What temperature do you keep your house in the winter?

[AC_Hacker]

Originally Posted by Daox

I'd recommend more of you guys try setting your temperature back farther at night. Even if its just a few degrees more, it isn't costing you anything but a minute or two to reprogram your thermostat.

Great idea there.

I usually let my heating go completely off at night and let the house drift down until morning.

But during the Arctic Vortex I, I left the oven in my gas kitchen stove on 'warm' (that is lower than 'low') to reduce the viciousness of the night cold. That was the only night heat in the house during the most frigid days of this cold snap. It was enough to give me morning temps of just under 50.

My 3/4 Ton mini-split pulled the load during the days. There were days (13F) when it was really struggling to put out 65F of the 68F it was set for, so it ran continuously.

My Degree Days data:
HDD 68F = 5293
CDD 78F = 198

My house is small at 750 sq. ft. I don't directly heat the whole house, just the living room where I spend most of my time, and I let the 'secondary heat' supply the rest of the house.

My upstairs bedrooms are completely unheated, except for what 'leaks up' from the living room.

I do use a mattress pad to pre-heat the bed and then I switch it off when I crawl in under two layers of down comforters. I leave a window open on all but the most viciously cold nights. On nights that are just slightly cold, I put a fan in the window, too. I sleep very well.

I have also started putting a miniature oil-filled heater in the mini-loo (which is also insulated on all sides) as an homage to civilization for when my girl friend comes over for a visit.

Originally Posted by warmwxrules

...One problem we do have is the amount of baths that are taken every day. Seems like several a day are becoming common this time of year (kids are like fish)...

Hey, I don't think it's a problem at all. I mean kids are not just fish... they are tropical fish! I was taking more showers during that time, it felt great!! Maybe you should follow your kid's example, you might like it.

I think that in the evolutionary sense of things our deep ancestors were tropical dwellers, and beneath our clothes and thermal systems, we're not so different.


Best,

-AC