Learned a lesson last night..not going to use a thermostat

I have two thermostats in my raised ranch. The tstat upstairs controls the forced air (gas) which I keep at 70 degrees. My pellet stove is located downstairs and is controlled by a tstat that I have programmed on weekday/weekend schedules. The house is very tight and well insulated so I haven't had to use the stove or the forced air much during the day because of natural heat from the sun.

My plan for the winter is to keep the stove running 24/7 programmed thermostat (stove on high/low). The forced air will only kick on if the stove runs out of pellets.

I ran mine for 2 seasons without then put one in and ran it that way for the next few years. Big difference all the way around. My wire broke a couple months
ago and I just ran the shoulder seasons without it. Ughh, hooked it up again and won't ever go back no matter what. It just has to save you money all the way around. I don't run mine in the auto mode very often but it is nice if you do want to get it up to temp. That goes double if you have cold blooded women and especially those fragile constituted teenagers dragging themselves off to school early. It's easy to set one up temporarily and give it a try without stapling anything in place. Just string it and try it. Fact is that's the best way to see just where you most desire to finally install it. Mine is in the next room.

To put it simply, Setting back temperature saves energy. Simple thermodynamics. The issue is how long it takes to bring the space back up to temperature.

mepellet said:

To put it simply, Setting back temperature saves energy. Simple thermodynamics. The issue is how long it takes to bring the space back up to temperature.

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Exactly! If you can figure out how much it drops and how much it will rise? You usually can get the house right back to temp when you come home. Just remember as the heat loss rises(colder outside). The drop is quicker and the rise will get slower. You don't need to be dead on. If you want 70ºF and the house is 69ºF. Not that big a deal. But if its still at the setback temp or barely risen? You need to adjust things.

j-takeman said:

mepellet said:

To put it simply, Setting back temperature saves energy. Simple thermodynamics. The issue is how long it takes to bring the space back up to temperature.

Click to expand...

Exactly! If you can figure out how much it drops and how much it will rise? You usually can get the house right back to temp when you come home. Just remember as the heat loss rises(colder outside). The drop is quicker and the rise will get slower. You don't need to be dead on. If you want 70ºF and the house is 69ºF. Not that big a deal. But if its still at the setback temp or barely risen? You need to adjust things.

Click to expand...

Good points. Predicting your heat loss is a crapshoot. It depends on many different things. That is why a heat loss calculation is based on a "design" condition or worst case. When you are talking heat loss calculations, it is always with no solar gain, no internal heat gains, predicted infiltration rates etc. Each of these are dynamic and are constantly changing.