Isolate yourself in one room...
A nip or two is good.

[shreddr]

Originally Posted by ckcarr

A nip or two is good.

contrary to popular belief, alcohol does not keep you warm, in fact it does the opposite. it is only warm going down. a nip or 2 may make you care less about being cold!

[wswartzwel]

Gerbing!

[shreddr]

i missed the part about propane, here is a link that compares energy costs.

Fuel Cost Comparison Calculator

[AZ-Twin]

Originally Posted by wswartzwel

Gerbing!

Like this?

I wear my electric clothes in the house.

[ckcarr]

Originally Posted by shreddr

contrary to popular belief, alcohol does not keep you warm, in fact it does the opposite. it is only warm going down. a nip or 2 may make you care less about being cold!

That may be, but after living in the 40 degrees below-zero land for years I found that if you are going to freeze to death, you may as well have a nice drink on the way out....

Perhaps this would help also...

[peter f]

Originally Posted by Bob Hancock

for less. OK....since this is winter and I'm in a new (to me) house, I've been wondering how to run the thermostat in the most efficient manner when it really gets cold.

Bob

What kind of insulation has the house? Is it exterior ? (meaning that encapsulates all the rigid house elements) Has the house thermal bridges? (meaning that insulation "breaks" as is applied in different elements - say the exposed concrete case etc etc). What kind of glazing is around?

A nice (but a bit primitive) simulation/analysis tool (it's an ..er...hmm... Excel scripted thing) can be found here:

RETScreen International Home

As a generic (and theoretical) directive : in an ideal construction (don't ask, he he) the energy supply should being applied continuously - especially in exterior insulation cases.

[shreddr]

you had to go and throw the hot blonde in the santa suit card didn't you! i'll be back in a bit....

[DanGreene]

Bob, relative humidity is also important. Keeping the humidity as close between 45 and 55% as possible will make you feel warmer and even take less heat for the same subjective feel of warmth. At least according to our local electric co-op magazine.

Humidity is also very critical if you have musical instruments in the house. The number one cause of damage to instruments from environmental forces is the wood getting too dry. I have to use two humidifiers in a 760 square foot cabin in the winter to keep the humidity in the correct range. Dry air bad. Especially on days like today... 8 degrees with a 40 mph wind gusts and a relative humidity of 30%

Stay warm.

[1100s nut]

Bob, slap the wheels back on that beotch and have it hauled to Florida! hahaha I had to say that. lol

Lane

[Guest24]

More layered clothes-Less Heat. We live at 67. Don't know if you save that much bouncing the temp up and down. Ceiling fans to move the hot air downward in you high ceiling house. Just reverse them so they pull the air up and then force the hot air down the sides. Close off the room upstairs and the bath, Bob. Heat only what you need for you unless guests arrive.

[bradzdotcom]

i guess i was a "guest" at my grandpa's house.
i remember once mentioning i was cold, and asking him if he was.
"yup, i am. i'll fix that." was the response.

he left the room, then came back a few minutes later, wearing a sweatshirt.

[Sofatester]

Originally Posted by Bob Hancock

for less. OK....since this is winter and I'm in a new (to me) house, I've been wondering how to run the thermostat in the most efficient manner when it really gets cold. Specifically, should I turn the heater down at night? I normally run it at 70F during the day and turn it down to 62F at night. But then it takes about 3 hours in the morning for the house to come up to temp. So would it be more efficient to not turn it down? Or to turn it down more....or....? Heat is from a central propane furnace.
Thanks...and stay warm y'all. You too brad.

The correct overnight temperature drop depends on the climate region you're living in. In Alaska you certainly need a lower overnight temperature drop than in central europe. I'm sorry, I don't know how the winter is in north Georgia (US).

70°F = 21°C and 62°F=16.7°C
= 4.3°C overnight drop. Would be a bit low for central europe, but not toooo bad. Certainly okay for a colder region than central europe.

Today we had about 16-17°F (-8 to -9°C) at my place as lowest temperature and ~24° F (~ -4°C) as peak.

Heating system in my house has a night drop of 7°C installed. Common span of night drop is 5-8°C, depending on how cold winter is.

19°C (70°F) is common daytime room temperature. That should be okay.

2 hours should be maximum to heat the house up after the night drop. My heating system needs only 1 hour, starting at 05.00 in the morning so the house is warm until 06.00 . Night drop starts at 23.00 or 23.30 must have a 2nd look at the settings.

But you always have to take the material which your house is made of into account and the type/efficiency of your heating system.

I have an old house, built 1932, made of three rows of solid red bricks (altogether 40 cm / 15.75 inches thick) plus additional 12 cm (4.72 inch) of an EPS composite heat insulation system and 0.8-1.0 cm exterior rendering. That keeps the cold at bay.

We use an infloor-heating system in the ground floor and a common radiator system in 2nd floor and in the attic. Our heating system is a modern wood pellet system with seperated filament circuits for the infloor/radiator systems, a 750 ltr. ( ~200 US gal.) boiler tank and an additional auxiliary solar heating system with 6 m² panel surface, also attached to the boiler tank. (all totally renewed in 2005/2006)

A proper modern heating system for a house needs a lot more settings than only the thermostat temperature for the rooms, e.g. it needs a proper heating curve.

Something for a specialist who knows the region, the climate and the heating system a lot better than I do.

Good luck

[Bob Hancock]

Thanks for all the thoughtful and entertaining replies, guys. Good stuff. The only thing I wasn't aware of is the humidity deal.....think I'll get a humidifier. And keep turning down my heat at night 8F.

[Sofatester]

Originally Posted by bradzdotcom

i guess i was a "guest" at my grandpa's house.
i remember once mentioning i was cold, and asking him if he was.
"yup, i am. i'll fix that." was the response.

he left the room, then came back a few minutes later, wearing a sweatshirt.

ingenious. I experienced a very similar situation with one of my uncles (as old as a grandpa)
That war generation was not that pampered as we are.

[PFFOG]

Heat loss is dependent on temp difference, the warmer inside, or the colder outside, the heat loss is greater. It is basic physics.

Also your furnace should be more efficient if running for longer periods of time, All that energy to warm the fire box, ducting etc. is partially lost, especially the fire box.

As cage said, programmable thermostats, most have separate weekend and weekday settings. Also shut off the registers in the bed room during the day, no sense in heating rooms when not in use.

I have hot water heat and have 5 different zones in the house. Bedrooms warm up about 9:30 - 11 pm, and 5:30 -8 am. or as soon as we are both out of the bedroom in the morning, thermostat goes to 55, until it kicks itself in at 9:30 pm again to make the bed warmer to crawl into.

Living space goes down at 11pm, warms up to 70 starting at 5:30, and again shuts down at 8:30 or until we both leave, warms back up 3:30.

[Bob Hancock]

Originally Posted by shreddr

why not ask Mr. Electricity!

Ask Mr. Electricity: Saving money on heating

Hey that's actually an informative site, plus the guy looks like Tiny Tim. Wonder if he can trill.

Thanks shred.