Help please. Electric heating Question....

[taltos1]

Hello,
perhaps you can help my wife and I figure something out. We live in a modest condo with electric heat. My wife would like to leave the heat on 65 all day long, while I think it would be better to just turn it on when we are home and turn it off while we are not. What is cheaper/more efficient though? Any insights? Thanks a lot.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

how bout a programmable? 60 when you are gone/sleep 68 when you are home/awake?

saves me like 20% than before I had it.

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
how bout a programmable? 60 when you are gone/sleep 68 when you are home/awake?

saves me like 20% than before I had it.

FTW. program it to turn on before you get home till after bedtime

 

[SparkyJJO]

Originally posted by: iwantanewcomputer

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
how bout a programmable? 60 when you are gone/sleep 68 when you are home/awake?

saves me like 20% than before I had it.

FTW. program it to turn on before you get home till after bedtime

or if it isn't programmable (like my parents have) just do it manually

 

[bunker]

It takes more energy to heat the home if you turn it off completely than if you were to just turn it down when away (not off, just down), then turn it up when you get home.

Hence the suggestion for the programmable thermostat.

 

[taltos1]

OK thanks folks, so if U understand this correctly. I should leave the heat on ALL the time, but it would be best to use a programmable thermostat to maximize the benefit?

Thanks again..

 

[dullard]

Do you have a heat pump? If so, does it use the furnace as "emergency" heat? If you answered yes to both questions, then keep the heat on at a constant temperature all day long. That will be cheapest by far.

If you answered no to either question, then the cheapest is to turn it down/off when you are away. A programable thermostat is usually the easiest way to do this.

 

[ahurtt]

You probably shouldn't ever just turn it off altogether even when you aren't home. For one thing, the system will have to run a lot longer at a stretch when you turn it back on to get the house back up to a comfortable range. Not to mention you'll be very cold during this time. Plus, the extreme temperature changes can be bad for things like wood furniture or sensitive musical instruments like pianos and such. It can wreak havoc with the tuning and cause wood furniture to expand and contract a lot thereby weakining the joints and glue. Oh, and also if you let it get too cold in some cases you can get frozen and/or burst pipes in your plumbing. I had that happen last year. . .one of the pvc pipes that runs through the wall to the outside hose bib froze because it was in a poorly insulated utility closet which I neglected to leave the door cracked open a bit. Thankfully I had shut off the water supply to the hose bib but I didn't get all the water out. When i turned on the hose in the spring, the water started shooting out in the inside of the house in the utility closet. Could have been disastrous considering the fuse box is also in there.