What's your preference: 62 degrees inside vs wood heat

[Shari]

Hubby & I just got back from visiting our son. He has a 2400 sq ft nicely remodeled farmhouse. He has oil heat. He keeps his home at 62 degrees in the winter.

He knows we are installing a wood stove to heat our 1700 sq ft ranch.

He thinks we are nuts.

Personally, this old lady can function much better at an interior temp 70+ degrees during the winter.

I guess we didn't 'raise him up' right.

PS Oslo to be installed on Thursday. Snow coming today!

Shari

 

[savageactor7]

My wife would never put up with 62°...hey I thought you were going to install a new stove last month?

 

[ColdNH]

well we have electric heat, and our house is at or around 60 degrees.

and we are installing a wood stove on thursday, so you know my answer!

Sick of freezing in my own house!

 

[SolarAndWood]

I rationalize scrounging and burning wood as offsetting dollars that would have been spent on propane to keep the house 62. The reality is I'm into a warmish house and will scrounge and burn enough to make it so. Enjoy your new stove.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

Running the heat pump, we kept the house at 68, that's a bit high of just right for me, and a bit short of just right for her. Since installing the stove, we set the thermostat at 64, and it hasn't kicked on but one night that was really cold and I loaded early and slept late.. House has been coasting along between 68-72 on just a couple splits at a time, she's happy. and that's what counts. She would never put up with 62 as a "norm".

 

[albertj03]

62 degrees to me is freezing! I have oil heat as well as my woodstove. If the stove isn't running we have the thermostats at 69 and you can tell that the stove isn't running because even at the same temp it's not as warm and cozy. Not to mention that oil has been as high as $2.60 a gallon here this winter and it has been closer to $3.00 in recent winters.

 

[Battenkiller]

PS Oslo to be installed on Thursday.

Finally! At this point, we're all just about as excited about that as you are.

Good luck with it. If you have any problems, I've heard there's a good website somewhere that has loads of info on it.

Yeah, kids are dumb. Mine grew up being warmed by wood, but now they just make more money so they can turn up their thermostats. That way they have more time for the important things in life, like gaming and Facebook.

 

[Shari]

Yeah, we are kind of bummed our install has been delayed this long. I stuck to my so called guns and insisted on insulating the liner, more for safety reasons then any other reason as we have an interior masonry chimney. The delay was caused because the stove shop does not stock the insulation but it has finally arrived. I am working on cleaning the stone face on the fireplace and it is cleaning quite nicely even if I say so myself. Now we are being dumped with 12+ inches of snow. This storm better not delay our install or I will go stand in a corner and have a fit all by myself.

Speaking of our son's cold, cold, cold house if (and I restate "if") we ever go back to visit in winter we will be taking an extra suitcase stuffed full with sweat shirts/pants and insulated underwear. 62 degrees interior is way to cold for me!

Shari

 

[John_M]

Shari "...62 degrees interior is way to cold for me"!
Me too!
Good luck with installing Ozzie. You and hubby will have many smiles to share with your new Oslo and fresh supply of seasoned wood. I'll bet you are looking forward to the first 3-4 break-in burns to cure paint, etc., and then "lettin' him rip". Enjoy your new wealth of relaxing heat and restful viewing.

John_M

 

[firefighterjake]

HehHeh . . . 62 degrees is only 2 degrees higher than what I leave my thermostats at so the oil boiler will kick on . . . it's definitely live-able, but I prefer it to be a bit warmer and so I will continue to save money by heating with wood and "suffer" with the higher temps vs. turning down the thermostat to save money.

That said, younger people, particularly males it seems, tend to like the cooler temps.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Hubby & I just got back from visiting our son. He has a 2400 sq ft nicely remodeled farmhouse. He has oil heat. He keeps his home at 62 degrees in the winter.

He knows we are installing a wood stove to heat our 1700 sq ft ranch.

He thinks we are nuts.

Personally, this old lady can function much better at an interior temp 70+ degrees during the winter.

I guess we didn't 'raise him up' right.

PS Oslo to be installed on Thursday. Snow coming today!

Shari

As a fellow stone farmhouse owner that also kept the house at 62 degrees and went through 1200-1500 gallons of oil, I'm pretty sure you know where I stand.

 

[LLigetfa]

62 degrees is just crazy talk. Our setback thermostat on the NG furnace is programmed to go down to 69 overnight and 71 through the day. The woodstove keeps it up around 74-77.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Shari, good to hear you are getting that thing installed. You will be happy real soon now. As for the kids, sometimes it is hard to tell them anything.

If I had to live in a 62 degree home you would find me in Arizona really fast and I would not be home until mid-April at the earliest.

 

[thewoodlands]

We keep the house(upstairs) at 68-70 with wood heat and the good old oil truck came last Jan 09 and has never been back. The guys I fish with think I'm nuts for spending to much time in the woods cutting and not fishing, one guy came in our shop last week and was complaining about his oil bill I let him go and never said a word.


zap

 

[dougand3]

62F is too cold for me when being sedentary - reading book, on computer or watching TV. My hands and ears are miserable. And don't even mention when those cheeks hit the throne - YIKES! I'd need a propane torch in bathroom. I have 1400sf ranch and keep stove room 82F, hallway 78F and furthermost corner of back BR at 70F. If I crank stove too much - I open the door into garage and heat it. I keep heat pump tstat at 52F for when I'm away.

 

[Slow1]

Oh dear - here come the flames ;-P

62 with the stove is fine with me... go figure. There has to be one of us on this forum now doesn't there? Call me odd or whatever, but I expect I'm not alone. Granted we don't peak at 62 - we get up to 66 in the evenings (measuring upstairs bedroom) and 64 at the hall thermostat (I consider that the core of the house) and nearer the stove in the kitchen it will register 68. However we don't panic when the hall/core is down to 59 in the morning (set at 54 now to keep it from kicking in) and kitchen reads 62. When on oil alone this was pretty much the same temp range we maintained (actually a little cooler upstairs on oil) so we simply replaced our oil fuel with wood.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Oh dear - here come the flames ;-P

62 with the stove is fine with me... go figure. There has to be one of us on this forum now doesn't there? Call me odd or whatever, but I expect I'm not alone. Granted we don't peak at 62 - we get up to 66 in the evenings (measuring upstairs bedroom) and 64 at the hall thermostat (I consider that the core of the house) and nearer the stove in the kitchen it will register 68. However we don't panic when the hall/core is down to 59 in the morning (set at 54 now to keep it from kicking in) and kitchen reads 62. When on oil alone this was pretty much the same temp range we maintained (actually a little cooler upstairs on oil) so we simply replaced our oil fuel with wood.

My frustration with the cold was being forced to live with it. I work from home, and I would set the house down to 50 during the day and get it up to the low 60s at night to limit oil usage.

Now that I have the stoves, and knowing I can have parts of the room up over 80 degrees, the cold isn't as frustrating as I know I can do something about it.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Hubby & I just got back from visiting our son. He has a 2400 sq ft nicely remodeled farmhouse. He has oil heat. He keeps his home at 62 degrees in the winter.

He knows we are installing a wood stove to heat our 1700 sq ft ranch.

He thinks we are nuts.

Personally, this old lady can function much better at an interior temp 70+ degrees during the winter.

I guess we didn't 'raise him up' right.

PS Oslo to be installed on Thursday. Snow coming today!

Shari

62 degrees? Eff that. I'd drop a match in that motherlover and buy something I could afford to heat.

 

[northwinds]

I've got a friend who keeps his house at 60, and I'll bundle up in sweaters if we spend the weekend over there.
On the other side, he constantly complains that our house is too hot. Different strokes for different folks. I'll
take the warm wood heat, but can put up with a cold house for short periods if the beer is free. I will say his
wife loves to come stay at our house.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I actually like it 64-65 F. 70 is a bit too warm for me.

 

[Fsappo]

I personally love 62 degrees. My wife, being from Brazil thinks that's cold enough to freeze water. I also think it's a little cold for our 7 month old son.

 

[Shari]

And don't even mention when those cheeks hit the throne - YIKES!

Um... Yes, that did happen this weekend - brings a new sense of 'cold to the core', doesn't it?

Shari

 

[Slow1]

Oh dear - here come the flames ;-P

62 with the stove is fine with me... go figure. ...

My frustration with the cold was being forced to live with it. ...

I hear that. There are times we like it warmer and stoke the fire more - having that ability to warm things up is great. IF we want it warmer we make it warmer. It is good that it is our choice and not something that is forced on us. I agree - if we HAD to have it no warmer than a given temp (even if that temp was in the 70's) I imagine it would be annoying.

Seems I'm lucky too in that my wife likes the cooler temps - she will actually complain if it gets near 70. Kids don't seem to care one bit - yes they will sometimes complain when they get out of bed (who doesn't?) but after 5 minutes of standing in front of the stove on a weekend they will be running around in shorts playing their games. Our baby (6 months) gets bundled up if necessary but even she seems quite well acclimated as if anything she will get hot when we take her places that have the temps turned up.

It isn't a question of being able to afford to heat the place - we COULD do it with oil if we so desired. It is just a matter of wanting to do it. I'm sure we could adjust to higher temps, but why?

 

[rdust]

Before the stove we had a 66* daytime and 62* roll back temps. I was ok with it at the time but if I had to go back to that I wouldn't be happy. With the stove our lower level is usually mid 70's and up stairs in the mid 60's which is perfect for sleeping.

I didn't go through all the work of cutting, splitting, hauling, stacking to be cold. I figure I'll save about 2K on propane, if I figured the math I'd go broke with the time spent preparing wood. With the large amount of time spent getting ready to burn wood I better be warm! :lol:

 

[snowtime]

So the idea of sitting on the throne in 62 seems extreme. Back in the early 70s when we first homesteaded we had an outhouse. Took 8 years to get indoor plumbing. Well to make a long story short when its -40 the seat can get a little nippy. Our solution was to get a wood toilet seat and hang it on the wall behind the stove. When someone went out to the can they just took it with them. Worked great as the wood holds the heat a long time.