Heater on or off at night?

[Toto'sDad]

My wife and I both lived in situations when we were young that dictated the heat be turned off at night. The exception for me was when we lived in Arkansas, I was the wood stove tender. I learned to adjust the damper, putting two dry pieces of wood in with a green one to where it would smolder all night. In the morning I could then just toss a couple of pieces of wood in the stove, and it was going again right away.

Dearborn gas heaters with no outside venting were in common use in California when I was a kid, but most everyone turned them off for fear something would go wrong while they slept. Old habits die hard. I realize for many of you, having heat on during the night is a necessity, but here, the temps are mild enough it's quite practical to shut it off. In addition, most of the houses built here now are so energy efficient, they don't really get cold inside at night. This morning, it was 67 degrees in our house, and 38 degrees outside.

 

[stormsedge]

I set ours to cycle down to 64 at ~2100, otherwise it is too hot to sleep. I did 62 in the past, but Mrs is over that. Our max daily temp steps up to 66 by ~0730.

Our level-billing arrangement pretty much hides a one or two degree operating change.

 

[Killing Floor]

I set ours to cycle down to 64 at ~2100, otherwise it is too hot to sleep. I did 62 in the past, but Mrs is over that. Our max daily temp steps up to 66 by ~0730.

Our level-billing arrangement pretty much hides a one or two degree operating change.

2100 is too hot for me

 

[fjblair]

Not workable here once winter really sets in.

 

[schmee]

Down a bit at night. Not off, not on normal. The heat runs a lot less that way and I can't sleep too hot.

 

[trevorus]

I‘ve got a smart thermostat that I set to 62 during times when we aren’t home, 64 at night, 66 for occupied temps. I recently figured out I was being overcharged because of a third party electric supplier, so hopefully the electric price will be better, but NG is high anyways. Thankful for a high efficiency furnace.

 

[W.L.Weller]

2100 is too hot for me

°F, °C, or °K?

 

[Toto'sDad]

I set ours to cycle down to 64 at ~2100, otherwise it is too hot to sleep. I did 62 in the past, but Mrs is over that. Our max daily temp steps up to 66 by ~0730.

Our level-billing arrangement pretty much hides a one or two degree operating change.

Do you mean you have your heater set to cycle down to 64 at 9:00pm?

 

[nojazzhere]

My wife and I both lived in situations when we were young that dictated the heat be turned off at night. The exception for me was when we lived in Arkansas, I was the wood stove tender. I learned to adjust the damper, putting two dry pieces of wood in with a green one to where it would smolder all night. In the morning I could then just toss a couple of pieces of wood in the stove, and it was going again right away.

Dearborn gas heaters with no outside venting were in common use in California when I was a kid, but most everyone turned them off for fear something would go wrong while they slept. Old habits die hard. I realize for many of you, having heat on during the night is a necessity, but here, the temps are mild enough it's quite practical to shut it off. In addition, most of the houses built here now are so energy efficient, they don't really get cold inside at night. This morning, it was 67 degrees in our house, and 38 degrees outside.

I've lived several places with un-vented space heaters. (Dearborn and other brands) the "saving grace" was that our homes back then were nowhere near as "air tight" as they are today. The house I'm now in (for 28 years) is the first I ever lived in as an adult with forced air central heating. Pretty efficient unit, so not excessively expensive to run. I keep the thermostat at about 67° F all the time. (in winter) That's a little chilly for some, but if I get cold I'll just put on a hoodie.
My mom always said growing up, they turned off heat at night. She didn't know if it was for safety or "cheapness". On super-cold nights, I wondered if they ever had pipes freeze? I did in my previous house.....and it's a real pain.

 

[telleutelleme]

Blankets are the best solution combined with a warm dog.

 

[Stubee]

I sure don’t turn the furnace off here in mid-Michigan but I turn the thermostat down to 65. Glad my wife can tolerate it as I like a much cooler temp than her for sleeping.

At my deer camp cabin I stoke the wood stove just enough to have coals in the morning. About 1985 ago I put a ‘62 Shasta 15’ trailer on our trout stream property. I did check out the wall furnace & stack as well as I could but nevertheless always had a window open while running it. I went out and turned off the propane before going to sleep which made for some cold nights late November, but that’s what sleeping bags are made for and I woke up alive!

 

[bobio]

I try to keep our home a consistent temperature throughout the day and night.
I shoot for 72 degrees, but it can vary from room to room by plus or minus 2 degrees.
Takes too much energy to have the AC or HEAT constantly trying to catch varying set points.
Even worse to turn the system off and have it try and make up a huge temperature gap.
In addition to the smart thermostats, I have remote temperature sensors in all the bedrooms.
I use the remote sensors to prioritize the living areas during the day and the sleeping areas at night.
The Honeywell app allows me to monitor HVAC usage.
I have two heat pump systems, one for upstairs and one for downstairs.
I also have the Duke Energy app that allows me to monitor the whole home energy usage.
This has worked best for us. YMMV

 

[BigDaddyLH]

Our home furnace is programmed to run cooler at night. I can't sleep well if it's warm, so cooler is a good thing. I think the night setting is 18C.

We share our ski condo with friends; Birgit is German and I don't know if this is cultural, but she says it's an absolute necessity to leave a window open at night, even if it's -40C. We must have fresh air!

 

[BigDaddyLH]

Blankets are the best solution combined with a warm dog.

On cold nights, Harley likes diving under the duvet. Guess who he gloms onto? By morning, I'm hanging onto the edge of the mattress.

 

[notmyusualuserid]

We have a programmable thermostat. No problem.

 

[imwjl]

Blankets are the best solution combined with a warm dog.

Our home furnace is programmed to run cooler at night. I can't sleep well if it's warm, so cooler is a good thing. I think the night setting is 18C.

We share our ski condo with friends; Birgit is German and I don't know if this is cultural, but she says it's an absolute necessity to leave a window open at night, even if it's -40C. We must have fresh air!

On cold nights, Harley likes diving under the duvet. Guess who he gloms onto? By morning, I'm hanging onto the edge of the mattress.

The dog is my wife's favorite child but same as the kids with 2 legs, never in our bed.

My wife is prone towards "fresh air" like her German family though she's a US citizen. I point out the furnace does take fresh air in. Her inner cheapskate doesn't open the window too often.

Otherwise we set the thermostat for nighttime and away to 60 deg F or less, and a warm blast of furnace is a short bit of 68 degrees while in shower/shave/bath mode.

 

[Cloodie]

Set the thermostat for 15c during the night (59f).

 

[BigDaddyLH]

I just thought of something that mitigates the shock from turning down the furnace at night: heated toilet seat

 

[blowtorch]

you guys and your fancy push-button heat

I grew up with a wood furnace and no thermostat.


More than once as a kid as young as probably 12 I was home alone and there was a chimney clog, and I had to climb up on the icy roof with the huge heavy cast iron weight on a thick chain and drop it through to break up the cresote buildup, to let the smoke start getting out the chimney so it would stop filling the house up

 

[haggardfan1]

67-68 F if I'm at home and not sleeping; 64 or so during sleep time.

Two big dogs and me in a closed bedroom means it'll get gradually warmer through the night (or day, if I'm working graveyard).

By the time we get up, sometimes it's 68 to 70 degrees in my room.