Yes, HVAC guy, I DO want it set at 64*.

[Photograph 51]

I suspect that if I set our thermostat in the mid-60s it would rarely ever come on because of where we live. I have sensory issues with heavy bedding though so a cold house overnight would be a problem for me.

My sensory issues are the exact opposite.  I love the feel of lots and lots of blankets on top of me.  The weight is soothing and calming.  In the winter I am able to get up to 8 blankets (anything more would be too hot.)  It is easier for me to sleep in a cold house with the comfort of blanket weight than to sleep in the summer when I have nothing on top of me.  I set my furnace to 59 when I'm at home and awake and at 50 when I'm asleep or away.  I've read that 50 is the minimum to make sure that pipes don't freeze.  I used to help a somewhat disabled woman who would set her AC at 65 and her heat at 75.  I kept trying to get her to swap the temperatures.  I don't understand why anyone would need to be warmer in the winter than they are in the summer.

[the_fixer]

Went and checked my thermostat settings
Heat
67 when home
62 when asleep / away

AC
76 when home
70 when sleeping (but we typically use a window fan most of the time since our nights get cool)

Years of thermostat wars this is what we settled on.

It works pretty well in the spring / fall the AC never runs as the cool night air is trapped in the house and remains cool until night when we open the windows and turn on the fan.

Summer the house remains cool most of the day from the night before and starts cycling an hour or two before bed

Heat rarely runs as we are south facing, have great insulation and share walls with two other town houses. Our spare room / office does get cold in the winter but I turn on a space heater and close the door within a few mins the room is warm and the space heater turns off.


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[Villanelle]

I suspect that if I set our thermostat in the mid-60s it would rarely ever come on because of where we live. I have sensory issues with heavy bedding though so a cold house overnight would be a problem for me.

My sensory issues are the exact opposite.  I love the feel of lots and lots of blankets on top of me.  The weight is soothing and calming.  In the winter I am able to get up to 8 blankets (anything more would be too hot.)  It is easier for me to sleep in a cold house with the comfort of blanket weight than to sleep in the summer when I have nothing on top of me.  I set my furnace to 59 when I'm at home and awake and at 50 when I'm asleep or away.  I've read that 50 is the minimum to make sure that pipes don't freeze.  I used to help a somewhat disabled woman who would set her AC at 65 and her heat at 75.  I kept trying to get her to swap the temperatures.  I don't understand why anyone would need to be warmer in the winter than they are in the summer.

Same.  I have sensory issues and the weight is amazing. I can't sleep without a blanket, even in the summer.  Which is part of why my summer thermostat settings are not quite as impressive as those in winter! 

My property manager sent out an email saying we should set the heat no lower than 60* in winter.  I push that by a few degrees, but maybe I can go even lower without worry, even if not all the way to 50.

And yes, that's absolutely bonkers that someone would keep the house cooler in summer than winter!

[coppertop]

My husband has some sort of undiagnosed nerve problem where he can't stand the feel of sheets and blankets on his toes at night.  So his feet freeze because he has them sticking out of the covers all night.  I bought him some diabetic socks and he wears them loosely on his feet so that the toes of the socks are not touching his own toes.  We need to get this looked into, but in the meantime, it's really hard to keep the room warm enough at night to make him comfortable without letting the heating bills go too high.  Weird problem.  He is not diabetic, so it is not diabetic neuropathy. 

[use2betrix]

My issue is that if I am at home, unless we have company, I am in my boxer briefs and no other clothing (house slippers occasionally). I’m in the south with roaring heat and somewhat cool (but not cold) winters. We keep it at 68 at night and around 70-71 during the day. It doesn’t matter if it’s 110 degrees or 35 degrees.

I could go colder at night, but we have a 1 year old, so I have to be conscientious of her.

[SweetTPi]

My husband has some sort of undiagnosed nerve problem where he can't stand the feel of sheets and blankets on his toes at night.  So his feet freeze because he has them sticking out of the covers all night.  I bought him some diabetic socks and he wears them loosely on his feet so that the toes of the socks are not touching his own toes.  We need to get this looked into, but in the meantime, it's really hard to keep the room warm enough at night to make him comfortable without letting the heating bills go too high.  Weird problem.  He is not diabetic, so it is not diabetic neuropathy.

I knew someone with a similar issue (no idea the cause, though, sorry) and she had someone build her a simple table-like cage structure that sat on the end of the bed.  The sheets and blankets went over it and her feet would be in the open tented area underneath.  No idea what it was made out of; if I were trying it out I'd try first with pvc pipes.

[MMMarbleheader]

In Boston during the winter, landlords are required by law to provide heaters that can provide a minimum of 68 deg during the day.

https://www.boston.gov/departments/311/home-heating-help-tenants

Having said that, we personally keep ours set between 55F and 58F.

This is because in most large apartment buildings, there is one huge boiler that services the building and heat is included in the rents.

[Villanelle]

My husband has some sort of undiagnosed nerve problem where he can't stand the feel of sheets and blankets on his toes at night.  So his feet freeze because he has them sticking out of the covers all night.  I bought him some diabetic socks and he wears them loosely on his feet so that the toes of the socks are not touching his own toes.  We need to get this looked into, but in the meantime, it's really hard to keep the room warm enough at night to make him comfortable without letting the heating bills go too high.  Weird problem.  He is not diabetic, so it is not diabetic neuropathy.

Can he  put a hot water bottle by his feet?  If you fill it with nearly boiling water and have a fleece cover for it, it will likely stay at least somewhat warm all night. 

[Just Joe]

I aspire to be more like you. We're at 66F right now. Once everyone gets used to that I'll quietly move it down to 65F. Not sure I can push it much further down without buy in by the family.

Still, seems smart considering the price of things this year.

It's only very recently gotten cold here, and I'll admit that I'm struggling with it a bit right now.  I know I'll adapt and in a few weeks it will be fine. For now, I'm allowing a small space heater or our gas fireplace to get the family room up to 67*.  That's the space where I spend the most time sitting, so I'm the coldest.  Over the next few weeks I'll push that down a degree at a time, until i reach the point where I'm comfortable at 64.  I may even aim for 63 this year, as a hedge against inflation.

Maybe we all need a small sitting room like some of the English have. There is a name for it that eludes me right now. Warm that room up and leave the rest of the house to cool off to ~50F.

Edit: found it! Its called a snug. My Italian friends did the same. Minimal heating to the (concrete) house as a whole, but they heated their favored sitting room to a temp in the 60s F.

[coppertop]

Thank you for the suggestions re: my husband's nerve problem.  I did see a couple of things on Amazon that might help...a wedge to hold the covers away from his feet, and another item that is supposed to support the blankets like a tent. 

[snic]

Went and checked my thermostat settings
Heat
67 when home
62 when asleep / away

AC
76 when home
70 when sleeping (but we typically use a window fan most of the time since our nights get cool)

This is almost exactly what we do, except we keep it at 76 all day and night in summer. That works just fine with a ceiling fan over the bed. In reality, there aren't too many days when the a/c is on all night because if the outside temperature dips below about 70, it feels nicer to just turn it off and open all the windows even if it's very humid out.

My property manager sent out an email saying we should set the heat no lower than 60* in winter.  I push that by a few degrees, but maybe I can go even lower without worry, even if not all the way to 50.

I'm guessing your property manager is worried about burst pipes. I used to have the heat go down to 58 in winter. One very cold evening, probably single-digits, we noticed it was raining in the kitchen. Apparently a radiator pipe along an outside wall had burst because that area didn't have sufficient insulation to protect the pipe. The plumber said we should keep the house at 68 24/7. But 67/62 has been working fine (in two different houses in the same town).

[ChickenStash]

My property manager sent out an email saying we should set the heat no lower than 60* in winter.  I push that by a few degrees, but maybe I can go even lower without worry, even if not all the way to 50.

I'm guessing your property manager is worried about burst pipes. I used to have the heat go down to 58 in winter. One very cold evening, probably single-digits, we noticed it was raining in the kitchen. Apparently a radiator pipe along an outside wall had burst because that area didn't have sufficient insulation to protect the pipe. The plumber said we should keep the house at 68 24/7. But 67/62 has been working fine (in two different houses in the same town).

Similar story here. I had the trap on the kitchen sink freeze up when we hit a cold spell (-15*F or so). The pipes weren't in the wall but in an under-HVACed corner of the kitchen, under a window, in a cabinet. Luckily, there was no damage but I now leave the cabinet doors open when we're in for a cold night. I have the winter temps set to 60 at night but that's being read in the middle of the house, away from any drafts or windows so the extreme ends of the house wind up being colder.

I wouldn't trust a tenant to figure that out or be conscientious enough to prevent a problem so a rule to just keep the house hotter is the easy-button answer.

[windytrail]

Yes, Americans are complete babies when it comes to "comfort zones," spending much of their days moving between climate-controlled environments (home, car, office, grocery store, etc).

We forget that humans survived for tens of thousands of years without central A/C and heating.

[chemistk]

Yes, Americans are complete babies when it comes to "comfort zones," spending much of their days moving between climate-controlled environments (home, car, office, grocery store, etc).

We forget that humans survived for tens of thousands of years without central A/C and heating.

And under the best circumstances, our ancestors' lives and activities would have been mostly dictated by the climate and weather.

But for much of history, the lowest classes would suffer in the extremes and die accordingly.

If they could get past the notion that HVAC systems are in fact not arcane/mystical/Satanic objects, I'm sure just about any group of humans from the past would gladly choose to exist in a climate controlled environment as well. There is no more virtue in living a life trying to survive in your surroundings than there is in earning a living and doing daily activities in relative comfort.

[solon]

A Visit from St Nicholas talks about this:

And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,

People in the 19th century wore hats to bed. I wonder what their indoor temperature was?

[snic]

A Visit from St Nicholas talks about this:

And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,

People in the 19th century wore hats to bed. I wonder what their indoor temperature was?

And before that they built bed "cabinets" to keep the heat in, and slept with multiple people in each bed for the shared warmth. Fuel to keep a fire going all night was a luxury very few could afford. Yet through the ages people have lived in some pretty extreme climates (northern Canada, Iceland, Scandinavia...)

[TomTX]

A Visit from St Nicholas talks about this:

And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,

People in the 19th century wore hats to bed. I wonder what their indoor temperature was?

And before that they built bed "cabinets" to keep the heat in, and slept with multiple people in each bed for the shared warmth. Fuel to keep a fire going all night was a luxury very few could afford. Yet through the ages people have lived in some pretty extreme climates (northern Canada, Iceland, Scandinavia...)

Many Scandinavians still put their (bundled) babies outside for naptime throughout the winter.

[Dicey]

Came home today sffter a good walk and it was 66 in the house. The HVAC is turned off. I just put on a light jacket until I got used to it. HVAC is still off.

[snic]

Many Scandinavians still put their (bundled) babies outside for naptime throughout the winter.

...which makes for interesting discussions in case of intercultural marriages where one partner comes from a warm climate and the other from a place like Scandinavia. Let's just say our baby's grandparents were quite insistent, but at opposite extremes, about how much protection from the elements a baby needs. One grandmother wouldn't dream of taking a hatless baby for a walk in a stroller even in summer, and would refuse to even go out with the baby in winter; and the other would say that daily walks are essential in order to get sufficient fresh air, especially in winter. (Surprisingly, despite this difference, the two grandmothers got along remarkably well and we are grateful we had so many grandmothers to help us back then.)

[simonsez]

A Visit from St Nicholas talks about this:

And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,

People in the 19th century wore hats to bed. I wonder what their indoor temperature was?

And before that they built bed "cabinets" to keep the heat in, and slept with multiple people in each bed for the shared warmth. Fuel to keep a fire going all night was a luxury very few could afford. Yet through the ages people have lived in some pretty extreme climates (northern Canada, Iceland, Scandinavia...)

Many Scandinavians still put their (bundled) babies outside for naptime throughout the winter.

We weren't in Scandinavia (thanks CGP Grey for the helpful vid on Nordic vs Scandinavia vs Fennoscandia!) at the time but I recall seeing the babies outside in Iceland everywhere when it would be deemed chilly by American standards but more than the temperature was the fact that they were left alone without supervision while mom was getting groceries or whatever.  That was cool to see how the Icelandic culture deals with the temperature and their kiddos!  There was a rumor/joke floating around that Iceland only had 1 grand theft auto case (in total, for the entire country) the year before we visited and in that particular case the thief saw there was a baby sleeping in the back seat so they returned the car promptly from where they had snatched it.

[Arbitrage]

66 during the day, 5X at night.  Can't remember offhand, maybe 55?  I don't think our house ever actually cools off that much overnight, so the heat never turns on until morning.  Our old house in southern CA was set even lower at night to prevent the heat from turning on, as the fan was adjacent to the bedrooms and LOUD.  Despite the difference in climate between northern WA and southern CA, the CA house would get much colder during winter.  Turns out that insulation makes a difference. 

[KarefulKactus15]

Ooh I think I'm the most guilty one here.

I use my hvac system as an alarm clock. Nothing gets your ass up out of bed faster than being too hot to be in said bed. Same in the evening, when it cools down I suddenly want to get in the bed and cover up.

I have an hvac business and everyone ask "what's the best temperature?"    I always reply with whatever one your are comfortable.  I see 72 most frequently.  DOE says 78 summer 68 winter with +- 7 degree set backs.

Tbh - night time setbacks with a heat pump are mostly worthless unless you have a smarter thermostat with energy modeling that actually compares the cost of running said heat pump for 3 hours vs 1 hour of electric heat strip.

[Arbitrage]

Tbh - night time setbacks with a heat pump are mostly worthless unless you have a smarter thermostat with energy modeling that actually compares the cost of running said heat pump for 3 hours vs 1 hour of electric heat strip.

Are most heat pump controllers set up such that they'll turn on emergency heat just because there is a large delta between a new temperature setting and the existing temp?  I figured that they would only use emergency heat when the outside temp is too cold to run in heat pump mode.  Hopefully there is a way to configure that...?

Never had one, but hope to purchase one in the next few years, once we know our income is low enough to qualify for max credits under the new bill - could be after cutting back further at work.

[jeninco]

66 during the day, 5X at night.  Can't remember offhand, maybe 55?  I don't think our house ever actually cools off that much overnight, so the heat never turns on until morning.  Our old house in southern CA was set even lower at night to prevent the heat from turning on, as the fan was adjacent to the bedrooms and LOUD.  Despite the difference in climate between northern WA and southern CA, the CA house would get much colder during winter.  Turns out that insulation makes a difference.

Us too, although in the pre-pandemic time (when I was the only one working in the house) I'd set it for closer to 62 during the middle of the day.
Our bedroom is far, far from the thermostat and (even though we've re-insulated it) was tacked on to the back of the house, so it regularly 5-10 degrees cooler than everything else. Fine by me, that's what lovely warm duvets are for (and snuggling with the spouse)!

[BlueMR2]

Similar story here. I had the trap on the kitchen sink freeze up when we hit a cold spell (-15*F or so). The pipes weren't in the wall but in an under-HVACed corner of the kitchen, under a window, in a cabinet. Luckily, there was no damage but I now leave the cabinet doors open when we're in for a cold night. I have the winter temps set to 60 at night but that's being read in the middle of the house, away from any drafts or windows so the extreme ends of the house wind up being colder.

Yeah, when it gets single digit I open the cabinet doors under the kitchen sink just to be safe.  Seems like it stays warm enough even closed, but I don't want to take a chance.  Why house builders insist on putting kitchen sinks on outside walls, right under windows I'll never know.  Perfect recipe for frozen pipes!

[Dicey]

The inside temp's been hovering between 64-66 for the past two weeks. In the afternoons, it's warmer outside than in the house, but .i havent been home to open up the house, alas. I've also noticed it stays in that range overnight, which is good.  Now to see how far into November we can last without turning on the heat.