How cold do you keep your home?

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Brandon-

climber

The Granite State.

Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 14, 2011 - 06:35pm PT

I'm cheap, and haven't fired up the furnace yet this year.

I bought a space heater from the hardware store and even though it's in the twenties outside, it's a balmy 53 inside.

Eventually I'll fire the oil menace and drain my wallet, but for now 53 is just fine.

I just got my mega down jacket back from the seamstress for a new zipper so I should be good through the new year.

Plus, I've got two dogs. I go to sleep and they're on the floor. I wake up and they've both found their way either under the covers of my bed or are poaching my pillow. Crafty mongrels.

Jaybro

Social climber

Wolf City, Wyoming

Dec 14, 2011 - 06:38pm PT

Water heater pilot.

survival

Big Wall climber

A Token of My Extreme

Dec 14, 2011 - 06:38pm PT

53 too cold. 68 'bout right, jus' sayin'!!

53 is outdoor weather bro.

Brandon-

climber

The Granite State.

Topic Author's Reply - Dec 14, 2011 - 06:40pm PT

68 and I'm walking around the house naked.

Jaybro

Social climber

Wolf City, Wyoming

Dec 14, 2011 - 06:45pm PT

49º inside is boxers weather

apogee

climber

Dec 14, 2011 - 06:47pm PT

Our thermostat (forced air) is currently set at 58 degrees, but it's in the hallway of a new addition I built, which is the lowest point in the house. The main living areas are a couple of steps upward, with a very efficient woodstove- when it's crankin', it gets coooold down in the addition (and in my office, which is at the same level). It is often 68 degrees in the LR, and 10 degrees colder in the addition.

I was afraid that we might have these kinds of thermal problems when I built it, as the FA unit was going to be absolutely at its max capacity. Unfortunately, the budget didn't allow it. Brrr.

Gene

climber

Dec 14, 2011 - 06:49pm PT

I'm too cheap to use the heater. Temps in the 40s at 5:00 a.m. wake up time. Fleece pants, a hoodie, a jacket, and a $10.00 gas bill.

g

bergbryce

Mountain climber

South Lake Tahoe, CA

Dec 14, 2011 - 06:51pm PT

About 68 during the day.
I did some weather proofing of the house this fall and it appears to have really paid off. Simple stuff too... rooms we don't use, close the registers, shut the door. Plastic window sheeting on the biggest windows (we have pretty good windows to start with which is a big deal). Weather stripping at the front door, no more extreme drafts there and I found this electric mattress pad we can put on low at night which allows us to sleep comfortably with the heat way down (like ~52 degrees). Gas bill well under $100 which pretty much rocks for a house of our size. Of course sunny weather has probably helped too.

John Mac

Trad climber

Littleton, CO

Dec 14, 2011 - 06:58pm PT

68 is good for me when I'm up and about. Less than that it feels like camping.

scuffy b

climber

dissected alluvial deposits, late Pleistocene

Dec 14, 2011 - 07:05pm PT

Dave Kos,
If you have large windows, or poorly insulated walls, the temperature of
these surfaces will have a big effect on radiant heat flow.
At a genuine air temperature of 68F, if you are surrounded by surfaces
that are cooler, your body will radiate heat toward those surfaces at a
faster rate than if those surfaces are warmer.
Heat radiates in a line-of-sight fashion until it encounters a solid object
like a window or body.
If you're near a 100 degree window you'll feel warm on that side, if you're
near a 50 degree window you'll feel cool on that side, even if the air
temperature is the same.

Brandon-

climber

The Granite State.

Topic Author's Reply - Dec 14, 2011 - 07:06pm PT

Jaybro and I are on the same page.

tolman_paul

Trad climber

Anchorage, AK

Dec 14, 2011 - 07:07pm PT

Can someone explain to me why the house often feels cold when I set my thermostat to 68 in the winter...

A house heating system is a very crude on/off system. It cannot keep the house at a constant temperature. When you set the thermostat at a given temperature, the temperature has to drop a certain amount below that temperature before the heater kicks on, and then the heater stays on until the temp is slightly above the setpoint. At which point the heater kicks off and the house begins to cool. As your thermostat is likely located more or less in the center of the house, the closer you get to the walls, the colder you will feel, as the house is coldest there. If you close the door to a bedroom, then it'll get colder still in that room as you've essentially provided additional insulation to the thermostat.

Conversely in the summer with the AC, the temp has to exceed that of the thermostat before the a/c kicks on, and the outlying areas of the house will heat up hotter until the thermostat gets the heated air and kicks on the a/c for another cycle.

I dunno if it's because I'm getting old, but with the thermostat set at 69, the house feels pretty cold in the winter, yet if I kick it up to 71 it seems almost unbearably hot.

Personally I'd rather set the thermostat lower and get a rip roaring fire going in the fireplace, but it doesn't draft that well and my wife says the smoke irritates her throat.

SCseagoat

Trad climber

Santa Cruz

Dec 14, 2011 - 07:07pm PT

I keep my house between 58 to 60 when up and about. Usually heater doesn't kick on. On nice winter days, like today, my doors and windows are open until about 4:30. At night it drops to about 54. I really hate heated air and prefer to layer up. I do have a towel heater that I use in winter. Feels so decadent.

I agree that winter 68 feels so different than summer 68. I've wondered if it is because the drafts, even though imperceptible, do create a cooler drafty feeling.

I freak when my winter bill comes and it is about $50 and I live in a fairly large house. A lot different than the $300 a month my dad pays back in Pa.

Susan

Norwegian

Trad climber

Placerville, California

Dec 14, 2011 - 07:34pm PT

fear is my carriage.
whiskey is my mule.

at night the stars are my only heat source.

divad

Trad climber

wmass

Dec 14, 2011 - 07:42pm PT

cold 'nuff that a nipple could cut glass...

Moof

Big Wall climber

Orygun

Dec 14, 2011 - 07:46pm PT

62 at night, the limit for my wife.

64 in the morning and night, though the wife often will turn it up a couple degrees if she is doing stuff like sewing/knitting that require warmer hands.

I can handle colder, but my marriage is worth every bit of it. Given that I live in moderate Oregon we still rarely hit $100 heating bills.

Brandon-

climber

The Granite State.

Topic Author's Reply - Dec 14, 2011 - 07:46pm PT

Colder'n a well diggers ass?

Norwegian, I'm gonna pm you, got an idea about a book.

Moof

Big Wall climber

Orygun

Dec 14, 2011 - 07:51pm PT

Can someone explain to me why the house often feels cold when I set my thermostat to 68 in the winter...

Part of this is that winter air is much drier usually. 50% relative humidity 30-40 degree air that is warmed up to 68 has a much lower humidity (20-25%), than as a result your skin loses much more heat to evaporation than when in 68 degree air with 40-50% humidity.