Board 8 > Does it save energy to turn the heat off when you're out of the house?

(+) Yeah! (+)

My theory is that it doesn't. If the house gets cold while you're gone, it's going to take that much more energy to heat it back up when you get home and turn the heat back on.

My dad insists that isn't the case and that having the heat on while you're gone is "wasted heat."

Thoughts?

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SmartMuffin - Because anything less would be uncivilized - http://img.imgcake.com/smartmuffin/barkleyjpgde.jpg
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It could burst your pipes too if it's too low.

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Yeah you want to keep it set on something, as opposed to being off. Pipes getting cold being the main concern, but there are others as well.

My go to temp is 62 degrees F when I know I am going to be gone for awhile.

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Yeah you don't want it off completely, but I turn it down when I leave.

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It's generally a good idea to havethe thermostat a few degrees lower during work hours and at night, so it doesn't run as much.

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Sorry for double post, but I also agree that when your heat is regulating some random temp say 72, as opposed to trying to go from lets say 52 to 72, that you actually use way less energy in the long run.

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If you leave the house for a long period of time(like more than a day) it saves energy to turn the heat off, but for less than that it's good to turn the thermostat down to like 50 or whatever

of course where I live now I've never used my heat but I remember the cold

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Ok everyone this is Bartz so just remember.

Turn it off - no. Set it down 3-5 degrees? yeah. Any more than that and the objects in the house tend to cool the air temperature down such that you're spending more energy heating the house back up than if you just kept it at like 65.

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So, what good does setting it down 3-5 degrees do then?

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SmartMuffin - Because anything less would be uncivilized - http://img.imgcake.com/smartmuffin/barkleyjpgde.jpg
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Depends how long you're gonna be gone.

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SEP Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
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I think heat is bulls***

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SmartMuffin posted...
So, what good does setting it down 3-5 degrees do then?


Keeps it from constantly turning on as much, because your house will cool faster with nobody in it, so you're not going to want to keep it at the same temperature you do when you're home.

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SEP Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
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Right, but then when I get home, it has to run longer in order to get the temperature back to 70 or whatever.

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From: SmartMuffin | #009
So, what good does setting it down 3-5 degrees do then?

You know how air conditioning and furnace systems work, right? They give off hot or cold air at a relatively constant temperature. The thermostat determines how often it has to run the fans to maintain your chosen temperature.

So a thermostat set to 67 will run, say, 20 minutes each hour (just spitballing, I don't know actual figures) wheras one at 62 will only run ten.

Apologies if I'm preaching to the choir here.

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From: SmartMuffin | #009
So, what good does setting it down 3-5 degrees do then?

The higher the difference between the inside and outside temperature, the faster that heat escapes. It's exponential

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Ok everyone this is Bartz so just remember.

Just read this.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2970/does-turning-down-the-thermostat-at-night-save-energy

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SmartMuffin posted...
Right, but then when I get home, it has to run longer in order to get the temperature back to 70 or whatever.


Which only becomes a concern

1. If you turn it down a LOT
2. If you're only leaving your house for like, an hour.

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From: SantaRPG | #018
People actually keep their houses this warm? If it's above 50 I wouldn't even turn the heat on.

Old people in the winter are the worst. They set their thermostats at like 80! ugh

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Ok everyone this is Bartz so just remember.

And I should clarify.

#2 only matters if your house has like, no insulation and cools down really fast.

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So, will any of this make enough of a difference to lower my electric bill?

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SmartMuffin posted...
So, will any of this make enough of a difference to lower my electric bill?

No.

It's about 10% on your gas bill however.

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If cutting it down three degrees would cut the use by ten minutes an hour (which was the example) for eight hours (work) but it would take you say, three times (which makes sense because if you set it to 70 and it drops to 69 and it takes a certain number of minutes to get back to seventy than dropping it even more degrees is simply multiplication), the effort to get it back where you want it when you return you go from:

20/hr * 24 = 480 minutes
to
10/hr * 8 + 60/hr * 1 + 20/hr * 15 = 440 minutes

a day. Pretty simple. Obviously the math is basic at best but the principle is pretty clear.

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SmartMuffin posted...
So, will any of this make enough of a difference to lower my electric bill?

No.

It's about 10% on your gas bill however.

My heat is electric too don't you get snippity younging!

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From: CeraSeptem | #026
SmartMuffin posted...
So, will any of this make enough of a difference to lower my electric bill?

No.

It's about 10% on your gas bill however.

My heat is electric too don't you get snippity youngin'!

This. I have an electric furnace. No gas bill.

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SmartMuffin posted...
From: CeraSeptem | #026
SmartMuffin posted...
So, will any of this make enough of a difference to lower my electric bill?

No.

It's about 10% on your gas bill however.

My heat is electric too don't you get snippity youngin'!
This. I have an electric furnace. No gas bill.

Ah, k. Then I should note that the 10% is based on the assumption of a gas furnace. (it's about what we got when we programmed our thermostat) I have no idea how an electric one operates, so I can't comment on what kind of savings you'd get there.

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