What's your home thermostat set at?

[Brandi]

my hubby just told me our heat does not come in the night unless it get's below 64 in the house. But he has it set to go off in the morning around 5:30 am to 70 so it is not freezing when we get up and then it is set to go off after 4:30 during the day if it get's below 68. but turns off at around 9 pm. We also have lot's of throw blankets we get under during the winter. Including 3 cats!

[Norse]

In winter for the main thermostat, 68 days, 65 nights; and 60 for the separate den temp control. We also use the fireplace a lot, especially on weekends. Our house is drafty due to all the windows (over 40!). During the transition season of autumn, we only turn it down to 67 nights until our bodies, and our cats, have had a chance to acclimate a little to the new lower temps. The dog loves cold and snow.

[Norse]

One other point, except for the den and the basement, the whole house has hardwood or tile flooring, which tends to make things cooler.

[GLC1968]

Ours is set to 55F. That temp keeps the pipes from freezing in the outer walls if the temp happens to drop to below freezing outside (which doesn't happen all that much). The furnace does kick on for half an hour at 6 am to take the house up to 65, but then shuts off again for the rest of the day.

My H works from home, but he sits in a tiny room surrounded by computers, so it's quite warm in there.

We also have a wood stove (a new one that is the right size for our house, finally!) and we use that to keep it comfortable when we are home like in the evening or on the weekends.

[Tri Girl]

wow- I feel like a major winter wimp here. Our house is very old and very under-insulated (we're working on that one exterior wall at a time). We have it set at 68 in the evening and 73 when we're home.
One winter we lost power for a week during an ice storm. Our house got down down 61 and I swear I almost froze to death. I don't know how you people do it below 61.

[GLC1968]

wow- I feel like a major winter wimp here. Our house is very old and very under-insulated (we're working on that one exterior wall at a time). We have it set at 68 in the evening and 73 when we're home.
One winter we lost power for a week during an ice storm. Our house got down down 61 and I swear I almost froze to death. I don't know how you people do it below 61.

Yeah, but I melt if it's over 75 so you should have seen our electric bill when we lived in North Carolina.

[Pax]

wow- I feel like a major winter wimp here. Our house is very old and very under-insulated (we're working on that one exterior wall at a time). We have it set at 68 in the evening and 73 when we're home.
One winter we lost power for a week during an ice storm. Our house got down down 61 and I swear I almost froze to death. I don't know how you people do it below 61.

Not wimpy, each person responds to cold differently.

I have wicked arthritis and the cold makes me ache from head to toe... so my thermostat is set WARM! I don't mind heat at all so in the summer the AC is set really high and isn't even on much of the time.

[jessmarimba]

One winter we lost power for a week during an ice storm. Our house got down down 61 and I swear I almost froze to death. I don't know how you people do it below 61.

Trust me, I hate it. I'm always cold even if the house is set at 70 or higher. I sit about a foot in front of a space heater if I'm home and not moving for any period of time. But my furnace is ancient, my house can't be altered to preserve heat any better, and my upstairs at least heats up from the sun by evening. I spend most of the winter in the two rooms upstairs (my bedroom, and my "sitting room"/tv room).

My boyfriend's house is even colder. His thermostat is set at 55 and he doesn't have a cozy upstairs like I do - it's just as drafty and cold in his upstairs as his downstairs. My fingers are always numb when I'm there and I drink a lot of hot tea to keep my hands warm.

[Pax]

...

My boyfriend's house is even colder. His thermostat is set at 55 and he doesn't have a cozy upstairs like I do - it's just as drafty and cold in his upstairs as his downstairs. My fingers are always numb when I'm there and I drink a lot of hot tea to keep my hands warm.

That's how my SO's apartment was when we met, she would sit around in her sleeping bag to watch TV, she loved coming to my toasty warm place.

[FlyingScot]

Count me in with the weenies. I have a programmable thermostat. 70-72 during the day when I'm home (62 if I'm not) which drops down to 60 at night but goes up briefly in the AM to 68 so I don't freeze getting ready for work. Sorry, I just don't like being cold and 70 is my lower limit. Otherwise I just end up on the couch under blankets keeping warm but getting nothing done. My house is also old with no carpeting and windows everywhere and I'm not that big. On the other hand, I do not nor ever will have AC so it isn't unusual for my house to get up to 98 degrees in the summer. I figure it all balances out.

[AppleTree]

Now that I am somewhat menopausal, I like the house cooler... I am one that hates being hot more than I hate being cold. I love cycling in the cooler weather! During the day I have it about 66-67 depending on whether I am upstairs or downstairs.

Does anyone else play the thermostat mambo with their husbands? I used to bump it up and then he would come along and turn it back down, but nowadays it's the opposite! I keep turning it down and he is freezing! I don't understand it!

[ny biker]

I live in a condo in a brick building with windows on the north and south walls. I have long insulated drapes on the north windows, and they help alot in the winter. In fact the whole north wall of my bedroom feels so cold in winter that sometimes I think I might just put up a curtain rod that extends across the entire wall and cover it with insulated drapes.

The windows on the south wall get nice direct sun, and I like the light but it still feels cold around them in winter. I have blackout liners on the curtains for one window (in the bathroom), which also work to keep the hot sun out in the summer. On the other window, which is in the kitchen, I used to hang a plastic drop cloth over a tension rod for cheap insulation that still let the light through. Since I renovated the kitchen last spring, I just ordered a double-cell honeycomb shade for that window. It's a pale gray color, so it won't totally block the light, but it should help a bit with the cold.

Before the kitchen renovation, I had a circa-1970s dropped ceiling that allowed the warm air to escape easily in winter. Last year I hung a long curtain in the doorway from the kitchen to the dining room, and I actually saw a difference in my heating bills as a result. The first part of the renovation was replacing the old ceiling with drywall, and I made sure they surrounded the new recessed lights with insulation.

I've also done things like put foam insulation around electrical outlets and light switches in exterior walls.

http://www.amicusgreen.com/browse.cf...ack/4,374.html

I still need my shearling slippers to keep my feet from turning into blocks of ice, but it does help to try to reduce the drafts as much as possible.

[withm]

65-66 at night and all day when I'm at work. 68-70 in the evening or whenever I'm actually home, depending on how sunny it might be. My house is poorly insulated and really needs all new windows and doors. I wish I had a programmable tstat.

[OakLeaf]

it isn't unusual for my house to get up to 98 degrees in the summer

Yikes, there must be something really wrong with your home's design! We finally broke down and turned the AC on when it got to 89° in the house, but that was after it had been in the 90s outside for several days, and we only ran the AC for three or four days this summer. I can't believe it would ever have got to 98°, let alone being "not unusual."

Really it was the humidity this summer more than the heat. Everything in the house was turning to mold - we didn't have much choice but to turn the AC on (either that, or tear out all the carpet and throw away the beds and books). It was just like Florida.

[spokewench]

I don't have a programmable thermostat, but turn the heat down to 60 at night; up to 68 in the morning, turn back down to 60 when I leave; and back to 68 when I come home. However, I do have a wood stove in the living room. So much of the time, the heat is turned way down and the woodstove is keeping me warm.

My main house with the woodstove can get up to 75 - nice and toasty! I like it a lot! Can't stand to be cold when I don't need to be.