How low do you go? (Temp in house)

[Willhound]

Hi Y'all
Actually got a bit of spare time today to check in. I see lot's of new members and some great topics. Cool!
I haven't been on the forum a lot over the past 6 months since I started a new consulting business, but the good news is that as a result of all the work, I will be moving out of my home office and into a commercial setting within the next few weeks. This will also mean some more regular hours, so maybe be able to participate in the forum a little more again.
The only downfall is that I won't get to enjoy the heat from my insert during the day, like I did all last winter. I suppose the bright side is that I'll save on wood, since I won't be stoking all day.

So the question is: For those of you that fill it in the morning and leave for the day, and if you have back-up heat (I have gas forced air), where do you set your thermostat? I know it depends on a lot of different things, but I'm thinking that there might be an optimal temp that maybe I don't want to go below if I'm away for a longer than usual period for efficiency or something....

Of course, with the Summit, too long is like about 10 hours or more before things start seriously cooling off. ;-P

Willhound

 

[got wood?]

my house isn't that efficient yet (old old home), so it chills down quick when it's below 20 outside. I leave the thermostat at 58, sometimes 56 during the day and keep it around 67 when home...of course with the living room and family room stoves it quickly gets much higher than the mid 60's.

 

[Todd]

My wife and 15 year old daughter seem to have ice water running through their viens. They get cold if it dips below 70. I keep the thermostat set at 68. Since I have a small house with good insulation, it seldom gets that cold with the stove going 24/7.

 

[adrpga498]

I set my thermostat at 58 from 11pm to 6 am, 66 from 6am to 11pm. If upstairs temp near thermostat drops below 58 prior to 6am oil forced hot air kicks on . IF not, I rekindle the fire and good for the remainder of the day. Wifey and kids know how to keep things going while I'm at work.
Teaching them a little has gone a long way

 

[fespo]

I have my T-stat off. Im up at 5am for work, so I rake the coals and partical fill the stove. I leave at 5:45 and fire is going good and Hot. My wife wakes up around 6:30 to 7:00 and she fills it up before she leave around 8:00. Then Im home around 2:00 and have a great bed of coals again. When its cold out side around 25 or lower I burn hot! but not to hot and cause problems. Last winter I never turn the gas heater on. But i did have the gas on last april when we had some cilly night but not cold enough for a fire.

 

[elkimmeg]

There is a thing about saving energy and being foolish Plaster starts acting up under 55degrees with wild temp swings it will first c show small cracks over doors and in corners interior paint also does not act well covering the plaster very well under 55 degrees
FHA heat makes economic sense withan 8 degree setback swing. Even better no swing at all say 64 degrees possibly 62 and let the stove do its job if working no het will come on if heated is needed less is needed to bring it back to 64
If one sets back more than 8 degrees too much energy is used to bring it back up 8 degrees at that point there is little savings.

Remember most homes have plumbing and if near the outside wall and less than 55 degrees in a cold windy climate pipes can freze inside never mind in the outside walls. What I'm saying is not to go too nuts with extreme setbacks

 

[Roospike]

Hey , Whats up there ye ole' Willhound-er . It has been a wile . Well no input from me , I'm still working from home "stoking it" as you say .
Sounds like Willhound is moving up ........... or at least out , during the day . Welcome back to the fire pit.

 

[BrotherBart]

Hey , Whats up there ye ole' Willhound-er . It has been a wile . Well no input from me , I'm still working from home "stoking it" as you say .
Sounds like Willhound is moving up ........... or at least out , during the day . Welcome back to the fire pit.

Those damn PE Summits even advance your career obviously. Heck of stove! Last year he was trapping and selling hides to pay the rent. Bought a Summit and now he is taking over an office building.

 

[Willhound]

Thanks Roo....yeah, I have mixed feelings about the office thing, but business is good, so too much volume for the house.
Elk, you're closer to where I was going with the question, although I'm not too worried about things cooling off so much that things freeze.
I was thinking more along the lines of if there is a temp below which you are either having to over-fire to get back up to temp, or the wood/gas savings are no longer worth it. Also, just out of curiousity I guess.
Wife works and daughter is in school all day, but I do plan on trying to get home for lunch (and a re-stoke) a lot of days. Office is only going to be about ten minutes away, so should be do-able.

Willhound

 

[begreen]

62 at night. I sleep better with it a little cool.

 

[bruce56bb]

hello hound...howya been?
2 furnances in this house and both thermos set @58ish. the furnace that is a long way(long hall in a long ranch)from the stove does kick on occasionally, but the other never kicks on. 58 seems fine in the bedrooms which is all that is down the hall.
bruce

 

[Rhone]

How odd, I thought me setting mine to 58 was a strange number thinking most people would set theirs to an even 60 or so. I'm part of the 58 crowd. The living area stays 72-74 and bedrooms down the hall 66-68. On really cold nights where I want to sleep for 9 hours and not wake up to reload I set my unit for an overnight burn and wake up to a 64 degree living area and about 61 degree bedroom but... that's getting better each year as I improve the efficiency of my house.

 

[jabush]

Since I don't burn 24/7 (just nights and weekends) I keep my T stat around 64-66 ish. It's cold when I get home from work but that old plate steel smoker comes up to temp pretty quick and the dogs don't complain. By the time the wife gets home an hour or so later it's just getting nice. She looks for the smoking chimney when she pulls in the drive.

I am looking forward to the longer burn times when I finally upgrade my stove.

 

[Greg123]

I typically keep the thermostat on my gas furnace set at 65 at night, I have a 6 and a 3 year old and they don’t like it to cold in the mornings, not to mention the wife, and as long as there is not allot of wind at night the house holds the heat all night above 65 degrees. I always turn the thermostat off during the day, unless we are away for an extended period of time.

 

[Sandor]

I heat with wood, so, if its cold in the house, its time to get busy!

I find 77 to be the most comfortable temp. Once it hits 80, everyone complains. Down to 70 and everyone complains. I must say that wood heat has really spoiled everyone.

 

[adrpga498]

There is a thing about saving energy and being foolish Plaster starts acting up under 55degrees with wild temp swings it will first c show small cracks over doors and in corners interior paint also does not act well covering the plaster very well under 55 degrees
FHA heat makes economic sense withan 8 degree setback swing. Even better no swing at all say 64 degrees possibly 62 and let the stove do its job if working no het will come on if heated is needed less is needed to bring it back to 64
If one sets back more than 8 degrees too much energy is used to bring it back up 8 degrees at that point there is little savings.

Remember most homes have plumbing and if near the outside wall and less than 55 degrees in a cold windy climate pipes can freze inside never mind in the outside walls. What I'm saying is not to go too nuts with extreme setbacks

Thanks for the info Elk. I always wondered how much differential there should be between settings. Good to know that more than 8 degrees is going too far in the wrong direction. Set back swings as you call it. Would this also be tru re: central AC? ty again.

 

[Mike Wilson]

I've heard the 8 degree rule as well, and follow it. Thermostats are programmed so that when we are home, its 66, and when we are not, its 58. The stove runs 24/7, and keeps the main zone warmer than wither 58 or 66, so no matter (sometimes the furnace comes on in the AM to take the house from 62 or 64 up to 66, by which point I have the stove reloaded and going again for the day).
During the day when it is not windy, I can rely on solar to heat the house to at least 66-70 degrees, however that heating starts to die down at around 4PM. When its windy or overcast, the solar is useless, and the stove must carry the load.

-- Mike

 

[begreen]

Sounds like a caulking gun and a check of all window and door seals might do wonders for this old house.

 

[DavidV]

Had a whole new HVAC system put in this spring. Last bill, with the "record heat" I dropped the usage from 3500 kwh to 2900. programable thermastat helps and I'm guessing the 13 sear improvement over the 6 or 8 seer unit from 18 years ago helps also. it's more comfortable than we kept it last year and I also have stopped turning the pool pump off for 8 hours each day like I used to. I'm really eager to see what the difference is with the gas heat. I also hjave a new gas hot water heater and I expect it to be more eficient. Time will tell. One thing to note is that this wekend we pulled the carpet up from the room that has the stove. Oak floring underneath. Last year I set the thermostat at 60degrees and usually it wouldn't fire off till around 4 am. At 6 I would usually let the dogs out ans stoke it up. It's. The reality is that this house was built around a heatpump/gas furnace system not a wood heater. That's still the set up although new with an additional 8 bags of cellulose insulation over the fiberglass upstairs. That's only in about 1/8th of the area in the attic where I built a storage upgrade. I'm going to be adding additional insulation as soon as it cools enough to work up there without catching fire. I'll keep the fire burning and use the insert to suplement the household heat as best as it can. I'll probly set the thermostat to come on around 65 and see what happens.