Thermostat Set-Back Help

 

I am trying to save money on my heating costs. I live alone and want
to be able to turn off or set back the thermostat in my apartment when
I am not home so that I can save money on heat.

I have a 1200 sq foot apartment with forced hot air gas heat. I live
in upstate New York.

I work and I am out of the house 10 hours a day and don't like the
idea of heating a vacant apartment. But I am concerned that if I let
the apartment get too cold while I am not home, it will cost just as
much or more to re-heat it to a comfortable temperature.

Is there a rule of thumb for how many degrees set-back will save
money?  Can I turn the heat down to 40 degrees during the day and then
back up to room temperature when I get home? Or will that wind up
costing the same as leaving the heat on?

What about if I am going away for the weekend? Is the set-back
different?

Thank you for your suggestions.

 

On Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:32:33 -0500
sse11791@aim.com wrote:


Generally, you will save 10% for every 3 degrees F that you turn the
heat down.  However, if you have any water pipes near exterior walls,
you generally don't want to turn the heat down much lower than 55F, as
the pipes near the exterior walls can freeze.  

Oh, and it's a myth that re-heating the house/apartment will use more
energy than if you just left the heat turned up all the time.  If you
are typically out of the apartment from say, 7:30 to 5:30, try this on
a set-back thermometer...

7:00AM   55F   (start a half hour before you leave, to maximize savings)
5:30PM   71F   (just as you get home, it will start warming up...)
8:00PM   68F   (this is a perfect sleeping temperature for deep sleep)

For a weekend setting, just change 7:00 AM to 68F

If you go away for the night or weekend, use the "hold" feature to set
the temperature to 55F.  Hold will over-ride programming and the temp.
will stay wherever you set it until you take it off hold.  -Dave

 

Dave C. wrote:


You're kidding, right?  At 68, we're roasting.  It's 64 in our house 24/7.

Marsha

 



Natural gas forced hot air will heat up a space quick, even if it's not
very well insulated.  In a worst case scenario, if the temperature is
about 50F inside when he gets home (lower than that would risk pipes
freezing), he should be comfortable within 10 minutes of turning the
heat back up.  Note that the temperature might not level out for 15 or
20 minutes.  But within 10 minutes, it should come up 20F, roughly.
Unless the heating system is not properly sized for the space it is
heating.   -Dave

 

On Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:32:33 -0500, sse11791@aim.com wrote:


I live in upstate NY too and find that the delivery costs of NG are
higher than my supply costs, so matter how much I save in supply, the
bill never really gets lower. If you have National Grid, check to see
how much your bill goes down by saving on supply. I bet not much
unfortunately.

Nevertheless, I keep the house at 58 from 7:30am to 5pm and 8:30pm to
6:20am M-F. It is only turned up to 64 from 6:20-7:30am and
5pm-8:30pm. On the weekends it's kept at 64 from 8:30am-5pm (I wish I
can keep it the same on weekends as on weekdays, but others complain
about the cold).


I'd keep at 58 all the time if you're going away. I've probably saved
about 10 dollars a month in NG supply charges by keeping it at 58, yet
the delivery charges go up and up, which means I can lower the
temperature in the house as much as I want, and still not save on
utility charges.