Going green without turning blue? How to set thermostat?

Question

I have a programable thermostat that has settings for weekdays and weekends and 4 settings - wake leave return and sleep. I try to keep it comfortable in the house, but I also want to be energy efficient. I live in NJ and the winters can be cold - any suggestions on what i should program it to?

Answer 1

Set is as low as you can be comfortable in.  Personally my thermostat is set to 62°F.  You can always put on more clothes if you're chilly.

Another thing to keep in mind is that it's more energy efficient to have the thermostat at a low temperature when you're gone, and set it to warm up right before you return home.  If the heater is running while you're away, the energy is just being wasted as the heat escapes outdoors.  Setting the themostat to heat the house up over a short period of time before you return home minimizes the amount of heat lost to the outdoors.

Answer 2

At night the thermostat is set to 50 degrees F and when it's time to get up we go to 68 and when the house is largely empty we have it set to low 60's until early evening when it goes up to 68 again.  68 is the new 72.

Answer 3

When I had a programmable thermostat, I set it to turn on to about 71 from just before I woke up in the morning until just after I left for work; then it dropped to 67 and warmed back up to 71 for when I came home in late afternoon.  At night, it dropped back down to around 68 or so.  

Im curious what other people say as this is a perpetual argument in my house now!

Answer 4

Get a nice sweater or jacket you couldn't otherwise afford and pay for it from the money you save by turning the heat down.   I keep mine around 40 most of the time, but might heat the bathroom  and it makes me cook lots more than I usually would.   Nothing warms a house like a couple loaves of fresh bread every day.

Answer 5

I try to keep our thermostat set at 65 or lower.  If you get cold you can always put warmer cloths on.  The lower you can set it the more money you will save and the better off the environment will be.

Answer 6

Your power company is what is important. I use clean energy from windmills. I use Green Mountain Energy Company...I'm sure there is a windmill company in your area. Then you can have the settings how you please.

http://www.greenmountainenergy.com/   (cool, hu.)

Answer 7

I set mine around 78 in the winter and 60 in the summer.

Answer 8

Find the lowest comfortable temperature you can live with, and keep it near that temperature at all times.  It's good to turn it down a little while you're not home, or while you're sleeping, but it takes more energy to heat up a place than it does to maintain the heat.

Also, try to seal up any place that might allow air leaks.  If you have newer windows, they're probably OK, but if you have older windows you should get that plastic stuff to cover them.  I can't think of what the real name for it is, but basically it's like saran wrapping your windows.  The pack comes with sheets of thin clear plastic.  You cut it to size, stick it around the window, and use a hair dryer to shrink and tighten it.  It works wonders.

Use door snakes (again, I can't think of the proper name!) at the bottoms of the doors that lead outside, or to a shared hallway if you have one of those.

Check for leaks in the floors.  I lived in a first floor apartment with really old wood floors once, and I'd get drafts coming through the tiny cracks in the floor.  My boyfriend sealed them with some kind of stuff that looked like clear caulking.  Sorry, can't think of the name.. I'm 3 for 3!  But, someone at a hardware store could probably help you.