Another Heating Question

[Bob Moyer]

Does anyone use a programmable thermostat and if you do, how do you program it; I mean what temps during the day when you are not at home; what time does it begin to adjust for your arrival home; what do you do at night.

Thanks

[Jeffrey Makiel]

That's a tuff question because it is a personal preference.

In my household, I use my programmable thermostat more for comfort reasons rather than energy savings.

In my case, the thermo is set at a comfortable temperature during the day, and then sets back to a cooler temperature for sleeping. Because somebody is home during the day, only two program settings are required per day.

If nobody is home during the day as it seems in your case, and you still want it cooler for sleeping but yet warm when you get home from work, most electronic thermostats offer 4 temperature programs (or settings) per day to accomodate this situation.


-Jeff :)

[Al Willits]

Here's something we've found at work, maybe it might help.
Its a few years old but it still works.

Al


A common misconception associated with thermostats is that a furnace works harder than normal to warm the space back to a comfortable temperature after the thermostat has been set back, resulting in little or no savings. This misconception has been dispelled by years of research and numerous studies. The fuel required to reheat a building to a comfortable temperature is roughly equal to the fuel saved as the building drops to the lower temperature. You save fuel between the time that the temperature stabilizes at the lower level and the next time heat is needed. So, the
longer your house remains at the lower temperature, the more energy you save.
Another misconception is that the higher you raise a thermostat, the more heat the furnace will put out, or that the house will warm up faster if the thermostat is raised higher. Furnaces put out the same amount of heat no matter how high the thermostat is set--the variable is how long it must stay on to reach the set temperature. In the winter, significant savings can be obtained by manually or automatically reducing your thermostat's temperature setting for as little as four hours per day. These savings can
be attributed to a building's heat loss in the winter, which depends greatly on the difference between the inside and outside temperatures. For example, if you set the temperature back on your thermostat for an entire night, your energy savings will be substantial. By turning your thermostat back 10 degrees F to 15 degrees F for 8 hours, you can save about 5% to 15% a year on your heating bill -- a savings of as much as I% for each degree if the setback period is eight hours long. The percentage of savings from setback is greater for buildings in milder climates than for those in more severe climates.
Save 25 percent of your heating bill by turning the thermostat down from 70 to 65 degrees while awake and down to 60 or 55 degrees while sleeping or away.
It's an myth that rewarming a house after turning down the thermostat takes the same amount of heat that was saved. The truth is that the bigger the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperature, the more heat escapes your house. Lowering the thermostat decreases the difference and you lose less heat.
Chuck Seipp, energy analyst with Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency, recommends keeping the thermostat turned down to within IO degrees of the original setting. Some efficiency is lost when the difference is greater than 10 degrees, he says.
A hot water faucet leaking one drip per second pours 3,120 gallons of hot water and $35 a year in energy costs down the drain. The fix is usually a cheap washer or, in newer washerless faucets, a drop-in cylinder.

[Joe Pelonio]

We have used programmable for many years now. Currently ours is set as follows:

M-F
5am - 68F
8am - 64F

3pm - 68F
10pm - 55F

Sat-Sun
6am - 68F
9am - 66F

3pm - 68F
11pm - 55F


That is to have it warm when people get up, and are home in the evening. I am actually here working all day but like it cooler anyway and it rarely drops too low except in winter when I'll cheat and override it.

And yes, I do get complaints from the females in the house that they are cold at 68 but a sweater costs less than running it higher.

[Tom Godley]

Joe -- are you warm blooded :)


I would be hanging from a noose!

[Brian Elfert]

I live by myself and have zoned heating.

1st floor stays at 55 degrees except 4 pm to 10 pm when it is 69 degrees.
2nd floor is 68 degrees 4 pm to 10 pm, 66 degrees 10 pm to 8 am and 55 degrees during the day.

My programmable thermostat remembers approximately how long it takes to bring the heat back to normal so I only have to set the time I want the temp to change at.

For the last five or six years I have run the A/C at 75 degrees 24 hours a day, but that may change with higher electric and gas rates these days. The problem with a higher temp until I get home is that 4 PM is the peak of the heat and it will take hours to cool back down, especially with the electric company cutting off the power to my A/C unit up to 20 minutes an hour.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Does anyone use a programmable thermostat and if you do, how do you program it;

I have the two up scale Lennox units.
I hate 'em.
I by pass all the stupid programming stuff and just set it to the temperature I want.