|
| |
|
 |  228779 | Oct 27, 2005 10:14am | As season changes are approaching for most of us, I'm curious . . .What do you generally keep the thermostat at and does it differ from winter to summer?
In the winter, I admit I'd like to keep it at 72, but I'm way too cheap. So generally it stays, at highest about 68, lower if nobody is home - and there isn't a possible problem with frozen pipes.
In summer, it depends on the humidity. I'm generally fine up until it hits about 90. I've rarely had air-conditioning . . . when it gets too hot during a non-work-day it is a great excuse to go to the matinee. At night, it can be a bit uncomfortable, but at least where I've lived there are usually only a couple of nights a year when I just found it unbearable without air-conditioning. |
|
| 
Sponsor |  nutmeg | Oct 27, 2005 11:23am | I'm lucky that I live somewhere where I don't need air-conditioning (it would be nice occasionally) and I don't know many UK homes that bother with it.
I tend to use heating between October and April - initially just for an hour or so in the morning and another spell in the evening - then as winter sets in I have it on for longer. No one is at home during the day so the heating isn't left on then - unless it is really cold. I don't have a central thermostat - each radiator is individually controlled so I can vary the temperature from room to room. I don't actually know what the temperature in the house is - I just like it to be warm enough that I don't need to wear too many layers. My children don't seem to feel the cold and wander round the house in shorts and t-shirt whatever the season.
I sometimes visit houses where the heating is on and windows are wide open -- seems so wasteful.
My parents have a house with only a couple of heaters. I grew up there and never felt warm. Contrary to popular belief the cold didn't make me stronger -- I was ill every winter with chest infections until I left home. Hence I value being able to live in a house with adequate heating. |
|
| | | 228779 | Oct 27, 2005 4:57pm | Oh, I just realized that giving the temperatures in Fahrenheit is pretty egocentric . . . I'll have to look up a converter. Sorry . . . will do, but probably tomorrow.
90 Fahrenheit = 32.2 Celsius
68 Fahrenheit = 20 Celsius
72 Fahrenheit = 22.2 Celsius
Converter for Celsius to Fahrenheit or Fahrenheit to Celsius |
|
| 
Sponsor | | twochris | Nov 6, 2005 5:30pm | I'm really cheap with the heat. A few years ago I bought a programmable thermostat when my dial one went kaput. It has likely been one of the best investments we have ever made. It has saved us at least a thousand dollars (Can$) in the last few years. It programs 4 different settings and you can program each day differently. We do not have to think about changing our thermostat. (We can override it if we figure we need heat when we usually don't.)
At night I set the heat down to 55F. I know that is cold, but we have excellent down comforters and even at this temperature we sometimes kick off the blankets part way through the night. I figure it is cheaper in the long run to buy blankets than pay for oil to heat our house. But no one has to get up when the house is frigid because we set it to come on and heat up the house just before we wake up normally.
We wear sweaters and slippers in the winter. I only bring the house up to 65F. I had read some time ago that people who live in a cooler house are less likely to get sick so I turned the heat down. The temperature then goes back down to 55 while the house is empty during the day and heats back up just before we get home again. Our heat is only really keeping the house tolerable for a few hours a day. The only problem with this system though is that everywhere else we go feels intolerably hot to us.
I think if you did not keep your house as cold as ours you could likely still save a heap of money with a good programmable thermostat. A good one costs about $70 where I live. Our neighbours spend about $2000 annually on furnace oil. Last year we spent only about $900 and they have a newer more efficient furnace, and new windows and doors too. (Our house is 70 years old and we have original doors and windows.)
By the sounds of it though it may be nice to move to a place like England where I won't need heat! Here the outside air temp will drop to below -40F easily at night in the winter. |
| |
|
You need to Sign-up for StumbleUpon to post to this forum
| |
|
Frugal Cheapskate → Discussion