What Temp is Your Heat Set On?

[carolinamama]

Just curious where everyone sets their heat. It is starting to get cooler here in the nights. DH and I would probably wait just a bit longer, but with kids sleeping and a newborn in the house, I don't want them to get too cold. Do you tend to run your heat hotter when you have a newborn or do you just layer them?

[MelissaTC]

After spending many a cold winter in NY and then in upstate NY, I am a total wimp. I have my temp set at 68 at night. I had the heat on the first cold night we had. I did the same when DS was a baby. We have natural gas downstairs and electric heat upstairs.

[kep]

We keep our heat set at 68, day or night. I dress the kids in layers, and we have blankets around to cuddle in.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Single story house with a cold crawlspace and wooden floors and leaky windows. 68 is a touch cold for me, so more like 69 most of the time. DH runs around nearly naked, though at that temp.

I thought you were supposed to keep the house a little warmer with a newborn.

[trales]

64 during the day and 56 at night.

[JMS]

69, but we are one zone and our control unit is downstairs, so based on "hot air rises", I always assume my upstairs (all the bedrooms) is around 70-71. I'm probably going to adjust the setting so that it goes down to about 67 from midnight to 6am.

[linsei]

Still trying to find a good balance here. Currently 65 at night and off during the day. Cooler temp during the night keeps my nose from feeling stuffy in the morning.

[egoldber]

We are being better this year. I am keeping it at 64 all day. I do turn it up to 68 for about an hour in the morning to take the chill off when the kids first get out of bed, but then I turn it back down.

When Amy was born a preemie, the ped told us to keep the house at 73 and we got used to that LOL! So this is a hard adjustment for us....

[pb&j]

66

We don't currently have a programmable thermostat, but I want to get one soon so we can set it to warm up to 68 or so just before we wake up, and go down much lower during the day when we're not around.

[SpaceGal]

The previous years we kept it at 69-70 during the day and 65 at night. But with all the commotion about higher heating costs I am trying it out at 68 during the day and 63 at night. I don't think I can go and lower really. Especially since DS #2 still doesn't stay under the covers too well.

[MamaMolly]

We are trying to keep it at 65 but I find I get pretty cold and have been known to crank it to 68 during the day when DH isn't home ;) It is an adjustment because we tried to save $$$ by having the AC set to 74 in the summer but since our insulation is nonexistant in our rental townhouse the upstairs often got to 80 or higher. So I've been pretty miserable for a few months...then with the lovely fall it was wonderful to have the windows open for about 2 months. Now I'm a popsicle. Time to put on a sweater, I guess! :)

[lizajane]

another 68-er. but i am a little worried because schuyler woke up this morning and said he was COLD.

[elliput]

68- it seems to be a common theme. lol I currently have both day and night temps the same, but will start adjusting down the night temp as it gets colder. I did have nights set at 62, but will probably go no lower than 64 or 65 since I now have a newborn.

[KrisM]

In years past, we've done 69-70 during the day and 65 at night. But, the kids room gets cold and neither stay covered. So, it might go up a bit at night if we can't get them to stay covered. I'd also like to lower it a bit during the day and see if we notice much.

But, I've read that every 1 degree I turn the thermostat down, I'll save about 1% of my heating bill. So, if my bill at 70 degrees was $200, at 69, it's $198 and all the way down to 65, it's only down to $190. So, if I compromise and do 68deg, I'll pay $196 and save a whopping $4/month for the winter months - that's about $20 for the entire season! I'm just not seeing the reason to not be warm and toasty for $20 :).

[wendibird22]

It's at 64 during the day when we aren't home, 70 at night and weekend days. I know, backwards at night, but DD is always cold at night, even in fleece footy pj's and she won't keep a cover on. And like pp, when it's only a few degrees lower we really don't see much savings so it's not worth it being uncomfortable for just a few bucks.

[linsei]

But, I've read that every 1 degree I turn the thermostat down, I'll save about 1% of my heating bill. So, if my bill at 70 degrees was $200, at 69, it's $198 and all the way down to 65, it's only down to $190. So, if I compromise and do 68deg, I'll pay $196 and save a whopping $4/month for the winter months - that's about $20 for the entire season! I'm just not seeing the reason to not be warm and toasty for $20 :).

If that is true, it really does not make sense to compromise significantly on comfort. When it is really cold outside, it is tough to keep the thermostat low during the day. Last year, we did 65, and I really did not notice a huge difference in the gas bill like I had hoped. I did ok at 65, but I was pg and had my own internal furnace, lol! DH told me later that he was cold all winter, and he is the kind of guy that is never cold.

[mecawa]

Currently we have our downstairs set for 64,(it's sweater weather here now anyways) and I have not officially turned on the heat upstairs. So, far that has been working for us since heat rises, but in a few weeks I know that will end and the we will probably set the upstairs to 64 as well. We keep it at 64 day and night.

[egoldber]

I'm just not seeing the reason to not be warm and toasty for $20

In part, it depends on how important that $20 is to you. Also, in many areas of the country, especially where people rely on oil for their heat, it can mean a LOT more than $20.

[KpbS]

68 during the day (I personally like it higher but don't want to pay any more and don't like the air blowing) and 64 at night. We might go lower this year and bundle the baby in a footie sleeper plus fleece sleepsack.

I have a friend who when she used oil heat kept hers at 64 during the day and 58 at night. Brrrrrr

[caleymama]

Also, in many areas of the country, especially where people rely on oil for their heat, it can mean a LOT more than $20.
That's true. We filled our oil tank about every 4-6 weeks last winter, probably 1x a month and it was over $300 each time. This year our locked per-gallon price for oil is considerably higher than it was last year and I am anticipating fill ups to be at least $200 higher/month. Honestly, I don't even want to think about it. :(

To answer the OP's question, we have not turned ours on yet. We'll probably try to keep it no higher than 66 or so. We did (as I mentioned in an earlier thread) have a wood burning fireplace insert installed this fall. We've been relying on that to keep things warm so far. Right now it's 40 outside and 64-66 inside with insert in use but not roaring on full blast. The insert will cut down on our fuel use, but it does have an electric blower and also uses wood, another energy source.

[jk3]

63-64 during the day and 65-66 at night (upstairs only).

[Fairy]

Well, I guess I'm an island. I crank mine to 70 or even 72 if it's really cold in the house. The main floor and basement are ok, but DS's room is freezing in the winter and very hot in the simmer due to bad ductwork. So, to make his room normal, we tend to crank the heat/air when necessary. And I cannot handle extreme temperatures. So, we just pay more for our gas/electric. We pay less in other ways. But I've got to have my temperature comfortable.

[shawnandangel]

DD has had trouble keeping her temp up so right now we're sweltering in 74 degree heat just to make her comfy. However it's not as bad as it was the week we got home with her when we had it cranked to 76 (it was terrible). At night I let it go down to 72 but only if her temp stays above 97.5 axillary.

normally we let the downstairs go to 55 at night and the upstairs where we sleep to 68. During the day 70.

[elektra]

68 here too! We are still using the A/C for the most part though. Our house got up to 76 last night and so I set the A/C for 73.

[anamika]

Well, I guess I'm an island. I crank mine to 70 or even 72 if it's really cold in the house.
Oh thank you Fairy! I was starting to fell like a total wimp. Just yesterday I had DH crank everything up to 70-72. It was at 67 and I was freezing. I grew up In India and haven't got used to these temps even after many years.

[anamika]

68 here too! We are still using the A/C for the most part though. Our house got up to 76 last night and so I set the A/C for 73.

See at 76 I would be right at home - sounds so comfy to me right now!

[kijip]

It's not that cold here, so it is not on yet. T and I both run warm anyways and my husband knows where the sweaters are.

I live in the land of fairly cheap electricity which is our heat source (thankfully not baseboard heaters) and I certainly save way more than 1% per degree per month by keeping to off or low all winter. We will turn it up higher after the baby is born.

When we had an old house and an oil tank it was a WAY bigger savings to keep it down and that was long before oil prices skyrocketed- back when we were all paying a buck and a quarter for gasoline. Like 2000.

[srhs]

:o Warmer than most of you...72 (AND we dress warm)
I'm actually in a heating dilemma. We rent our home. They installed a brand new furnace and vents recently, but our windows are VERY old. There are 3 in DS' room. His hands are FREEZING at night. I'm not sure about mittens because I want him to have use of his hands when he rolls over. The window cling stuff we bought doesn't work on our old style windows, and a space heater seems a dangerous idea. Guess we're off to the home improvement store this weekend!
For now, I've just been keeping him in with us after awakenings.

[SnuggleBuggles]

70. We desperately need to update the heating system in the house. They put on an addition about 20 years ago and the heating configuration just doesn't work well. Lost of variability throughout the house. I miss my old house that had 2 units- one for upstairs and one for down- so we were only heating/ cooling the part of the house we were in.

Beth

[trales]

I really feel stingy at 64 and 56. But I hated taking sweaters off when we came home. That seemed silly to me. By lowering our heat, esp at night and when we are gone (we have programmable) we are saving about 250 gallons of propane per year than we used a non programmable thermastat. At 3.00 per gallon that is $700 per year.

[bubbaray]

Programmable thermostats here.

21C/69.8F when we are home.
18C/64.4F when we are gone during the day
16C/60.8F at night.

[Asianmommy]

We did 70 when the kids were little. Now that they're older, I tried 68. It was too cold for us, so now we're at 69.

[JoyNChrist]

Well, I guess I'm an island. I crank mine to 70 or even 72 if it's really cold in the house.

Me too! Our house isn't insulated well, and I tend to run cold. I live in Louisiana and I'm used to the heat - I don't do well with being cold. We do see a rather significant increase in our electric bill in the winter, but honestly I don't care. It's just not worth it to me to be uncomfortable for half the year.

ETA - I just realized that this will actually be our first winter in our new house, so I'm not sure how that will affect things...this house is insulated better than our last one, so we may be able to get away with a lower temp.

[elektra]

:o Warmer than most of you...72 (AND we dress warm)
I'm actually in a heating dilemma. We rent our home. They installed a brand new furnace and vents recently, but our windows are VERY old. There are 3 in DS' room. His hands are FREEZING at night. I'm not sure about mittens because I want him to have use of his hands when he rolls over. The window cling stuff we bought doesn't work on our old style windows, and a space heater seems a dangerous idea. Guess we're off to the home improvement store this weekend!
For now, I've just been keeping him in with us after awakenings.

Before we bought our house earlier this year were were in this exact same situation. In our rental, if we cranked the heat, DH and I would roast but DD was still freezing since her room had more windows, and they were all poorly insulated. We did end up buying and using a space heater. I was worried but my DH assured me it was safe. The one we got was not hot to the touch at all and it had a feature where if it was tipped over it would automatically shut off. It ended up working fine for us.

[LarsMal]

We have a three level home- no basement- with two units. Right now they are both set at 68, but the sun beats in the front of the house in the AM and hits the downstairs thermostat, so the heat is hardly ever on during the day on the main level. On really cold days I crank it up to 72 or 74 b/c the back of the house (where the kitchen is) is FREEZING!!! We don't spend much time down there- besides eating- so I turn it back down to 68- and try to remember to turn it down to 64 at night.

Upstairs unit stays at 68.

[megs4413]

we used to keep it at 72 or 73 during the day and 70 or 71 at night....but i think we're trying to cut back this year. so far we're keeping it at 68 at all times. i'm tempted to try to go even lower, but my DH is a total wimpo when it comes to the cold. we keep it cool in the summer, too...like 71. i'm amazed at some of you keeping it in the 50s! you are way tougher than me! LOL!

[almostmom]

but we just can't afford keeping the heat on as high as I'd like! Our prices were so high last year, it just blew me away.

So we are at 68 in the mornings and evenings (I try 67, but in our house I always feel too cold), 61 during the day when we're gone, and 64 when we are sleeping.

[proudsahmof3]

In the winter we generally keep it at about 66 degrees or so at night, and then up to about 70 degrees during the day.

It's probably also worth mentioning that the recommended temperature for the prevention of SIDS is 65 -68 degrees for infants under 1 year old, so you probably don't want to keep it too warm at night if you have a young baby.

[ThreeofUs]

66, with safe space heaters in the bedrooms. And let me tell you, our house is COLD. The kitchen thermometer reads 61 when the foyer is 66. We all - including the baby - bundle up when out of our bedrooms.

But we're getting a new boiler next week, so maybe we'll be able to stay a little warmer!

[Emmas Mom]

Wow, I'm in awe of some of you! I'm a total & complete whimp when it comes to cold. Ours is at 70 day & night during the winter....sometimes higher! lol Of course, we live in the desert so I'm not that familiar with this "cold weather" some of you speak of! ;) But even at 70 our gas bill is NEVER as high as our electric during the summer! Probably not even by half!

[brittone2]

Low 60s when sleeping, 65ish during the day. It definitely helps the bills but it is chilly at times! I think my kids are used to it. Cosleeping with DD helps keep us warm and DS has always been hot blooded LOL. (he would sweat easily, etc. as a baby).

We turn it up if we have company coming over (my mom hates being cold LOL), or sometimes in the morning I turn on the gas fireplace to take the chill off in the living room (but in the past year our propane charges have been insanely high so this is not really a great option anymore).

[almostamom]

What heat? :shrug: Our a/c is still on!! When we do turn the heat on for our 10 minutes of Arizona winter, it's on 68.

[lmintzer]

We're wimps here. 70-71, but we let our downstairs drop off at night (it's a 2-zoned system, so we can do this without getting chilly upstairs). Both my boys' rooms run cold, and they don't stay covered. I hate getting out of bed in the a.m. and shivering.

The funny thing is that when my mom or dad comes to visit, they are freezing in here at that temp!

[tylersmama]

Another wimp here...

Here I was thinking I was hardcore since I just reprogrammed the thermostat down a degree...to 70! That's what I have it set at for night and during the day, anyway. I have it set for 71 during the evening, also down a degree. I just can't take it much colder than that, and DS's room gets really cold and he refuses a blanket. I snuck in and tried to put one on him when I went to bed last night and he woke up just enough to adamantly tell me "no blanket!".

I'm also the wimp that's been known to sit on the couch in the summer with a blanket on because I'm cold from the a/c though...

[dotgirl]

We use a programmable thermostat to set ours to 55 during the weekdays when we're not there. It kicks up to 67 at 4pm, so it's warm when we get home, and goes down to 61 at 11pm when we go to bed. It goes back up to 67 from 5:30-8:00 am.

On the weekends, it's from 7am til 11pm, then 61 for the night.

[tylersmama]

Wondering, for those of you who have drastic differences between different times of day...does it really save significant money to do that?

I mean, everything I've heard/read as far as air conditioning is that you don't want the difference in your day/night temperatures to be more than a few degrees because you'll end up spending more energy cooling the house back down and it might just run constantly because it can't get caught up (ours sure doesn't when it's really hot out!). Would the same theory apply to heating your house? Instead of cycling on for short periods of time throughout the day, the heat would be running for a much longer period. I don't know, just wondering...

[trales]

I mean, everything I've heard/read as far as air conditioning is that you don't want the difference in your day/night temperatures to be more than a few degrees because you'll end up spending more energy cooling the house back down and it might just run constantly because it can't get caught up (ours sure doesn't when it's really hot out!). Would the same theory apply to heating your house? Instead of cycling on for short periods of time throughout the day, the heat would be running for a much longer period. I don't know, just wondering...

I will look for a source later, but I know that it works a lot like the car, you don't use less by keeping it idleing, you actually save by on and off. I have noticed our usage and bill drop dramatically since turning it down a lot at night. We have anm 87% efficient furnace, good insullation and new windows. It is in the 50's for 9 hours and takes 15-20 minutes to heat back up rather than keeping it in the mid 60's all the time. It takes about 2 hours to drop in temp, once the thermostat goes down.

[crazydiamond]

70 degrees in winter, 73 in summer. Humidity control set to a range of 30-45%. No time change settings right now with people at home all the time. We invested in a top of the line system a few years ago for energy and comfort.

Due to the home being older, there can be as much as 2 degree variation from one part of the home to the other. Mainly the living room has the variation from the other spaces.

[elaineandmichaelsmommy]

Last year we kept it at about 68 during the day and 60 at night. However last winter our upstairs furnace broke and we were without heat up there for a couple of week during feb. I noticed that while the upstairs was cool that it was never below 65 (give or take a degree). So I think I'll run an experiment this winter and see exactly how much our heat rises. It sure would be nice to save that money.
This all reminds me to remind dh to get us back on the gas company's budget billling.

[ett]

I guess I'm a wimp too because we keep ours at 70 day and night. But our house is drafty so even at that temperature I'm still cold sometimes. And my mother always complains that it's colder in our house than in her house, yet her thermostat is set lower than ours!

[MamaKath]

Oil heat here! They just filled our tank last month for a small fortune- around 650. :irked: So heat will be set at 62. We are showering before bed when the house feels warmer, cooking in the oven at dinner, and using lots of sweats and blankets. If we are away it will be more like 58/59. We are trying to decide if it is cost effective to get a wood stove or pellet stove installed. Don't know!? :shrug:

[caribbeanmama]

See at 76 I would be right at home - sounds so comfy to me right now!


Ditto! Coming from the Caribbean, anything below 74 is cold to me. But, I am trying to be good since we have oil heat.:cry:

[maestramommy]

Right now our house is set at 66 from 6am to 8am, then 64 until 1pm, then 66 until 10pm, when it goes down to 62.

We make sure the kids are warmly dressed at night, and we have our down comforter out now. So far it's been fine. I think the rec for newborns is to layer rather than set a higher temp.

[bubbaray]

Wondering, for those of you who have drastic differences between different times of day...does it really save significant money to do that?

Check this out: http://www.bchydro.com/guides_tips/green-your-home/heating_guide/lower_thermostat.html

HTH

[LD92599]

57º when we're at work/school and also when we're sleeping (love our down comforters!) and 62º from about 6am-8am and 8pm-10pm for the upstairs zone; 6am-8am and 5pm-10pm for the downstairs zone.

Our local utility just raised rates by some huge %! We'll see how the bills develop.

Laura

[MamaKath]

57º when we're at work/school and also when we're sleeping (love our down comforters!) and 62º from about 6am-8am and 8pm-10pm for the upstairs zone; 6am-8am and 5pm-10pm for the downstairs zone.

Our local utility just raised rates by some huge %! We'll see how the bills develop.

Laura

Glad to hear I am not the only one freezing their family!:wink2: I am beginning to think investing in down is the best option.

[ErinMC]

We keep it on 64 day and night. We have a ranch, so the bedrooms are on the first floor, and our house is very well insulated. We did keep it warmer (around 68) the winters we had an infant. DS2 refuses to keep covers on, so he sleeps in fleece sleepers, but we don't want it any lower at night because he still wakes up cold in the morning, even with us covering him in the middle of the night.

[StantonHyde]

Growing up, my dad basically refused to heat the house (oil heat) and we lived in Idaho where it gets to 20 below in January!!!! His famous line was not "put on a sweater" but "put on your long underwear". We had a "great room" Kitchen/family room where we had a wood stove to heat that room (we kept the door shut to the rest of the house). My room was on the corner and it was COLD. I got the barn thermometer one night--it was 45!!!! We had lots of flannel blankets and thick down comforters. And we all lived in one room--wonderful family dynamics....ugh.

Living on my own, I would put the heat at 55 during the day, 65 in the evening and 60 at night. DH has a crazy schedule and is awake or sleeping at odd hours. So I put the heat at 64 at night and 68 the rest of the time. Too hot for me. I can't tell you the number of times I say, put on a sweater or put on some clothes. MIL keeps their house at 74. I am constantly turning down the thermostat. I have to have a fan to sleep at night. When we go there for Christmas, I practically put the kids in shorts!

For newborns--you do NOT want the heat over 70 (not preemies) as it is an increased SIDS risk.

[Fairy]

I should add that the SIDS risk is very real, and I was a basket case till he was probably 18mo or maybe even 2, and walked around freezing to ensure it wasn't too warm anywhere in the house, let alone his room. So, once he got over that hump, then I went back to my normal wimpy self.

[mominjune]

We do 65-66 during the day, and I just turned it down one degree from 64 to 63 at night.

At 64, everyone's noses were really dry from the heat (no humidifier- live in Seattle and don't want it too humid for allergies), and it seems everyone is actually sleeping better at 63.

[trales]

I was feeling really evil for keeping our heat so low, I am glad there are other mid 60's out there. We are trying an exp to keep the house at 50 at night this week. DD sleeps with us and we all seem to be sweating. The propane company is due to deliver this week and I know it is going to be around 1200-1500. AHHHHHHHHH.

[hillview]

We are currently on the 68 degree wagon. I work from home and DS #2 with my parents are home all day so it is an all day thing. In the evenings the downstairs heat drops to 65 and then goes back to 68 for day time. Upstairs we are at 66 in our bedroom for the kids it is still 68. DS #1 has a great down comforter which means he gets out of bed with WARM toes. DS#2 is too young and so in a sleep sack which is not a warm. Next year he will get a comforter and we will drop the kids rooms down to 66 (they share a zone).

HTH
/hillary

[crayonblue]

We would be happy at 68 degrees at night but the night nurses FREEZE! So, we are paying a ton in heat bills. We keep it at 73 and then close our door and open the window so we are not roasting! Talk about inefficient! But, we have two nurses we really like and do not want to lose them over heating/cooling issue!

P.S. Carmen's room is really small and already full of equipment so putting a space heater in there won't work. And we are renting a townhouse that is not good about heating and cooling the right areas at the right time of year! So, we do what we have to!

[mamicka]

62-63 during the day. I'm considering turning it down since I still find myself sweating when I'm home busy with the kids. Kids stay bundled & don't complain. 60 at night but kids rooms seem colder. L & C stay covered & say they're hot at night but I'm not sure I'll turn it down until S is older. As it is, he wears socks, ls onsies, fleece footed PJs & 1 or 2 fleece sleepsacks.

[alexsmommy]

Both DH and I are wimps - which is good we don't fight over how to allocate heating money. So 71 during daytime/home, 68 at night and 65 when we are not home. So worth it to me. I hate, hate, hate feeling like I need to wear layers in the house. We cut back in other areas and would like to replace our very, very old single pane 100 year old windows within the next three years.

[Happy 2B mommy]

We usually have it between 62-64 at night. Anything less and it's too cold in the morning. During the day 66-69. Our home is only 10 years old, so it's well insulated, but the windows are really cheap and are drafty. We'll replace them next year.

For me it's not the temp outside that seems to make me cold, but whether it's raining or not. I woke up at 3 a.m. this morning because I felt so cold and turned up the heat a little. Sure enough, it was raining when I woke up 2 hours later.

[megs4413]

for those of you who keep the house on the cooler side, what do you do to keep the kids warm at night? my DS won't wear anything on his feet while he's sleeping (including a blanket) and even at 68 his toes are frozen in the morning. i think we could probably get DD to cooperate better than that, but DS is a challenge...TIA!

[maestramommy]

for those of you who keep the house on the cooler side, what do you do to keep the kids warm at night? my DS won't wear anything on his feet while he's sleeping (including a blanket) and even at 68 his toes are frozen in the morning. i think we could probably get DD to cooperate better than that, but DS is a challenge...TIA!

LL Bean has fleece jammies that look like sweatsuits. They are two-piece, and have no feet. Maybe you could put a onesie on underneath? OR, Target has Carters long thermal undies, onepiece. You could put that on, then the fleece jammies.

Do the frozen toes seem to bother him? My kids have cold hands all day (esp. Dora! She won't wear a sweater or sweatshirt in the house), but it doesn't seem to bother her.

[maestramommy]

I was feeling really evil for keeping our heat so low, I am glad there are other mid 60's out there. We are trying an exp to keep the house at 50 at night this week. DD sleeps with us and we all seem to be sweating. The propane company is due to deliver this week and I know it is going to be around 1200-1500. AHHHHHHHHH.

50?? 50 is how cold it is during the day when the sun is out, right? Man you guys are hearty:bowdown:

[Swimfreak78]

A programmable thermostat is huge. We've save $$ by just having the temp come up an hour before we get up in the morning and dropping back down after we leave for work.