Poll

What daytime/occupied temperature are you using?

>70F/21C
33 (6.8%)
68F/20C
132 (27.1%)
65F/18C
164 (33.7%)
62F/17C
82 (16.8%)
<60F/16C
76 (15.6%)

Total Members Voted: 465

Author Topic: Poll: winter thermostat badassity  (Read 52888 times)

Thegoblinchief

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Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« on: October 05, 2014, 06:31:03 AM »
Vote for the closest option. Last winter we kept it at 64F. This year we're trying to acclimate to 62F.

starbuck

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2014, 07:08:46 AM »
65F when we're home (weeknights, weekend days)
60F when we're asleep/at work

I ain't no martyr.

icek05

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2014, 07:32:26 AM »
I think we were at about 58 last year and plan to keep it about the same this year. Toss on a sweatshirt and some slippers and its really not bad.

goose318

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2014, 08:13:02 AM »
We keep it around 65 during the day in the rooms we use a lot and keep it at 55 at night and in the rooms we don't really use often.

DecD

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2014, 08:20:20 AM »
I am a shameful wuss about winter.  Luckily, I've moved south and we certainly don't have the heat on yet.  I'm awesome and frugal in the summer with the A/C at 81 or 82.... But in the winter we tend to keep it more like 68.  Going to try to nudge it down a few degrees this year, though winter doesn't really show up here until December and is over by then end of February.

Bob W

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2014, 08:20:41 AM »
Just turned ours down to 58.   Is it worth it to save $30 a month?

forummm

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2014, 08:36:45 AM »
If we set it at 65 (instead of 68) how much would we really save? Probably $10/mo or less. Our highest gas bill in the coldest part of winter is $100 or less (and $30 of that is for fixed cost service fees, another $5-10 for water and cooking). We're in GA. We compensate some by leaving things warmer in the summer, not using A/C in the car (much), etc.
« Last Edit: October 05, 2014, 08:47:34 AM by forummm »

svosavvy

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #7 on: October 05, 2014, 08:37:10 AM »
Buy a pellet stove get one room wicked hot and hang out there.  Let the rest of the house go to high 50's.  I'm a woodcutter so my bills actually go down in the winter.  I've got north blood so I can't get out from in front of my a/c in the summer.  You can get really mustachian and rig up a clothesline near the thing and dry out your clothes too.  When I get my wood stove cranking I usually don't turn it off until spring.  I cook a lot of my food and have monster kettles that I heat some of my water with on it.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #8 on: October 05, 2014, 08:39:19 AM »
Just turned ours down to 58.   Is it worth it to save $30 a month?

Last winter, keeping ours at 64 versus 70ish was more like a $100 spread when I compared bills. Considering how cold it got, it could easily have been more like $150 last year.

Also, I agree with one of the old MMM posts that it's not just about the money savings. Keeping the inside temp at a smaller differential makes it so much easier to go outdoors and not feel cold, or not need to bundle up as much, which is awesome with kids.

cdttmm

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #9 on: October 05, 2014, 08:42:53 AM »
Between 58 and 60 most of the time. We'll crank it all the way up to 62 on occasion.

Bob W

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #10 on: October 05, 2014, 08:47:25 AM »
I think the savings is something like 3% per 1 degree for an already semi efficient house.   Depending on the size of the family one might actually spend more on food calories to maintain body temp.  Conversely, set your temp to 95 in the summer for a 100% savings.   Your food bill will go down. 

tofuchampion

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #11 on: October 05, 2014, 02:33:19 PM »
68°F is really cold to me...guess I'm a wimp, but that's the lowest I'll go.

hdatontodo

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #12 on: October 05, 2014, 02:53:15 PM »
68°F is really cold to me...guess I'm a wimp, but that's the lowest I'll go.
Some people have more bodily insulation than I do. Plus, when I am working at home, I am sitting at the computer, not burning calories cleaning.

NoraLenderbee

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #13 on: October 05, 2014, 04:06:25 PM »
I'm the biggest wimp in the room (so far). We keep it around 70 in the winter. To make up for it, we don't have AC, and it gets hot here (over 90 today).

Runge

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #14 on: October 05, 2014, 05:03:33 PM »
I try to keep the deltaT between my house and outside no more than 20 degrees F. Since I live in the south, it's pretty easy to do year-round. There's about a 4-6 weeks of temps below the 30's here, so I'll let my house get down to in the 50's, but not much cooler than that. Freezing pipes and all...

Just turned ours down to 58.   Is it worth it to save $30 a month?

Last winter, keeping ours at 64 versus 70ish was more like a $100 spread when I compared bills. Considering how cold it got, it could easily have been more like $150 last year.

Also, I agree with one of the old MMM posts that it's not just about the money savings. Keeping the inside temp at a smaller differential makes it so much easier to go outdoors and not feel cold, or not need to bundle up as much, which is awesome with kids.

This is precisely why I try to keep the deltaT low because it allows my body to acclimate better year-round. I can be outside more, and also being outside more allows me to keep that deltaT low. This saves me $$ and allows me to enjoy the wonderful outdoors year-round (particularly on my bike). Although what's annoyed me most is places I visit while not at my house have either the heat cranked WAY up in the winter, or the AC on full blast during the summer. I swear, my office sets the temp to 60 in the summer time and 80 in the winter time. Shouldn't it be opposite??

MikeBear

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #15 on: October 05, 2014, 05:10:20 PM »
55 degrees right now, and in full-blown winter will go up to 58-60.

I'm one of those people that have a regular body temp lower than normal, and anything over 70 degrees ambient air temp is HOT for me. 75, and I sweat like crazy and get sick as a dog...

Fi(re) on the Farm

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #16 on: October 05, 2014, 05:28:57 PM »
We heat mostly with a wood stove, it heats the main room of the house (kitchen, dining, living space), right now it's 75 with one piece of wood in it so it's pretty hard to regulate. The heat in the bedrooms is set at 58, goes up to 65 for an hour or so in the morning but that's about it. I do a lot of cooking on the woodstove and put a drying rack for laundry near it at night, everything is bone dry in the morning.

KMMK

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #17 on: October 05, 2014, 05:44:48 PM »
I'm the biggest wimp in the room (so far). We keep it around 70 in the winter. To make up for it, we don't have AC, and it gets hot here (over 90 today).

I'm way worse. I'm generally always cold, if I'm just sitting around, if it's below 23-24C (73-75F) or so. My husband is similar, but for him it's because his work is super warm so his body has adapted to that. On the flip side we don't need AC until it's close to 30C.

Since our total gas/hydro is $150 a month, even if we saved as much as 20% on our bills that's only $30 a month, $15 per person or less than I net in 1 hour of work.

I think the outside winter temperature must make a big difference. Like, if you can avoid running your furnace at all then you save a lot of money, but here since in much of Jan/Feb we have to heat from -30C up to 16C or so, just to avoid frozen pipes, that extra 6 degrees on top of the 46 degree difference doesn't add a lot of extra money.  I'm sure that calculation is out there somewhere but I'm too lazy.

I certainly like to minimize furnace and A/C use in the spring/fall and can tolerate a cooler temperature then. But in the winter, a warm house is a luxury I'd gladly pay for. I've done the freezing thing when I lived in crappy places in my youth, and have no interest in doing that again. Plus the long underwear and sometimes gloves in my office job for 4-6 months of the year is plenty of coldness for my taste.

LisaCO

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #18 on: October 05, 2014, 06:06:03 PM »
We're going with 68 this winter.  Last year, it was set to 72.  I'm the one who's always cold, so this will be tougher on me than it will be for my husband.  I work from home too, so I'm here every day.

Astatine

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #19 on: October 05, 2014, 06:20:15 PM »
Thanks for including Celsius! Much appreciated.

We had the thermostat set to 18C (65F) during the day for winter, but only when we were home. We also cooked a lot of dishes in the slow cooker and the oven on weekends which helped.

We have a kick-arse feather doona (quilt) which is super warm so we slept with no heating. Our house isn't particularly well insulated so on the -5C nights, the overnight temperature can get down to 8C (45F). Thankfully, our new gas central heating has a timer so we usually set it to come on 20 minutes before the alarm went off to get the house up to 15C when we got up (60F). Not super warm but warm enough to get ready and out the door without too much discomfort.

The disadvantage of this is being at work. My office usually runs at 22C during winter and *everyone* complains of being cold, but I'm always too warm at work. So others would be bundled up and I'd be wearing short sleeves in order to cope (I tend to run warmer than most people and keel over in summer heat).

Rural

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #20 on: October 05, 2014, 07:01:35 PM »
Not for me, this one. I'll happily pay for heat. I'd be happier working until I drop in a warm office than freezing at home, and I'd hurt less in my old age.


...This is one of the reasons we built an earth sheltered house oriented for solar heat gain. I won't have to work until I drop to pay for hear, because it doesn't take much in this place.

justajane

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #21 on: October 05, 2014, 07:26:30 PM »
We keep ours between 66 and 68 during the day and 63 at night.

It's quite a shock when we go to my husband's grandparent's house where they usually have it set to 78 degrees! Conversely, I find my mother's home set at 63 degrees to be too cold. Honestly I would prefer 70 degrees, but we have a drafty house, and it would be too expensive. As I age, I find my extremities get colder faster and I tolerate the cold less and less.

In the summer, we keep it at around 78-79 but sometimes lower if the temperature outside is lower (but the humidity high).

nessness

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #22 on: October 05, 2014, 07:30:35 PM »
We kept it at 60-62 last winter and it was tolerable. We have a space heater that we can use when that feels too cold. We have electric heat in a cold-ish climate (Denver), so a couple degrees on the thermostat makes a big difference in our bill.

This year we'll have a new baby, so we'll probably need to keep it a little warmer. 

expatartist

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #23 on: October 05, 2014, 08:59:57 PM »
We have no heat yet, and outdoor temps range from 9C (48) -> 16C (60) these days. Interior temps - I have no idea what they are at the moment, seem to be somewhere in the low teens (50s) most of the time.

In northern China, our heat comes on when the gov't turns it on: usually sometime from November->March. Also, it's free. But not plentiful - colleagues in our building say interior temps can be around 10C(50F) even when heat IS on, so we'll bundle up and have feather duvets. However last year our downstairs in Beijing's traditional housing hovered around freezing, so this should be an improvement.

Hotstreak

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #24 on: October 05, 2014, 10:27:58 PM »
I have it set to "off" and won't that for any comfort reasons.  I picked an apartment with huge south facing windows, so even when it's 20-35f for a week I stay well above freezing.  I also bake goods, and the oven heats the place.  Body heat also helps, slippers, nice sweatshirt, hat, etc, all worn inside.

The only exceptions I will make are when company comes over, and I set it around 70 for a few hours, or if I'm going out of town and need to make sure the pipes don't freeze, so I open the cupboards, shut off parts of the unit w/o pipes, and leave the heat turned on at 50 (which is the lowest).

MsRichLife

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #25 on: October 05, 2014, 10:38:16 PM »
Pre-kid we had it set at 15C (59F) but these days it's at 18C (64F) so we don't have to rug up the toddler too much. Overnight, we let it get down to 13C (55F) and we turn it off when we are out of the house.

Beric01

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #26 on: October 05, 2014, 11:29:38 PM »
I have never turned on the heater in my apartment (California) over the past 2 years. I live it cool - I actually open my window in the winter to get more cool air in. I like sub-60 temps because I can pull over more covers sleeping in my bed. In the day I just wear jeans and a sweatshirt indoors.

sarah8001

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #27 on: October 06, 2014, 03:26:07 AM »
I live in the Pacific Northwest, so not too cold, but we have no heat right now. We bought a very very unMustachian house literally weeks before finding MMM, and it has a decrepit old oil furnace that burned through 800$ of oil in 36 days with the thermostat at 60. So I declared it broken, turned it off (late January 2014) and am looking forward to when it can be replaced in a year or two :)

Monkey Uncle

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #28 on: October 06, 2014, 04:20:41 AM »
62 F is probably a good average.  We heat with wood, so it varies a lot.  I'm too lazy to get up and load the stove in the middle of the night, so in cold weather it can get down into the mid/upper 50s by morning.  Sometimes we overdo it with a big piece of oak or hickory, and the temp gets up to 68 F or so (which is too hot for our comfort level).

Even though I cut the wood myself and thus am not paying (much) for it, I still get very miserly about conserving heat.  I remember how hard I worked for that heat all through the year, so I try my best to have some wood left over at the end of winter.

We use the electric baseboards some in the fall and spring, when it's too easy to over-heat using the wood stove.  Usually keep it about 64 F.  When I get the electric bill for the first month that we start using the heat, that's usually a good incentive to fire up the stove.

hybrid

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #29 on: October 06, 2014, 04:41:08 AM »
We keep it at 70 during the winter, 78 in the summer. The missus is very cold natured, so dropping any lower than that would not go over well at all. Any warmer than 78 in the summer and we just don't sleep well. Our AC bills were pretty tame this past year, we had to replace our old heat pump when it gave up the ghost and the new one is extremely efficient.

We put in a wood stove last year and will have that thing going in another month, and that keeps her reptilian body nice and happy. Her pulse is about 40 at rest.

mbl

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #30 on: October 06, 2014, 12:51:41 PM »
I guess it's not a fair question for us as we use a wood burning stove to heat our home.
The propane furnace is tested and might be turned on a few times during the winter when I get home.
But the thermostat is set at 55 degrees all year long.   We don't have central air either.

Caoineag

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #31 on: October 06, 2014, 01:14:46 PM »
Set at 65 for occupied, 60 for sleeping or at work (programmable thermostats are wonderful). 65 requires that I wear a house robe over my sweater and jeans when I am at home but my body is not well insulated. Humidity plays a big role in whether I need to turn it up, high humidity requires a much higher temperature in the winter time because moist cold makes me ache but we live in Denver, so its pretty dry year round here.

BlueMR2

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #32 on: October 06, 2014, 02:02:49 PM »
I can drop it as low as 65 night/66 day if it stays 50's and above outside.  Below that I have to go to 66/68 as a bare minimum to keep the wife from throwing me out.  :-)

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #33 on: October 06, 2014, 02:16:08 PM »
I chose 62F in the poll to be conservative/honest. Last winter was our first being hardcore, we aimed for 60F but our thermometer in the kitchen usually showed somewhere between 58-62F.

I'm a total freeze baby, but I have lots of warm socks and cozy fleece leggings and really nice slippers and a nice cozy bathrobe, so I'm pretty much fine. Honestly sometimes I have even worn a hat and/or scarf in the house... makes a huge difference!! Cold hands are the only annoying part. Night time is fine because my boyfriend is a crazy heat box, the only time I get into trouble is if he falls asleep on the couch and I can't wake him up and then I have to go to sleep in a super cold bed by myself :) It's pretty dry here (well Oklahomans don't think so, but trust me, it is dry) so cold dampness isn't an issue.

Has anyone ever read any studies about men vs. women and comfortable temperatures?? I just know that I'm always the cold one, but can tolerate keeping the house at 80F in the summer much better than my boyfriend can, and I always see people commenting similar things about their wives/girlfriends. I just wonder why that is.

Mrs. Frugalwoods

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #34 on: October 06, 2014, 02:32:08 PM »
63 on weekends and mornings/evenings (when we're in the house) and 59 during the weekdays and at night. We have a little heating pad for our dog's bed so that she's not cold during the day when we're not home.

Hoping to hold off until November before turning the heat on, but we'll have to see...

Spork

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #35 on: October 06, 2014, 02:45:56 PM »

As others have said: we use a wood stove.  We keep the heat off entirely during the winter -- only turning it on if there are a house full of guests with doors opening/closing all day.   I will run the HVAC fan when the stove is running to try to circulate the air.... but the overall heat is set to 'off'.

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #36 on: October 06, 2014, 03:25:06 PM »
We keep it at 68 while we're awake and at home, 62 when we're sleeping (I would actually pick this temperature for sleeping year-round if I had a magical free air conditioner), and let it drop to 48 when we're gone. We haven't needed to turn the furnace on yet this year, but will almost certainly have to do it by the end of the month.

greenmimama

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #37 on: October 06, 2014, 04:11:20 PM »
62-64 during the day

60 at night

I would love to have it warmer, but this house is huge and I am stuck being cold until we can sell it, because I am too cheap to pay to heat it more than that.

Our next place I am hoping has a outside wood boiler or a pellet stove so it doesn't cost so much to heat. I love visiting my friends that have indoor wood furnace, it's such a nice warm heat!

Beric01

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #38 on: October 06, 2014, 07:13:38 PM »
Has anyone ever read any studies about men vs. women and comfortable temperatures?? I just know that I'm always the cold one, but can tolerate keeping the house at 80F in the summer much better than my boyfriend can, and I always see people commenting similar things about their wives/girlfriends. I just wonder why that is.

I've found this to be true as well. Here's an article suggesting why.

I've definitely found myself to be comfortable around cold. With cold, you can always put on another layer! However, in the heat there's only so many layers you can take off. :(

theanimal

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #39 on: October 06, 2014, 08:17:50 PM »
Depends for me.  With no roommate(s) its between 50-55 but with them its unfortuantely at least 10 degrees higher.  Regardless, the window in my bedroom is open till at least mid December, so I am still able to get a somewhat adequate dosage of cold each day.  I love cold.

Astatine

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #40 on: October 07, 2014, 04:57:46 AM »
Has anyone ever read any studies about men vs. women and comfortable temperatures?? I just know that I'm always the cold one, but can tolerate keeping the house at 80F in the summer much better than my boyfriend can, and I always see people commenting similar things about their wives/girlfriends. I just wonder why that is.

I've found this to be true as well. Here's an article suggesting why.

I've definitely found myself to be comfortable around cold. With cold, you can always put on another layer! However, in the heat there's only so many layers you can take off. :(

Eh. I'm never fond of gender generalisations, cos I'm invariably the exception to any "rules" around men this, women that. I'm female and HATE the heat. I am almost always the only one at work (doesn't matter who I'm talking to or which team I'm in) who doesn't feel the cold and I nearly always wish the thermostat was turned down a few degrees in the office. The only people I've met who do better with the cold than me is a guy from Canada and a female friend from (of all places) far north Qld, ie the tropics.

Apples

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #41 on: October 07, 2014, 06:09:44 AM »
We keep it at 67, and I sit with a blanket wrapped around me.  We have brand new windows/doors/insulation so there's not a leak problem.  Might be that all the heat escapes up to the attic.  DH and I both work outside all winter, but I can't handle coming inside to less than 65, and want/need at least 67 if I'm not going to keep my super unsexy lined pants on.  But we use oil to heat our house, which at 67 runs us about $100/week last winter.  If this winter is a bit more mild and less polar vortex, hopefully it won't be that much.

GuitarStv

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #42 on: October 07, 2014, 06:54:23 AM »
This is precisely why I try to keep the deltaT low because it allows my body to acclimate better year-round. I can be outside more, and also being outside more allows me to keep that deltaT low. This saves me $$ and allows me to enjoy the wonderful outdoors year-round (particularly on my bike). Although what's annoyed me most is places I visit while not at my house have either the heat cranked WAY up in the winter, or the AC on full blast during the summer. I swear, my office sets the temp to 60 in the summer time and 80 in the winter time. Shouldn't it be opposite??

+1

This is a real pet peeve of mine.  In the winter you should wear winter clothing.  It's annoying as hell when people keep indoor temperatures so hot that you need to switch to summer stuff to be comfortable and vice-versa.

greenmimama

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #43 on: October 07, 2014, 07:56:50 AM »
I chose 62F in the poll to be conservative/honest. Last winter was our first being hardcore, we aimed for 60F but our thermometer in the kitchen usually showed somewhere between 58-62F.

I'm a total freeze baby, but I have lots of warm socks and cozy fleece leggings and really nice slippers and a nice cozy bathrobe, so I'm pretty much fine. Honestly sometimes I have even worn a hat and/or scarf in the house... makes a huge difference!! Cold hands are the only annoying part. Night time is fine because my boyfriend is a crazy heat box, the only time I get into trouble is if he falls asleep on the couch and I can't wake him up and then I have to go to sleep in a super cold bed by myself :) It's pretty dry here (well Oklahomans don't think so, but trust me, it is dry) so cold dampness isn't an issue.

Has anyone ever read any studies about men vs. women and comfortable temperatures?? I just know that I'm always the cold one, but can tolerate keeping the house at 80F in the summer much better than my boyfriend can, and I always see people commenting similar things about their wives/girlfriends. I just wonder why that is.

I have heard this also changes as we get older, Women like it much cooler as they are going through Menopause ;)

BlueMR2

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #44 on: October 07, 2014, 10:33:54 AM »
I've found this to be true as well. Here's an article suggesting why.

I've found it to be generally untrue.  The men and women I can think of off-hand, perhaps the average desired temperature is slight colder male/slightly warmer female, but the big difference is the range of tolerance.  Women seem to have a narrower window of tolerance (around 68-78F) before complaining whereas the men's tolerance range seems to run 62-84F.  Purely anecdotal as it only covers people I happen to know and what I remember them saying/complaining about.  My circle of friends is also largely women that stay indoors all the time and men that work outdoors, so that by itself could significantly sway it.  :-)

geek101

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #45 on: October 07, 2014, 02:21:49 PM »
I've already had to break out the sweatshirt and wool socks this year :( We had a couple of days with highs in the 40's last week.

I'm a big fan of the "spend money where you spend your time" approach so I got a $20 electric space heater to heat my small bedroom this winter. I'm planning to keep it between 68-70 (with the sweatshirt and double layer socks still) while the rest of the apartment will be in the low 60's, maybe lower because the thermostat is in the bedroom and there's a good chance the furnace won't run much at all with the space heater being so convenient and more efficient. This is a new apartment for me so I'm curious what my trade offs will be on the dollar/degree scale. I'd like to keep it under $45 for both gas and electric per month for my 500 square feet apartment. Last year in my old place with room mates we were spending $70+ a month per person for heat and electric.

Winter last year was brutal. We had a period of about 40 days straight in MN where the temp never reached 30 degrees. Average temp last winter was 9.7 degrees.

Please God, not again this year.

MsRichLife

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #46 on: October 07, 2014, 04:32:25 PM »
Eh. I'm never fond of gender generalisations, cos I'm invariably the exception to any "rules" around men this, women that. I'm female and HATE the heat. I am almost always the only one at work (doesn't matter who I'm talking to or which team I'm in) who doesn't feel the cold and I nearly always wish the thermostat was turned down a few degrees in the office. The only people I've met who do better with the cold than me is a guy from Canada and a female friend from (of all places) far north Qld, ie the tropics.

Me too. I much prefer the cold to the hot. Probably why I choose to live in Canberra after growing up in QLD. You can always put on more clothes, but when it's hot it's just damn unpleasant.

justplucky

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #47 on: October 07, 2014, 05:26:33 PM »
We kept it at 64 last year.  My husband and I are cool weather people, so I might push for 62 this year since this summer I didn't do a good job of keeping the set temp high for the A/C.

MikeBear

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #48 on: October 07, 2014, 11:15:34 PM »
 Well, looks like I have to rethink what settings I've been using.

I've been home the last two nights as they are my "off" schedule. I work 12 hour nightshifts, and stay awake all night even on my nights off. Anyway, I finally realized tonight that the digital furnace thermostat said it was 50 degrees inside the house! Yet, I wasn't cold in the slightest, and neither was my wife, and she's always cold. So I put a weather thermometer I have right by the furnace thermostat, and IT said it was 66 degrees! CRAP. I tried resetting the one showing 50 degrees, but nothing helped.

So, I just spent $35 for a new programmable thermostat which is a model higher, and replaced the bad one (the bad one was installed in 2005 when I had to have my furnace replaced. So it's 9 years old). It's all working fine now, and the new thermostat shows the correct inside temps.

Wow, I'm certainly glad I realized this before winter set in for sure, even with city gas it could have been costly.

Now I wonder how long it's been bad? Not that we've used it much the last month or so...

Joggernot

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Re: Poll: winter thermostat badassity
« Reply #49 on: October 08, 2014, 06:54:53 AM »
We're still in summer mode with the air conditioned temp set for 80°F.  Next we'll just turn if off.  Sometime in January we'll set it for heat at 68°F.

A good portion of my day is spent outside in the shed working on my hobby, so inside temp doesn't really affect me.