We have our thermostat programmed. Our house is long and we have two separate heaters. The one end where our living room and bedroom are located goes on in the morning and off when we normally would leave the house. That side doesn’t go back on till 730 pm and off at 10. When heat is on its set to 70 degrees. When it goes off it’s totally off. Other end of the house has the heat go back on earlier as that is the end with our kitchen and family room.
So basically 70 degrees AM and PM. No heat at night.
I’ve been home more during the day the last few months so I’ve been overriding the program and heating to 70. I must say that it’s 70 and I’ve got on a wool long sleeve shirt, a lighter weight exercise top plus a fleece vest and I’m freezing.
We have AC but rarely use it, normally in summer the heater/ac is off.
California resident
Our house is super insulated. We built it in 1996. We have an air exchange system to keep the air fresh. It’s nice having a house without drafts.
Our first house was built in 1917 and we could feel the air rushing through all the gaps! Never again!
Us too. With really good windows! And a good passive solar orientation too.
We insulated the roof a few years ago. Helped a little.
We keep the house at 65 during the day (55 if we leave town) and 67 in the evenings. 70 at night. I am cold all the time. I wear a fleece and LL Bean woolly slippers to keep my feet warm. These are the times I miss plush wall-to-wall carpet.
We have a propane fireplace insert that the previous owners installed. It runs about $70/mo from Oct-March. Frankly, we only use it if I’m in the family room, so a decent part of the bill is for running the pilot light.
In the summer, we set the AC at 78, and we’ll take it down a few degrees if it’s really hot.
Gas and electric run contra to each other. Gas is $20 in the summer, max $200 in the winter. Electric is $80 in winter, $200 in summer. We replaced our HVAC to high efficiency six years ago and it made a HUGE difference in our bills. Both went down by about 30%.
In winter we set it at 68F during the day (occasionally bump it in the afternoon to 70F if feeling cold by not being active) and 61F during the nite. Underneath a blanket and comforter the lower temp at nite is fine.
The house used to have some cold-air drafts along the floor but we had underneath the floor (over a crawlspace) insulated with a spray foam which stopped the drafts and also made the floor warmer. Before that if you stood on the cold floor when getting up in the morning you really felt it if you were barefoot!
Going outside often and dressing for the weather does seem to help in terms of acclimating to be comfortable in a wide range of ambient temperatures.
Interesting to see how low some keep their homes in the winter! When we are home, 68 during the day which I may bump up to 70 for a bit if I get really cold. Even with two sweaters, I get cold sitting and reading or working. How much do you all bundle up?? 61 at night.
Summer I try not to use the AC as much, but that is a losing battle. I will turn it down to 70 just before bed and then up to 78 during the night as it wakes me up if the AC pops on in the middle of the night.
I like 72 day and night.
I don’t have much of control on heat because it is regulated by my building, but my apartment is fairly warm (light sweater or long sleeve shirt). In the summer I have ac set at 72. When I am in a hotel room, I usually set the temperature at 72 (or 22 C)
I generally keep the thermostats off. I haven’t turned on my downstairs thermostats so far this season. As I type this, it’s 64F downstairs, which is fine. I have turned on the upstairs thermostats for a few times. In spite of being upstairs, my bedroom is often the coldest room in the house due being largely enclosed and on the north side (south side rooms tend to be hottest). Each time I turned it on for a few minutes before bed, then turned it off again. When I turn it on, I’ll heat to ~62F before going to bed. By the time I wake up, it might be 58F.
Heat is set to 70/day, 62/night. My mom is staying with us now, so I have had to bump up the bedrooms zone to 65/night and put an extra blanket on her bed. In the summer, the AC is 76/day, 68/night.
We have a heat pump - it is not efficient to have the temp range more than a few degrees so turning it way down we were are not home or asleep does not make sense. We keep it at 68 when awake/home, 65 at night. I’d probably keep it a few degrees cooler at night if we didn’t have a heat pump.
I don’t mind wearing an extra layer or sitting under a blanket but there is no way that is going to keep me warm enough if the temp is cooler than 68. I refuse to wear gloves/mittens inside my house and my hands start getting cold when the temp starts going below 68.
On a related note, due to the nature of the business I work for and the type of building, I am cold all day even in fleece lined pants or silk long underwear. It’s really my hands that feel it the worst (can’t/impractical to wear gloves). The last thing I want to do is come home and be cold in my own house.
68 degrees, day and night, winter and summer. Set it and forget it, geothermal heat pump.
Personally I would prefer it to be closer to 69/70 during the winter and perhaps 72/73/74 in the summer. My wife would like it 66/67 year round. We seem to have met somewhere in the middle.
I don’t have to wear extra layers in my house and I like that. I will pull a blanket over me at times while sitting in the evening if I feel the need to warm up a bit. The dog helps me out by sitting in my lap too.
My elderly neighbors keep their place about 77/78 degrees year round. The wife is always cold and the husband is sweating.
I’ve worked in various data centers over most of my career, and those buildings are kept quite cold. I got used to that and then menopause kept me turning the heat down or cranking the AC when DH wasn’t looking. 70 degrees is too warm for me any season. If I could, I’d kept the house between 65-68 year round. Room temp has been a bone of contention between me and DH, who prefers to roast, since the day we met. He sleeps under a blanket and down comforter while I can barely stand to have a sheet on me. To his credit, he owns more Michigan sweatshirts than M-Den and layers accordingly.
We have had separate blankets/sheets forever. He is a blanket hog, then pulls the blanket off in the night. If we’re at a hotel, I am then uncovered. I need to sleep in a cold-ish under a flannel sheet and blanket of varying weight, depending on the season. I need the cocoon to sleep well.
I concluded early on that separate blankets would be required.
This morning it’s in the teens outside! Brrrrr. And it’s chilly inside as well…won’t be turning the heat down tonight!
@ChoatieMom we should trade spouses!
We have a 980 sq ft 2 bedroom apartment. We are budget billed $85 a month for all electric heating/cooling, appliances and water heater, no gas anything.
We set the thermostat to 72 in the winter and 75 or 76 in the summer.
Very inexpensive electricity.
I wear socks and sweaters all winter long. I have two blankets on the living room sofa and one on the window seat. If I’m not moving I’m cold. Thermostat is set at 68 for the day (but I’ve been known to nudge it up) and 62 at night.
It is a newer building, less than 2 years old, and very well insulated. Also, we are on the SE corner of the 2nd floor, which helps with wind protection and getting heat from other apartments.
We keep our thermostat at 65 in the day and 63 at night. We are comfortable, even though we have an older house (1970) and an older furnace. If we’re just sitting to read or watch tv, there’s always a blanket around to cover up with. We have always lived in the Midwest, which might explain why it doesn’t bother us.