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.
Pieces of the productivity puzzle.
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
I live in Texas and actually ran across this site researching. My husband and I are constantly battling over the thermostat. Our home is about 1200 sq. ft. ranch style older home. The ac/heat unit is about 6 years old. Our electric bills run between $225.00-565.00 generally higher in winter months. I’m very hot natured and want it comfortable to me when I’m home which is evenings so I generally turn it down to 74. He’s home all the time and cranks it up to 79. I think it would be cheaper to leave it at one temp and not go up and down. The house gets very warm past 77 (even to others). We’ve had it serviced recently and all is working well. We have very few trees around our home and live very close to power lines. I’m trying to come up with a solution for both of us to be happy and crank our utility bill down in this 100+ degree weather. Any ideas? What’s a happy medium that will prove to him our electric bill can come down and maintain cool? Thanks.
Here are some suggestions that might let you keep it cooler without running the air-conditioning more:
Make sure you have proper ventilation in your attic. If it is getting much over 110 to 120, you probably could improve things by putting in vents. You might even check into the powered vents that kick on at 110 degrees.
1. If you have a dark roof, you might consider a lighter color–particularly a cool metal. We are in the process of putting on a reflective roof and initial tests showed a 10 to 15 degree difference under the roof in the attic where the metal roof was than where it wasn’t.
2. Make sure your house is sealed as much as possible. Clear caulking around the windows can help a lot.
3. Insulation in the attic and possibly in the walls might help too
4. Grilling outside may help keep from heating up the house when you eat
Hopefully something there will help. :)
I live in southwest Florida in a 1200sq ft, 3 bedroom duplex the other side has been vacant for over 5 months, I am constantly messing with my thermostat trying to get a comfortable temp it’s usually at 75f when I’m home and 71f when we are sleeping mine and my daughter’s rooms seem to get the coldest at night which is fine for me but I am always waking up and worrying about her being cold I’ll turn it up to 73 then few hours later turn it down. I also do this during the day I take medication that makes me hot so I’m always changing the temp but I can never seem to get comfortable it’s always I’m too hot or too cold but either way I’m sweating it’s completely agitating. Health websites say that the perfect temp for a sleeping toddler is 65f – 70f but that seems too cold for Florida, even with all my thermostat altering my electric has gone down significantly every month last month it was $89.07 before it was $103 before that it was $120 which is the highest it’s gotten. I’m extremely confused and uncomfortable can anyone help.