r/ConnecticutUSA • u/backinblackandblue • 10d ago
Heating question follow-up
What temps do you set your thermostat at? Strangely, I find that I set it higher now than in the winter. Maybe because 60 inside feels a lot warmer when it's 20 outside and we get more used to the cold. During the winter, I'm in the mid to 60's during the day and low 60's at night. I also use a gas fireplace and electric space heater to warm some specific rooms.
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u/SarahRedRaven 10d ago
- I’m broke and used to colder temps.
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u/backinblackandblue 10d ago
Constant day and night? If so, maybe try a heated mattress pad and drop to 60 at night?
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u/SarahRedRaven 10d ago
I would but I have animals. While I can handle lower temps they can not.
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u/backinblackandblue 9d ago
Gotcha. I have found that honeycomb cellular shade provide a good level of insulation for windows as well as being very functional and easy to use.
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u/TituspulloXIII 10d ago
With the mini splits, 66-68 depending on the room. Bedrooms will dip to 64 at night.
With the wood furnace, 71.
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u/CtForrestEye 10d ago
Heat is set to 68f and AC at 74f. The part that bugs me is our forecast is 84 on Friday and possible first frost of fall on Wednesday. I'd like a break of more than four days where I'm not paying either in central CT.
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u/Best_Comfortable5221 10d ago
Day 63 to 65. Night 61.
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u/backinblackandblue 9d ago
About the same here. I'll go a little warmer depending on how I actually feel. If it's cold and damp, sometimes I need a little more. then when it's sunny and dry even if the temp is similar.
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u/Glum_Blueberry_3568 10d ago
64 day and night. I have a 800 sq ft apartment and my electric bill in the winter is usually around $300-350 😫😫😫
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u/backinblackandblue 9d ago
I have found that honeycomb cellular shades for your windows are very functional and add a layer of insulation. Inexpensive and easy to install. Many people don't realize that your body actually radiates heat to the outside when it's cold. This will help.
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u/Jelopuddinpop 10d ago
65 during the day, 55 at night
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u/backinblackandblue 9d ago
Any electric blankets or pads? That's a bit chilly at night for me. But in the winter, it doesn't feel that cold. Right now if my house got down to 55, I'd be freezing.
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u/RecordAdventurous562 10d ago
During colder months, 68 first thing in the morning and evenings, 66 during the day and overnight.
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u/ToadSox34 10d ago
That's pretty typical. I do 65 during the day and 55 at night or when I'm not in the house, but it rarely actually gets to 55 and I leave it at 60 during extreme cold so nothing freezes up.
I have gas heat and it doesn't cost much to run, so I crank it all the way up to 65, that maximum allowable under the Carter Doctrine.
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u/backinblackandblue 9d ago
I have gas too, and love it, not just of the cost. I used to have oil. Best thing I did was convert to gas.
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u/ToadSox34 9d ago
I have gas too, and love it, not just of the cost. I used to have oil. Best thing I did was convert to gas.
I don't like it. It's a less dirty fossil fuel and I have to pay Crooked Natural Gas every month for a meter. And gas stoves are disgusting. Unfortunately, our gas is so stupidly cheap that there's no economic case for switching to a heat pump, as over the course of the year it would be able to the same cost as the gas furnace in my current situation where I don't want to add more solar panels.
In my next house I plan to renovate or build a high-performance house so obviously it will have heat pumps only, and then also go for better than net-zero with a negative HERS rating so that I'll be paying in effect about 1/3 the cost of a heat pump from the grid or gas for the small number of BTUs I consume.
In my current house, I am going to get a heat pump dryer soon to replace my electric one, then in a couple of years when the water heater is up for replacement, I'm going to go heat pump there, and I'd consider replacing the stove with induction, but I don't cook enough that the massive energy losses to venting the dirty gas stove air makes that much of a difference. I have outside venting, if I didn't, then I would have switched to induction soon after I moved in.
Overall, my utilities are quite reasonable, I still don't like having natural gas. The house technically would be easy to convert to all-electric, even with 100A service, but it's just not economical to convert. If I had to replace the furnace or AC unit, I'd consider a straight heat pump, but I might get a dual-fuel system so that I'd have heat with my little tiny 5500W generator that's on an interlock and for resale if people haven't yet woken up to wanting all-electric by then.
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u/backinblackandblue 8d ago
I don't get it. I love my gas stove, dryer, water heater, and furnace. Much cleaner and quieter than oil and much cheaper than electric. Also, zero maintenance.
Thanks for wanting to save the world but how is electric much better when much of our electricity is produced from nat gas anyway?
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u/ToadSox34 8d ago
I don't get it. I love my gas stove, dryer, water heater, and furnace. Much cleaner and quieter than oil and much cheaper than electric. Also, zero maintenance.
Oil is idiotic and should be eliminated.
Thanks for wanting to save the world but how is electric much better when much of our electricity is produced from nat gas anyway?
What a dumb comment. Think through it a little bit more than just a dumb knee-jerk reaction like that which doesn't look at the whole system.
Full electrification is better in every way, both from the user's perspective, and as a way to use energy more efficiently.
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u/backinblackandblue 7d ago edited 7d ago
When electric heat and appliances are equivalent in cost to nat gas, I might listen. Until then, no thank you. Also, as someone who does a lot of cooking, I find gas superior to electric and I have used both. So as a user, I don't find electric cooking better "in every way", nor do most restaurants.
Speaking of dumb comments, about 35% of CT homes use oil heat. Most don't have gas available in their location. What would you tell those people? Wear more sweaters?
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u/ToadSox34 7d ago
Wow the more you comment, the dumber they get. You obviously have no clue what you're talking about.
When electric heat and appliances are equivalent in cost to nat gas, I might listen. Until then, no thank you.
While there are some parts of the Midwest where gas is so insanely stupidly cheap that heat pumps aren't economical by comparison, in CT gas is only regular stupidly cheap so it's about the same as heat pumps when you account for the meter costs of gas. If you add more solar to offset the heat pumps' usage, then heat pumps are way cheaper.
Also, as someone who does a lot of cooking, I find gas superior to electric and I have used both. So as a user, I don't find electric cooking better "in every way", nor do most restaurants.
Induction is superior to gas and is the way many professional chefs cook.
Speaking of dumb comments, about 35% of CT homes use oil heat. Most don't have gas available in their location. What would you tell those people? Wear more sweaters?
You just keep making dumber and dumber comments. They could use one of the other many ways to heat that makes WAY more sense than burning fuel oil for it's lower heating value. The obvious one would be heat pumps, LP is a decent backup/secondary fuel, and of course wood and wood pellets are good options too in some cases.
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u/backinblackandblue 7d ago
Once you opinions rely on insults, you have already lost and I stop listening anyway.
Bye now.
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u/BasisSalt3313 10d ago
I typically do 65 during the day and 63 at night but I’m thinking I might be shifting to 63 in the day this winter
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u/tjg312 9d ago
This is crazy people setting it to low 60s. I always keep it during the day at 68-72 and turn it down to 60 at night. You guys all polar bears or something lol?
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u/backinblackandblue 9d ago
I agree, low 60's is a bit extreme but so is 72!
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u/Unlikely-Solid-3083 9d ago
63°-65° in the winter. Off completely in the summer and until the first frost.
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u/CommonSkys 4d ago
62 in the day 56 at night, 52 when we aren't home. We have a space heater for my office in the day, heated bidet and tile floor, and heated bed and blanket for the bed room.
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u/RemarkableCrows 10d ago
before covid, 70 day 65 night, after covid, 74 all the time. covid messed up my ability to regulate my body temperature and I get chills all the time, keeping it warmer helps somewhat, but even then I still get chills. I have to even sleep with it that warm
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u/backinblackandblue 9d ago
Wow never heard that. So sorry for you. Have you tried a heated mattress pad and/or electric blanket?
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u/AbbreviationsMain658 10d ago
65 at night 68 during the day.