Your House Temperature
June 9, 2008 · Print This Article
Quick Question: As summer weather sets in, what do you keep your thermostat set to? I’m just curious how our 77 degrees compares to other people. Also do you keep it constant (we do) or do you change it based on the time of day.
We keep it at a frosty 68… we have a geothermal heat exchange pump, which uses earth heat to heat the house and water.
77 (daytime when we’re here)
73 (at night to sleep)
80/81 (when we’re gone on hot days)
we do 77 too, and it is constant. Up in Michigan, it is not so much to get the heat out of the air at this time of year, but to counter the humidity.
Brrr! I don’t stop sleeping under two blankets until it’s up to 80. I keep the air conditioner (the new one with all the tech gadgetry) set at 81, which seems to keep the side of the room where the bed is a comfortable 85. The downstairs stays quite pleasant with ceiling fans when the outdoor temperatures are in the upper nineties.
We just have good ol’ fashioned ceiling fans here, though it gets up around 40 degrees Celsius in summer.
@Joel – YIkes that is pretty warm!
@Arjun – I’ve been looking at geothermal heat pumps. I really like the idea because it sounds pretty efficient. Are your AC bills pretty low?
67 winter
76 summer
I have one of those programmable thermostats that has “levels” throughout the day, currently:
Wake (5:15): 74 – easier to get out of bed when it’s not freezing cold in the bedroom
Leave (7:30): 82 – Not home during the day
Arrive (5:00): 71 – Walking in to a cool house always makes me feel comfy
Sleep (9:30): 68 – I love to sleep in a cold house!
Here in Maine the house we rent has no AC, so there is no thermostat, for now. We will be getting a window unit for later in the summer, in which case we’ll probably shoot for 72 in the upstairs, where the bedroom is.
Gotta love those programmable thermostats! We have 2 central units: one upstairs and one down). They are both set for 78 when we are home, 84 when we are not, and 81 from midnight to 6 am.
Although we did bump both of them up to 80 this past weekend, just to get the units to shut off in the 100+ degree weather!
We are in Florida & program our thermostats to 80 when we aren’t home, 78 while home & awake & 75 while sleeping (nothing worse than waking up due to the heat). We keep all of our ceiling fans on while at home to keep air circulating so it feels cooler than what the temperature reads. Of course, when it is 78 in the house and the heat index outside is 101 it feels pretty chilly when you first walk in.
Here in Sunny southeast Virginia, I keep my thermostat at:
68 – Winter
78 – Summer
At the height of the Heating or Cooling season, my combined Electric/Gas stays below $200.00. Spring and Fall are the best. I might break $50.00. To be fair though, I do have a small house (1200 sqft) so that helps.
As of mid-May we turn off the heat and then do not use the air conditioner until the temp reaches at least 35Celcius(90 F)
In winter (Canada) using a programmable thermostat it is 15C (59 F) night/day and 19C (66 F) for when we are actually in the house (before work and after work)
If we are cold then just put on slippers and a sweater
@Mark: The bills are yet to be seen, as we just bought a new house. The initial heating up cost us a lot, and the bills are high the first quarter.
We’ll have to wait and see, but I expect them to normalize in a month or so. It keeps the house pretty well conditioned, as it has intelligent modes for summer, winter, night and pretty much manages itself. It also uses the heat emanating from the pipes of the house and reuses it.
We don’t have any options in “setting the thermostat” in the summertime. We live in an older house without air conditioning. Some demented former owner replaced the wood-framed, double-hung windows with aluminum-framed jalousies about 40 years ago (we estimate) and it would be totally impractical to air-condition the house without replacing all the windows first.
I think a demented owner could only really get away with a stupid modification like that in a mild climate like ours (Los Angeles). Anywhere else, the first winter would be the last for those windows.
At any rate, in summertime we have fans going all night to pull the cool air in, and then before it heats up outside in the morning we close all the windows and use the fans to circulate air inside the house. With the thick stucco walls, awnings on most windows, and the northwest-southeast orientation of the widest dimension of the house, the interior stays livable even when the temperature is 110 outside. Not chilled by a long shot, but livable.
Thermostat? When it gets hot[1] I open the window, when it gets really hot[2] I close the window and the blinds. Ah you crazy oil-loving americans, gotta be airconditioned all year round.
[1] 25-30C
[2] 30-40C
My husband and I like it as cold as possible without spending a fortune on heat and A/C.
During the winter, we keep our house at 61F unless it is brutally cold, and then maybe we will move it up to 63/64F.
During the summer, we keep it at 77F when we are out, 74F when we are home/awake, and 70F when we sleep!
We have a HE system for both heat and A/C, so our average bill for electricity and gas is around $200.
In the summer:
- 24C / 75F (day)
- 26C / 79F (night)
In the winter:
- 21C / 70F (day)
- 16C / 61F (night)
We have no air conditioning for summer so just regulate with open windows and fans. In the winter we keep the temp at 65F.
what is the right temperature to set in your house in arizona….and in a two story home? jan 24.2009 …..temperature outside is 90 degrees