December 8, 2009
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Temperature
A few questions about temperature
1. Do you use an air conditioner or central air or something like that in the Summer?
2. What Temperature range do you try to keep the house at during the Winter?
3. What Temperature range do you try to keep the house at during the summer?Why do you chose these temperatures? etc
Comments (13)
im not in control of it. lol. but unfortunately, lately things are kept way too warm for my liking. =/ but im adapting. lol.
1. I live in south Florida. If you don’t run your air here, you get black mold all through your house because it’s so humid. I keep the temp at about 78 F during the day and down to about 74 F at night.
2. We don’t have “winter” here the way other states do, but I don’t run the air then. Rarely, we use the heat, maybe 5 times a year. If it goes below 60-65, we might use the heat/have a fire in our fireplace.
3. See 1
As I said, we run the air for the purpose of controlling mold, also because it’s extremely hot here. 78 is comfortable during the day and keeps our bills down.
Summer:
Very little air, only on hottest days…(We have Central Air, but hardly use it). When we do use air, we set it around 75.
Winter:
Daytime; 65-68, Night; 62.
We try to adjust ourselves to warmer temps in summer and cooler in winter, and it makes a HUGE difference in bills. I know people who turn the AC to 60-62 in the summer, then crank the furnace up to 75 in the winter, exactly opposite from what we do. It’s crazy, because if you’re comfortable in 62 degrees in the summer, you should be able to take 65 degrees in the winter!!! But then… they’re always griping about their $100-plus electric bills and wondering how we can say our bill is never above $65 in a 1,300 sq. foot home. My husband says you sacrifice one or the other; you either lose money or lose a little bit of “creature comfort”.
Can’t have it both ways… I guess it’s just a matter of what’s the most important to you.
I live in Maine so our Summers range from mid 70′s to high 90′s and our Winters range from -10 to +50 degrees.
I don’t control the heat or A/C in my house, however, if I did I would keep it around 70 – 75 in Winter and 65 in the Summer. I like warm more than cold and I seem to get cold rather easy so those temps are comfortable to me. We install A/C in the Summer and take them out int he late fall.
No central air at our house…too bad. We have one room downstairs that we air condition…(and we LIVE in it if it is hot!!) Because we have natural gas heat I keep the house at 60 to 62 in the winter. The gas bill has to stay down somehow!!!
Like the person in South Florida, South Texas is next to impossible without A/C. The yearlyt triple digit temps can kill. We keep the thermostat on 80 when we’re home and 85 when we leave for the day.
In our two weeks of winter, I try to push it down to 65, but usually get overruled. It doesn’t go above 70.
We choose these temps based on how it feels and what the electric bill says.
I live in SoCal, and after my heart failure due to my electric bill this summer, we stopped turning the AC on except at night, when we dropped the temp to 72 or if the inside of the house got to 80 or over. (I get cranky when I’m hot). As for winter, I am not currently putting the heater on overnight, and it drops to 67 or so (which we all find comfortable for sleeping, in fact it could get colder and none of us woudl mind, but that’s what it’s been when I get up). During the day if we’re being computerish, I put the heater on about 72. I leave the heat off if I’m home cleaning (aka active and moving around).
it totally depends on a lot fo factors – like older homes have hot and cold spots and they are very drafty so it may take cranking it up to a 74 to reach an average temp of 70. the reading on your thermometer isn’t really that accurate as to how cold it feels in any given home. iand 70degrees in the home is different than a consistant 70 degrees with sunshine outside.
on dreary days we keep it at 71-72, but on sunny days we keep it at 68 because the sunshine warms our drafty windows making it much warmer all around.
i keep the house at 67 in the winter.
When using the heat or air we keep it at 70 both summer and winter. I usually close the vents to my room and keep the windows open year round. I like the feel of “sleeping outdoors” without the danger and bugs that go with it. In the coldest part of winter you can freeze water in a cup on my dresser but I love to sleep all snuggled up under the covers. In the summer it does sometimes get pretty hot but I sleep with no sheets and a ceiling fan going and that takes care of the heat for me.
1. Heck, yeah! Just put in central air this spring. LOVE IT.
2. The Mrs keeps it cooler than I like. Right now it is set at 68. Brrr.
3. Don’t remember. 70 or 72 I think.
We select for comfort. $ has nothing to do with it.
1. We have a window air conditioner for the bedroom only.
2. I just installed a programmable thermostat – and am loving it! It is set to 65 for the times that we are home and awake. 60 for times when we are asleep or not home. The bedroom tends to stay a little bit cooler than the living room where the thermostat is, but we dont spend a lot of time in there, so I actually enjoy it for sleeping.
3. If I had my way, the temperature would never get above 80. That just doesnt happen! We tend to set the window air conditioner to 75-78. We put off using it as long as possible. If a couple of nights get cool, we turn off the air conditioner and open the windows. I never had air conditioning, so it isnt a bit deal to me. My husband sweats really bad. So if we dont use it, the whole bed is soaked within a few hours of us going to bed. It doesnt make for good sleeping conditions.
The winter temps I think are perfectly acceptable. 65 is plenty warm if you are up and active. If you are sitting on the couch or in front of the computer, we have plenty of blankets and warm clothes!
The summer, we deal with the heat because it really isnt that bad. Like I said in #3, the exception is the bedroom because we do need to sleep! (I have noticed that all of the people who say they LOVE summer spend most of their time in air conditioning and complain about the heat. Makes me wonder how much they actually love summer!)