Question Of The Day. Saturday 14th Of October.

[Norachan]

Good morning. It's the weekend again.



It's starting to get really chilly here. I turned the heat on this week for the first time this winter.

Do you have your heat on yet? How do you keep your home warm? What temperature do you like it to be?

We only have kerosene stoves, but as it's a small house they're enough to warm the place up. I'd rather put on extra layers than crank the heat right up, so I have the rooms at about 15C. Any hotter than that and I start getting sleepy.

What about you?

 

[muffy]

I have a heat pump and I keep the temperature at 68 in the winter and 70 in the
summer.

 

[LTS3]

The heat is not on yet and probably won't be for at least another month. I have HVAC service next week to get the system ready for the winter. I just put up my winter energy savings curtains so that will help keep the inside warm. I have a door draft blocker to keep the usually cold air from the building hallway from creeping in. Mostly I just bundle up and share the cats' Snuggle Safe if needed until I turn the heat on I pulled out the down comforter the other day to use on top of the regular comforter.

I have a programmable thermostat so I have different heat settings: 60F at night and when I'm not at home and 65F when I am at home. My place is pretty well insulated and gets lots of sun during the day so the inside rarely drops below 70F.

 

[artiemom]

I had to break down and put the heat on the other day. I do get morning sun, which really heats up this place, but when it is darker, damp, cool; This places gets really cool.
It is not well insulated ~~~ sigh... so I have to keep it warmer. I go back and forth between putting the heat on and shutting it off.

 

[Draco]

I had my AC On last night, lol. It gets pretty warm in my place when it rains outside (I am right above the boiler room in my condo). I can't sleep when it's warm so the AC goes on

 

[DreamerRose]

I keep mine at 72F during the day and 65F at night. I used to set it at 70F during the day, but now it makes my arthritis flare up, so I want it warmer. And yes, the furnace has been on for a long time now. It can get quite chilly here in the fall. I also dress in layers to stay warm. Getting old isn't for wimps.

 

[AbbysMom]

Definitely not on yet. Because of my allergies and asthma, I do a thorough vacuum of the baseboards before I turn it on. I also crank the heat up really high and open all the windows to burn off any other dust and to get that smell out of the house.

 

[catlady76paws]

I've got fibromyalgia so when it gets colder we tend to turn up the heat to about 19 degrees and really cold 20 degrees. After that we put on more layers of clothing or pile cats. That's a sure way to keep warm.
However we haven't had a decent winter in years. Last time they did the Elfstedentocht was 20 years ago
When I watch tv and see the winter in the States or Canada..wow...It would be hard and they would panic at the first snow but this country needs a proper winter this year

 

[Kat0121]

We have the AC on. If we use the heat at all, it's generally at night/early morning for a couple of weeks in January/February. After it warms up during the day, I shut it off. For me, "winter" means being able to shut the AC off for a while. That's when my power bill goes down.

 

[DreamerRose]

Definitely not on yet. Because of my allergies and asthma, I do a thorough vacuum of the baseboards before I turn it on. I also crank the heat up really high and open all the windows to burn off any other dust and to get that smell out of the house.

If you have a burning odor when you first turn your furnace on, it means your furnace needs to be cleaned. I learned this the hard way when I came home one cold day to find my CO2 monitor shrieking. It can be very dangerous if the heat exchanger is dirty - you can die from CO2 poisoning. Call a heating and cooling company to come clean and check the furnace. I do this every year now.

 

[neely]

Gas forced air for heating. I'm stubborn when it comes to turning the heat on in Fall. The temps. fluctuate so much that I wait until the thermostat is down to 50-55 degrees on a regular daily basis. It was a bit chilly this past week but supposed to warm up to the mid 60's next week so the heat will stay off for awhile longer. When I finally do turn the heat on I set it at 66-68 in the daytime and turn it down to 60-62 at night. I can't sleep if it's too hot.

 

[Winchester]

Our heat is not on yet, but I'm going to take apart our registers and vacuum everything out this afternoon. I'd like to hold off turning the heat on in the house until November if we can.

I was going to put the electric blanket on the bed a couple weeks ago, but then held off. Rick said this morning that it might be time, so I'll put it on tomorrow morning when I change the bed sheets.

I'm also going to put the flannels back on; I had them on earlier, too, but then we got that heat wave and I took them back off. You just don't know what to do!

 

[betsygee]

Thanks for the thread--this reminds me that I need to buy filters for our heater!

We rarely use it, though. It's pretty mild here most of the time so we don't need it much and like Norachan I'd rather bundle up than have the heat on. We also have two fireplaces, one at each end of the house, so we'll light one of those in the evening to warm things up before bed.

Right now it's our Indian Summer, temps are mild and pleasant. I can't see even thinking about turning on the heater for another month or so at least.

 

[denice]

I still had the AC on some last week so no heat yet. It is supposed to be more seasonable temps next week but I don't think it will be low enough for turning on the heat yet. When I start using it it is usually just a bit when I first get up. It really isn't necessary but I take a shower early in the morning and I like to get the chill out of the air before I shower.

 

[kashmir64]

We have a LP heater and it doesn't go on until the temp reaches 32°. And then it's mostly so the pipes don't freeze. I keep it around 60°. The portable heater in the pumphouse is the same way. Goes on when the temp reaches freezing and off as soon as it hits 34°.

 

[Boris Diamond]

I turned the AC on again yesterday! It has gotten down in the high 40's (8-9 C) in the last week, but it might be a while before the heat goes on. 81 is the prediction for tomorrow.

 

[Margret]

I'm at over a mile high, and we've already had our first snow of the season. Additionally, as I age I find that the range of temperatures that are comfortable for me is getting smaller all the time, which means that at this time of year we're alternating between heating and cooling.

I currently have my thermostat set to turn the furnace (gas) on at 72° F and to turn the A.C. on at 77° F, which means that we're using a lot more energy than I like for heating and cooling. On the other hand, we recently replaced the water heater, the furnace, and the air conditioner with units that are extremely efficient, which helps a lot.

Margret

 

[Moz]

Currently it's 2°C/35°F (I will never understand Fahrenheit). It got up to only 8°C today.

Since it's been close to 0, our gas furnace has been on at least once a day. I don't really pay attention to what temperature I like it to be (I want to say something like 22°C), as long as it's warm enough that my fingers aren't cold.

 

[Willowy]

I turned the heat on last week. And then turned the AC back on the next day. And then the heat again the day after that. . .ah, fall on the plains. Ridiculous temperature swings are normal.

I have LP gas but it's a normal forced-air gas furnace, modified to run on propane instead of natural gas. I keep the heat at 64 when I'm not home and 68 when I am. I have a programmable thermostat to set that. If I'm cold I crank it up to 70. I would let it go as low as 58-60 when I'm not home, if not for the snakes. Someday I'll get them fancy enclosures with heat tiles but for now I have to keep it reasonably warm so they don't get pneumonia. In the summer I set the AC at 76 when I'm not home and 72-74 when I am. Honestly I could let it go higher; I don't mind the heat too much. But the humidity! I hate humidity. So I keep it lower than I prefer just so I'm not sweaty all the time.

 

[sivyaleah]

I'm in NJ. We've turned on the heat a couple of times already but it's been much warmer than usual for this time of year. We're still running the a/c most days. A few nights it was cool enough to open windows.
We have radiator heat which means a gas furnace and central a/c - on separate systems. Tomorrow is going to be 80ish!
We do best with a temperature between 70-72 at most. With a/c running I prefer it at 70, but compromise to 71. We both agree on the heat when it is on - we hate being too warm. The house is really old, so it still has it's drafts here and there even with us having replaced all but one door. I'm sure once that one is taken care of temperatures inside will be easier to moderate.