How cold do you keep your house in the winter?

[affordablehousing]

Hello mustachians, I live in a climate where its coldish (50 at day, 30's at night) for about 3 months of the year. Wife and I had always been reluctant to heat and air condition the house but recently the furnace broke, and while waiting for a replacement gas valve to arrive and seeing the thermostat is 52, wondering what people do on the forum. What temp do you heat your house to

Note that I am already planning to add insulation to the attic but the house is cinderblock, no insulation, and steel casement windows the wife is attached to so there's only so much we can do efficiency-wise beyond blankets and long-johns.

[tweezers]

63 daytime, 59 at night.  Our house is sealed and well insulated.  We're in the PNW so wintertime temps are typically 30s to 40s, but rarely below freezing.

[OmahaSteph]

I'm in the plains of Omaha, Nebraska and it's often below freezing both during the day and at night, plus it's windy. We keep the house at 65 while away and at night, and bump it up to 67 when home. I've tried to keep it at 65 but my nose ends up numb unless I stick my entire head under the covers. (Not conducive to getting anything done!) :)

[bacchi]

The heat comes on in the morning to get it to 67 and then it drifts down the rest of the day to 58. It's currently 61 in mid-afternoon. The cats hate it.

When the SO returns, it'll be set to 60 at night and ~65 during the day.

[Saskatchewstachian]

18 during the day and about 17 during the night. Part of the problem is that the main floor is quite cool whereas the upstairs warms up easily. So during the day 18 feels cold but it's 21 upstairs and at night 17 feels frigid on the main floor but drop upstairs to 18-19.

For reference it is currently -27 here right now (-17F) so all houses are built quite efficiently to handle cold weather.

[Lanthiriel]

We only have one thermostat for our 1100 square-foot house. We keep it at 68 because that seems to keep the living room area, where I spend most of my time, at about 64-68 because of all the windows. I live in Alaska and it's been getting into the negatives the last few weeks. We played a game last year where we set the thermostat lower during the day, but there didn't appear to be any cost savings because the boiler had to work so hard to raise the temp when we got home. Maintaining a consistent temperature seems to work better for colder climates.

[Serve&Volley88]

When we're home, the thermostat is at 68. It goes down to 65 at bedtime and 62 during the day when we're at work. Programmable Wifi thermostats are incredible.

[biglawinvestor]

67 when we're home. 50 when we're not home and at night.

[HPstache]

6:00am-8:00pm : 68F
8:00pm-6:00am: 62F

[tonysemail]

66 awake and 61 asleep for us. 

[Dave1442397]

68 during the day, 55 at night.

If the sun is out, the heat will only run until around 9am, and then the sun warms the house up to 72 or so.

I've found that setting it to 55 at night (8pm - 6am) is fine, as in actuality it never drops below 60.

[NV Teacher]

I pretty much leave the thermostat set at 62 all the time.  I'm gone most of the day at work so I just deal with being chilly for a hour or so in the mornings and a couple hours at night. 

[Nudelkopf]

I live in the Australian desert, and although it doesn't get cold cold during winter, our buildings are so not insulated. I put a thermometer in my classroom to measure it (& so report to the administration that I'd like a heater). The temperature for the first class (8 am) this winter ranged from 4°C (40°F) to 10°C (50°F). Administration said I'm still not allowed a heater, so I bought a whole bunch of blankets for my children & we huddle under them til the day warms up. (I teach in a very low socioeconomic school, where about a third of my students can't afford a school jumper/sweater).

[MsPeacock]

55 at night and when not home - so most of the time, actually. Although unless it is very cold outside it generally doesn't' drop all the way to 55. My house is well insulted and about 2/3 of the windows are brand new. I set it at 68 when I come home if the house is really cold - and often doesn't get up to that temp before I turn it back down.

[Dicey]

Ha! This sounds familiar. We were trying to be tough and delay turning on the HVAC as long as we could. We live in a place where it doesn't snow, how hard could that be? Two and a half weeks ago, we were hosting a party and many of the guests were elderly, including two 92 year-olds, so we decided to turn on the heat. Zip, zero, nada.

Our house is only ten years old, so we weren't expecting this. DH did his research and ordered a new control board. He forgot to opt for expedited shipping, so the damn part took eleven days to arrive. During this time, we had a cold snap. It got down to 55 degrees and hovered between 55-58. One day, it was warmer outside than in the house, so I opened every window in the house. That got us to a balmy 61 for a few hours.

When the part finally arrived from Ohio, via the North Pole, it was a nice update, but it wasn't the entire problem. More research revealed we needed an Igniter and a (something-something, IDK). Alas, one of the parts wasn't in stock anywhere. When DH finally found one, he had to pay retail for it, bleargh. DH remembered to expedite this time and we got the parts in two days. The day after delivery, we finally had a working HVAC system, thank Dog. A couple dozen trips into the attic and $300 in parts & shipping later, we can feel our fingers and toes again.

Tl;Dr - Our house has a gigantic great room/kitchen, about 30' x 30' with 14 foot ceilings and travertine floors. It takes a long time to heat up. (Fortunately, it stays cool in the summer. We haven't used the A/C in over a year and typically only crank it on once a summer for 4-5 days.)

68 daytime, 65 at night. There is always someone home during the day, and letting it get much colder overnight makes the HVAC work a loooong time to warm it up again.

[Koogie]

6:00am-8:00pm : 68F
8:00pm-6:00am: 62F

This, exactly. 

Except in metric and in Canada.

[csprof]

Pre-child, forced-air heat:  About 55-60 when at home, 50 when gone, but I'd use a space heater in my office if I was typing a lot to prevent my hands from hurting.

Post-child, with a slow-moving radiant heat system:  66 when we're home, 60 when not, with the system set to turn back on 2h before we return.

[affordablehousing]

Thanks all for the responses! It sounds like I better get the furnace fixed! I work at home and have been looking like the Michelin man (plus our Michelin dog). Diane C I'm up against the same problem, and the part I thought fixed things seems to require additional pieces. I miss the reliable steam heat of the east coast and big beefy cast iron radiators clanking in the night.

[badasswizard]

If I had my way, 58F all the time.

With housemates who are less intense-62 during the day, 59 at night. Max of 65. However, I have huge windows and get a lot of solar heat gain during the day, so the temperature is often warmer than the thermostat setting.

The funny thing is as a kid my mom kept our house at 64 or 65 and I complained. Now I have to take off layers when I go over to visit.

[Cornbread OMalley]

I keep mine at 68 while at home.  65 while I'm off at the office.

[horsepoor]

58 overnight, 56 while we're gone during the day, 62 in the evenings.  I've been teleworking lately, and  I end up cranking the thermostat up to 63-64 because I'm working in the basement and it's colder.  I'm also using and electric dish space heater most of the time since we're in a cold snap.  If I can work away from my computer for a few hours, I'lll go upstairs where it's several degrees warmer.

[Vertical Mode]

My GF and I keep ours in the low 50's, slightly warmer with the baseboards in areas of the apartment where there is plumbing to consider. Great for sleeping, and we just wear layers if we get too cold. I don't have exact values, but I've been meaning to get a digital thermometer and I will report back with real numbers when I do.

In the old apartment, my roommate and I shared floor, ceiling, and two walls with other apartments so we only used the heat twice ever in the two years we lived there.

[Emg03063]

55 when I'm not home, 61 when I am.  Keep the electric blanket set to 10 tho. ;)

[Kakashi]

67 during the day and 67 at night (we have a 1 and 3 year old). 

Before kids, I was at 65 during the day and 55 at night. 

This is one of those area that as I near FI, I'm going to be spending more money.  Ideally I'd like to get to 70 during day and night. 

[Trifle]

68 day
62 night

If I had my way it would be lower, but we compromised.

[Linea_Norway]

The living room has 18C. That way we are motivated to turn on the wood stove when we come home from work, with free wood from the garden.
The 2 bathrooms are 20C, as we need to be able to be naked in them.
The bedroom is approx 15C.

[Tyn]

I have electric heating so because that is inefficient and expensive I tend to stick with the ambient temperature in my house.  According to the food thermometer in my kitchen this is currently around 10C (50F), when I move somewhere with the luxury of central heating I will probably aim for around 15C. This winter I treated myself to an electric blanket so I'm nice and snug when I go to sleep, previously I used to wake up really cold in the middle of the night (despite layers, blankets, a sleeping bag and quilt) and I think that really sapped my reserves for the rest of the day.

[Harper]

We are in New England so it gets cold.

55 during the day when we're not home
60 when we get home

There's lots of blankets.  The kids are older too now.  When they were babies we kept it a bit warmer...

[Dicey]

Thanks all for the responses! It sounds like I better get the furnace fixed! I work at home and have been looking like the Michelin man (plus our Michelin dog). Diane C I'm up against the same problem, and the part I thought fixed things seems to require additional pieces. I miss the reliable steam heat of the east coast and big beefy cast iron radiators clanking in the night.

AH, I'm a lifelong  CA girl, so steam heat is only something I've heard of. Keep dogging the repair until you figure it out. Use the Internet to troubleshoot & solve the problem(s). Also, when DH finally got everything installed, it still didn't work, because the thermostat was still in the off position. No, it wasn't that way the whole time, but some troubleshooting requires switching it on and off, so keep that in mind as you replace multiple parts. Good luck to you! 

[begood]

65 during the day, 58 at night.

I work from home so I do find myself nudging up the thermostat to 67 in the afternoon. I use hand warmers, drink tea, and get up every hour to move around. If I'm still cold after doing all that, I put up the heat. Life's too short to be cold in my own house.

I love these "Wristies" - they allow me to type without hindrance but keep my hands and wrists toasty:

https://smile.amazon.com/Wristies-Hand-Warming-Practice-Gloves/dp/B000OIB8WC/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1481209637&sr=8-9&keywords=wristies

[BrokeNoMo]

70 when we are at home. 63 during the day when we are out. 65 at night.

DW has a compromised immune system, so years ago we quickly figured out that a little more cost to heat the house was cheaper than her getting sick and ending up in the hospital. Not very badass...I know.

[mskyle]

66F (19C) for when we're home and awake, 55F (13C) when we're out or asleep (though it usually doesn't get all the way down to 55 except in the really coldest part of winter), 50 if we're out for more than a day or so. I'm cautious about going any lower because the kitchen is generally 5-10 degrees colder than the rest of the apartment and that's where all the pipes live. I find it hard to sleep if the house is above 65 or so, so I like having it cold at night.

We have forced hot air and raising the humidity (with a humidifier or air-drying laundry) makes a huge difference in how comfortable we are. And I rock the layered look with a heavy sweater over flannel over lightweight wool sweater over long underwear if I'm going to be sitting around for an extended period.

[kscubz]

Living in the Bay Area I rarely turn the heat on. Made it through last winter without ever firing up the furnace. Coldest it ever got inside the house was 48. Usually its more like mid 50s or higher.

[snshijuptr]

I live in Southern California, but our little canyon can hit freezing at night. We have 1 thermostat for the house and two space heaters.

Central Air: 60F during the day; Off at night (when we don't forget); 65F if I know people will be coming over
Windows: Open if it gets above 65F outside (I have an alert on my phone)
Space Heaters: 70F in bedrooms when our daughters are going to sleep

In February when it starts to get real cold, I turn off the central heat during the day and point a space heater at me. If they are going to run all day anyway, I prefer just a little heater that gets me toasty.

I recommend: http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/heating.html

[BlueMR2]

Moving around vs. being a couch potato makes a huge difference.  67F is the lowest my wife can tolerate in front of the TV.  I can go down to 65F in that case.  Now, moving around active in the house I can go down to 55F, but my wife's limit only drops to 65F.

So, it stays 67F during waking hours and I drop it to 65F for sleeping.  I can get away with 62F when we're gone too, but sometimes there's complaints about how long it takes to heat back up.

Of course, all this only applies above 0F.  When we go sub-zero I turn it up to 70F-74F (when we hit -15F) as the margin for pipes freezing starts to become uncomfortably close.

[Gone Fishing]

We heat with wood.  I try to keep it between 65 and 70 during waking/occupied hours, but occasionally the living room gets up to 75 (bedrooms are cooler) and it sometimes drops down to 60 by morning on cold nights.  We keep the heat set on 50 to protect the pipes when we are out of town, but the propane gauge has not noticeably moved in 6 years. 

[Retire-Canada]

Night it's been ~12 deg C lately. Not sure what happens during the day - really depends on outside temps as our thermostat is not effective, but it may not get up much above 12 deg C unless it's sunny and the house gets solar heating.

Evenings when we are home we get the rooms we use up to 21 deg C, but we don't heat any room we don't use.

The cat has a heated pad to get her through cold days or cold nights.

[Knapptyme]

Constant 66 at the thermostat, which is somewhat isolated in the hallway. It allows the house to go to 63 in some rooms (mainly our bedroom) far from the thermostat. We also use our wood-burning fireplace to supplement heat in the main living area.

When DW and I lived without kids, we'd let it go much lower, set around 60. The toddler, however, refuses to wear socks (think indifference to them being put on, but eventual rage if the socks are left on his feet too long), so we keep it a little warmer for his little toes.

Yet with the beautiful Florida winters, sometimes we can leave the house open during the day to "heat" our house.

[ketchup]

Of course, all this only applies above 0F.  When we go sub-zero I turn it up to 70F-74F (when we hit -15F) as the margin for pipes freezing starts to become uncomfortably close.

Can you elaborate on that?  I've never given that much thought.

We keep the thermostat at 67 in the winter because the damn thing constantly resets itself to that within a few hours no matter what you do.  I'll replace it one of these days... 

AC in the summer is usually at around 75, but we have window units so what makes sense on each can vary a bit.

We close off our guest bedroom 99% of the time from heating/cooling, and usually close off the office when we're not using it.

[etselec]

I'm currently in an apartment with heat included, but when I lived in houses with housemates we'd set the thermostat to 65-68 days, 60-62 nights.

I learned very quickly that that wasn't sustainable for me because of a medical condition (the cold makes my muscles tense up & spasm) — so I got a space heater for my bedroom. Much more cost-effective than heating the whole house to 70 degrees, and I was okay with it being chilly in the kitchen/living room as long as I had somewhere I could go to warm up.

[Fiscal_Hawk]

We live in Iowa so it's pretty cold here.

We generally keep it at 65 when we are home. Take it down to 62 at night and when we are gone.

[ZiziPB]

68 while I'm home and awake
60 when I'm asleep or out of the house

The cat is not happy with me, especially since I dropped the cable last winter and she can no longer sit on top the (warm) cable box.

[Mother Fussbudget]

WA state.  Thermostat stays on 60.  During the day, I use a wood stove to heat the house.  Once the temp reaches 65-69, I open up the unused bedroom to moderate the temp throughout the house.

[mbl]

Thermostat set to 55 on our propane furnace.
We heat with a wood stove that is downstairs in the family room(ranch house).
Bedrooms remain cold and the rest of the house is comfortable.

[691175002]

Heating is included in my rent so I keep the place at 76-78.

There is no air conditioning, this keeps me suitably acclimated when summer comes around and I'm trying to sleep at 86.

[Retire-Canada]

Heating is included in my rent so I keep the place at 76-78.

I remember fondly my years of apartment renting and the warm winters! I could pretty much leave the heaters off and the warmth leaked from surrounding units would keep me toasty.

[Laserjet3051]

Thermostat set to 66°F from 6:00pm to 7:00 am
Heat off completely from 7:00am to 6:00pm

[robartsd]

Heating is included in my rent so I keep the place at 76-78.

There is no air conditioning, this keeps me suitably acclimated when summer comes around and I'm trying to sleep at 86.

Heat was included in my rent until this year too (bought a house this summer). The heat was a micro-volt wall furnace and the mechanical thermostat seemed to be particularly unreliable at starting the heater from cold temperatures, so I set the thermostat high and the flame low, hoping to keep heater output approximately equal to thermal loss continuously. The wall furnace there was adjacent and perpendicular to the doorway into the hall and a fan blowing cold air out of the hall ensured that a good portion of the heat made it to the back of the house.

Our new house also has a micro-volt wall furnace and I just replaced the mechanical thermostat with a battery operated programmable. Initially I set 65 for mornings/evenings and 60 for daytime/night; this was adequate, but we're experimenting with lower settings. The mechanical thermostat would leave the heater on until it was quite warm, then not start it again until it was chilly - it's nice to have the temperature range so much tighter. Unfortunately the doorway to the hall for our new place is on the same wall as the wall furnace, so it is much more difficult to circulate the heat to the rest of the house. Eventually I'd like to DIY a thermal solar heat solution with collectors on the roof, storage tanks in the basement, and radiant heat under the floors (preferably zoned).

[Hedge_87]

65 in the evening when we are home (starts warming up around 4 pm and drops down after 10pm). I am considering upping this because my wife is always complaining about how cold she is.

drops to 60 at night when we sleep. Our bedroom is the room closest to the furnace so it stays a little warmer than the rest of the house anyways. In the morning we are up moving around, taking showers, and cooking breakfast so we stay pretty warm even with the thermostat still at 60.

drops to 50 during the day when no one is home. I sometimes come home for lunch and I just don't take my coat off.

[ChipmunkSavings]

6:00am-8:00pm : 68F
8:00pm-6:00am: 62F

This, exactly. 

Except in metric and in Canada.

Same for me. Cold canadian winters.