How cold do you keep your house?

[GreeCguy]

Back in August, when the weather was close to the temperature of the sun in these parts, my wife insisted on keeping the house cold enough to hang meat in the living room. As her excuse, she claimed to be going through "the change" and adjusted said thermostat to compensate for the curse of nature.

Friends, I suffered. Countless nights in the dog days of summer found me under a quilt, trying to conserve as much heat as possible so as not to die of hypothermia during the dark hours from sun to sun.

Now with winter upon us, I have informed my wife that we will not be turning on the heat during the winter. "This is the very thing you wanted!" I declared with all my husbandly might and authority.

Outside night time temps have been dipping into the low 30's in these parts, and yet I am surprised that the lowest recorded temps inside our humble dwelling have dipped to a mere 63, (it's 65 degrees right now).

I am relatively comfortable, following the sage advice of my dear old Dad who, when we as children complained of a chilly house, would lovingly say: "Shut up and put on a sweater!"

I haven't spoken these words of wisdom to my wife yet, but ironically, she does complain the house is now too cold, (can you believe that?).

So here I am, wearing my hoodie and two pairs of sweatpants, happy in the knowledge that this "air conditioning" is free.

But I can't help but wonder, for those of you who live in colder climates, "how low do you go"?

Help me brothers. Give me verbal ammunition to counter my wife's unfounded accusation that we have the coldest house in the lower 48. Even now, she is gazing ever so longingly at the thermostat on the wall. I am determined to leave the heater switch in the "off" position as long as possible, but I have to sleep sometime.

The great thermostat war is on. Rally, my friends, rally to my side!

 

[sciphi]

We happily keep the thermostat at 66*F when we're at home. With a sweatshirt, socks, and pants it's easily tolerable. The fuel bill also doesn't rise to stratospheric heights, although it does climb every winter.

 

[wwillson]

64F daytime, 58F night

 

[JHZR2]

I like sleeping cold. I don't mind the temperature, hot or cold during the day that much.

My parents always kept the house at 65F. Ive lived by that rule for no particular reason other than that its fine to me... During the day. I like it cold at night, so I set the thermostat for 62 at night.

 

[simple_gifts]

I keep my house around 55F

 

[chainblu]

To be fair, "Florida Cold" is a much different animal than air conditioned cold. I have no doubt she is more cold than comfortable.

Good luck with your war of wills... lol

 

[Barkleymut]

We have a 2 story home with a heat pump for each story. The upstairs heat pump died in August and I finally signed a contract on Friday to get a new one. The lowest the temps have been upstairs this winter is 58 IIRC. Good thing the warm air from downstairs rises!

 

[BobsArmory]

From Michigan here. We have been keeping it at 68 in the day and 66 at night. The kids are still running around in t-shirts so that is a clue that we can drop it further.

 

[mjk]

WOW.

Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
I keep my house around 55F

 

[Rand]

Itry to keep it around 65-66F at night and 68-69 during the day

but the plasma TV 4ft away tends to have me setting it at 71 to maintain 68F in the house.. I tend to be upstairs in the office and it can get interesting.

Has a really bad single "central collector" cold air return and um.. issues

 

[splinter]

"You're cold?" "Put on a sweater!"

Money frittered away on utilities is never recouped and are therefore expenses I detest.
My cars' heaters get a fair workout as those hydrocarbons have already been consumed for propulsion.

I light our pilot around Halloween each year. Have yet to actually turn on the furnace though.

 

[Cutehumor]

Funny stuff. My wife doesn't like it when I set the ac on 78 F in summer. I set it on 70 in the winter. We have two story home, so we leave one floor off at night using nest thermostats.

 

[rjundi]

Thermostat at 66F for heat. I never touch thermostat as the 8 large water radiators(100 years old) and a radiant heat zone in office don't kindly to temperature swings.

A woodstove does 77F in living room while 75F in kitchen and in my office.

 

[Rolla07]

I base mine on the humidity level. If it starts getting humid i turn it up or turn my dehumidifier on. I keep my thermostats set at about 60. If I am sitting for a long period of time (watching tv, or working from home) I dress warm, or have a blanket. I still do turn up the heat but only in the room I am in and keep the door closed. If you are moving around you stay warm. I typically put my heat to about 63 (17 celsius) as a high. Only higher when i have guests who find it cold.

 

[Quattro Pete]

During winter, we keep the heat on at 69-70F.
During summer, we keep the AC on at around 76F.

 

[Realtech214]

76 in summer, 68 in winter

but hey, our winters are pretty harsh!

 

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
During winter, we keep the heat on at 69-70F.
During summer, we keep the AC on at around 76F.


Exact same here. Depending on the day in the summer, it might get cranked down to 74-75 at night though.

 

[L_Sludger]

whole house somewhere between 62 and 70 degrees, if i keep the whole house colder then i'll run a space heater in my bedroom overnight. feels good man

 

[Tupperware]

Absolute temperature is but one component of indoor comfort. Humidity plays a significant role. Its interesting, but not totally relevant, to compare indoor temps.
Good luck in the thermostat war.

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
I keep my house around 55F


Same here.

As long as it is warm enough to keep the pipes from freezing, and I have decent covers on there is no problem. The reward is the really low heating bill.