Tip of the Day - How Cold Can You Go?
Posted on February 27, 2008 by
We’ve been keeping our house at 68 degrees (Fahrenheit) during the day and 64 degrees at night. It’s a little chilly, but I’ve been wondering how low we can go.
At night, we pile on the blankets and more often than not, I’m hot when I wake up in the morning.
For every two degree decrease in thermostat temperature over an eight hour span, you’ll save 2% in heating energy.
Helium.com suggests setting the thermostat at 68 during the day and 60 at night.
Tim Carter at the Washington Post recommends going much colder for optimum energy savings.
“If you want to save a significant amount on your heating bills, then set the thermostat to 60 degrees for the entire heating season while you’re awake and to 50 degrees when you are asleep. Go out and buy some long underwear, a hooded sweatshirt and maybe some light gloves. This may be a drastic change in your lifestyle, but the savings will be amazing.”
You might not want to go that cold. I don’t either. But when you’re home, pile on a few extra layers and see if you can stay comfortable going down a few degrees.
Some things to think about:
- If your area if prone to power outages, you may want to turn the heat up a little higher during a storm to give yourself a greater margin of time before the pipes freeze if the power goes out.
- Keep the house warmer if you have infants or elderly people living in your home. The National Institute on Aging recommends keeping your home heated to 68 or 70 degrees if there is an elderly person present, to prevent hypothermia and other illnesses.
We keep it around 63. I don’t know how Courtney ever got used to it, but she has. You really do acclimate to it, too. If we have guests over and turn it up to 68 and I forget about it, I wake up sweating in the middle of the night. I absolutely love cold weather.
I thought my beau was a heat nazi keeping it down at 64 day and night, but 60! and 50!?! C’mon! I think savings is great, but don’t we have a home so we don’t have to wear gloves inside…though if I think to nomads and back to all our beginnings, yeah, I bet they wore layers inside too.
Hm…something to think about.
cheers!
I don’t have a digital thermostat, so I just push the bar all the way to the left when I sleep at night. I deal by keeping my clothes for the next day in front of the heater. Even if it’s cold in the morning, the heat will have bound to have cycled on at least once during the night, and the clothes keep the heat pretty well.
My only problem is that I almost always forget to turn the heat down until I get warm and cozy in my bed and turn off all the lights.
I have to say that I do draw the line at having to wear gloves in my own home. I do think I’m going to try to sneak it down a few degrees though and see if I can get used to maybe 65 during the day and 60 at night.
Noelle, I do the same thing! All cozy and then I remember I have to turn the heat off. I also have the compulsion about checking all the dials on the stove to make sure we don’t gas ourselves. So there are usually two trips out of bed after I’ve gotten all settled. It sucks.
We keep our thermostat at 60 all the time (unless we’re going out of town, then we’ll turn it down a wee bit more). The best thing to do is wear a hat indoors, and bah-bam, instant warmth, and instant energy savings.
A couple years ago, me and my roommates decided that whoever turned on the heat first in the winter would pay extra on the heating bill. Eventually, one of them gave in, but it was a cold couple of weeks
Oh, I love it! What a great little bet to start.
A hat is a good way to do it. It won’t hinder typing, and it does keep you warm without feeling like you’re bundled up enough to go make snow angels.