What temperature do you keep your house - poll to follow

[mamaraby]

68/69 during the day, but I'll occassionally bump it up to 71 if I'm cold. I still wear layers and have a fleece blanket on my lap most times. I would set it colder, but dh thinks it's ridiculous when I wear my winter coat in the house so I have given in.

 

At night It's at 67 because any lower and we have condensation issues on the windows. Even then I have an extra blanket or three because like a pp said, I can't sleep when cold.

[Kari C in SC]

I voted 68, but that is only because I use our fireplace during the day to heat our main living area mi actually keep the thermostat on about 66, but the fireplace heats to 68-70. At night, I can drop it to 65 because we all have heated waterbeds. I am pretty much constantly cold if I am not in my warm bed. Makes me miss my years in Florida a ton!

[Jenrae]

We keep ours set at 69 degrees during the daytime.

[MicheleinMN]

66 to 68 during the day (usually 66, but I'll turn it up a bit if I get too chilled.)  64/65 at night.

[Tap]

72* if we are all just sitting around watching a movie 

70* if we moving about 

68* if we are busy cleaning or just really active doing something

 

house is at 68* at night.

 

 

We live in the PNW where the air is damp.  We are all quite thin people except for dd8 so we have little insulation under out skin (dd8 runs around in tanks and shorts to keep cool in the house).

 

 

 

 

In the summer, dh likes the house to still be at 72 so he sets the AC for that.... but I set the AC at 76/78 when he is not around. 

 

[LadyR]

We keep our 2nd floor on 62 night and day.  First floor stays on 65, then down to 62 at bedtime.  I hate it.  I freeze all winter.  If our oil bill wasn't so high I would put it up a bit.

[Laura Corin]

Between 55 and 59 degrees.  We do have a wood stove in the sitting room, so that room is warmer; on days when it runs all day, that heat does spread through the public area of the house.  In winter I wear lined trousers, wool socks, camisole, turtle neck, fleece and (if needed) down vest.  Our heating costs us around USD5,000 a year at this level - we live in the country and have a tank of gas under the back lawn.

 

As a side effect, I find having a cool house and being well dressed at home makes me more likely to step outside and go for a walk/enjoy the outdoors in winter, as it's easy to throw on a coat and boots, rather than having to do a complete change of clothing.

 

L

 

 

[QueenCat]

Curious as to why the landlord would have a say in what temp the renter keeps the thermostat set at........

[Ellie]

This is interesting because most people I know lower their thermostats at night?

 

Because:

 

During the day, I can keep warm doing housework, or exercising, or whatever--IOW, I can be moving around. I can open the curtains and get at least a little bit of thermal heat from the sun.

 

At night, we're all tucked into bed, heavy blankets, to be sure, but we can't keep active the same way we can during the day. The house will have gained some heat from the sun (not much on really dreary days, but still some). In the morning, the house is already comfortable because it didn't get too cold at night, so the furnace doesn't have to work as hard to bring up the temperature.

[JennyD]

 

I keep it at about 69 in the winter.  I feel somewhat guilty about this, for both environmental and financial reasons, but I just loathe being cold.  I try to make up for it by using the AC sparingly during the summer, and the summers here (TN)  are much longer than the winters.  

[Annie G]

I keep ours around 68. BUT, we have a coal boiler with a "swing". With coal, it doesn't just run for a bit keeping a steady temp. It run long enough to get the coal burning hotly, then the water circulates and THEN the house heats up. So the swing is from 60 to 72 or so. And at least once a day, a rock will shear a shearbolt, cutting off the coal. Eventually, the fire goes out, we freeze and dh goes and changes the shearbolt. In the spring, when its above 50, the boiler doesn't run enough to keep the fire going, so the interval timer kicks in, running a jet of air through the fire every few hours. Living with coal is always an adventure. However, it's better than when dh left for IN for a week and we only had two small bathroom heaters going. The back of the house got down to 39! Right now I'm debating pointing out to dh that I think we popped another shearbolt...

 

 

I will officially stop complaining about trying to keep my old house warm.  

 

BTW, that week your dh was gone, I would have just camped out in the bathroom. 

[Rockhopper]

I see a poll like this at least annually on each of the forums I follow, and I always find it a bit frustrating.

 

Mostly because people usually respond with what temperature they set their *thermostats* at. Depending on the house, its constructions, age it was built, and the climate it was built for, not to mention the age and position of the thermostat in the house, this can be a basically pointless number. 

 

There is currently probably more than a 10 degree difference between the upper and lower floors of our house. What does it matter what I set the thermostat at? It is cold on the bottom floor (even with robes, blankets and slippers on), miserably cold on the middle floor (which thermodynamically makes no sense, but whatever), and a little too warm for sleeping on the upstairs (sleeping) floor.

 

Once upon a time when my husband and I lived in student housing, our apartment would have frost along the INTERIOR living room baseboard throughout the winter. Obviously it was colder in there than the 68 degrees we set the thermostat at.

 

Then there's the other issue - it does actually matter a GREAT deal what temperatures you're used to in determining what temperatures you'll be comfortable with. When this topic comes up, my dh reminds me that when he was in Iraq and went from outside temps in the 120s into an air-conditioned building in the 90s, he felt cold! He even had a soldier who wore her fleece jacket indoors because the difference in temp was so dramatically colder to her.

[Starr]

We keep ours about 60. The house has several heating zones. If we are chilly we turn up the heat in the room we are in for a while. It always feels warmest when the heat is on and the room is heating up those few degrees. Winters are quite cold here.

[Garga]

I keep mine at 67/68. I wish I could make it lower to lower the bills, but then I'd suffer. My dh could handle lower temperatures, but he's always warm.

 

In the summer I keep the house at a lovely 80. Wish I could afford that in the winter.

 

It's odd how people can feel different temperatures in different ways. I have friends who keep their house in the low 60s in the summer and I am practically in pain when we visit them it feels so cold to me.

[Garga]

I see a poll like this at least annually on each of the forums I follow, and I always find it a bit frustrating.

 

Mostly because people usually respond with what temperature they set their *thermostats* at. Depending on the house, its constructions, age it was built, and the climate it was built for, not to mention the age and position of the thermostat in the house, this can be a basically pointless number.

 

There is currently probably more than a 10 degree difference between the upper and lower floors of our house. What does it matter what I set the thermostat at? It is cold on the bottom floor (even with robes, blankets and slippers on), miserably cold on the middle floor (which thermodynamically makes no sense, but whatever), and a little too warm for sleeping on the upstairs (sleeping) floor.

 

Once upon a time when my husband and I lived in student housing, our apartment would have frost along the INTERIOR living room baseboard throughout the winter. Obviously it was colder in there than the 68 degrees we set the thermostat at.

 

Then there's the other issue - it does actually matter a GREAT deal what temperatures you're used to in determining what temperatures you'll be comfortable with. When this topic comes up, my dh reminds me that when he was in Iraq and went from outside temps in the 120s into an air-conditioned building in the 90s, he felt cold! He even had a soldier who wore her fleece jacket indoors because the difference in temp was so dramatically colder to her.

Love this post. You're spot on. I wish I could have written it.

[Garga]

I was thinking I may try lowering our temperature this year. I discovered fleece Cuddl Duds and bought myself a thick fluffy robe and thick slippers. If I wear the Cuddl Duds under my regular clothes (being sure to tuck the shirt into the pants, put on the robe overtop, and pop a hat on my head, I'm not bitter cold. Last year I didn't feel completely miserable. This year, I may try lowering the heat a tiny bit and see how low I can get it and still feel ok. Layers seem to be working for me as never before. I never understood the power of fleece.

[Catwoman]

I would freeze at anything less than 73 or 74 degrees in the winter, and I often set it higher than that. Our heating bills are very high, but at least I'm not cold all the time.

 

I have friends who keep their homes at much lower temperatures and although I certainly don't mention it, I am so cold when I visit their homes! I feel like I would need a big sweater, a pair of gloves and an extra pair of socks just to feel even somewhat comfortable. It would be very difficult for me to live that way.

[chocolatechip]

Our thermostat is set anywhere from 67 to 72 during the day. HOWEVER. Our house is old and drafty, and the actual temp is never anywhere near what the thermostat says. We also have a wood stove in the living room that makes a big difference in the comfort of the house. 

 

At night it goes down to 55. 

[Word Nerd]

When this topic comes up, my dh reminds me that when he was in Iraq and went from outside temps in the 120s into an air-conditioned building in the 90s, he felt cold! He even had a soldier who wore her fleece jacket indoors because the difference in temp was so dramatically colder to her.

I felt the same way when we had a record number of days with 100+ temps in 2011, with several in the 110 range. It made 90 and below temps feel chilly to me, which is crazy. The cold front that hit last week was quite a shock to my system too. I know other parts of the country had it much worse than we did, but we dropped from a high in the upper 70s around 1 p.m. to below freezing by sunset. It was interesting to see how quickly the temp changed when the front blew in; 30 seemed to feel much colder when it was T-shirt weather earlier that afternoon.

[Laura in CA]

Our thermostat is set at 60º (maybe 62º if I feel cold!) during the day; basically off (or c. 52º) at night.

 

We all use hot water bottles at night :-)

 

[Laura Corin]

I see a poll like this at least annually on each of the forums I follow, and I always find it a bit frustrating.

 

Mostly because people usually respond with what temperature they set their *thermostats* at. Depending on the house, its constructions, age it was built, and the climate it was built for, not to mention the age and position of the thermostat in the house, this can be a basically pointless number. 

 

 

Yes indeed.  Currently, our thermostat is set at 14.5 degrees C (58F) and the temperature in the kitchen where I am sitting is 16.9 degrees C (62F) by the independent room thermometer (the dishwasher is running, and the other machines in the kitchen will keep the temperature a little higher).  The wood stove is not currently lit.  The boiler and thermostat are both recent and efficient.

 

We have fully insulated the loft (more than a foot deep of insulation) and have double glazed windows, but the house is old with an odd shape leading to lots of exterior wall, and stone is not as good an insulator as you might think.  So it costs a lot to heat.

 

ETA: I just checked and the room at the back where Husband has his office is at 16.5 C (62F) by the thermometer we have there.

 

Most modern UK heating systems work by radiators that have individual thermostats, so you can compensate for different insulation levels in different rooms.  Or you can make the bathrooms warmer and the bedrooms colder, for example.

 

ETA: okay - now it's evening.  The wood stove has been running most of the day with the sitting room doors open to heat all the public areas of the house.  The sitting room is now 19 degrees C/66 degrees F - it's a little warm in lined trousers and a fleece.

 

L

[Aelwydd]

72 to 73 during the day, 69 to 70 at night. We are in Texas, so winters are milder than when we lived in Pennsylvania. Up there, we had very expensive energy costs, and we'd freeze every winter.

[Camelfeet]

76 and need AC most times to keep it there.  However, I love love love the cool so if I had it my way I'd turn it down to 70 at night.

[Lolly]

It seems to depend on the humidity. If it is dry, we keep it colder. If it is damp, we turn it up. I like it about 65; dh likes it 75 or so. I turn it down when he leaves for work. We settle around 72 when he is home. At night 70. Bump those temps up a little if it is rainy outside. (These are for actual temps in the main room of the house, not thermostat settings. our thermostat is a little off. I am adjusting to skin comfort, but we have a..dang lost the word...temperature measuring device in the room that I glance at sometimes and use to get the temp up for dh to be home.) Also, our house does not heat evenly. The master bedroom is much colder than the rest of the house. I'm pretty sure they forgot to put insulation in those walls...

[Pawz4me]

I see a poll like this at least annually on each of the forums I follow, and I always find it a bit frustrating.

 

Mostly because people usually respond with what temperature they set their *thermostats* at. Depending on the house, its constructions, age it was built, and the climate it was built for, not to mention the age and position of the thermostat in the house, this can be a basically pointless number. 

 

There is currently probably more than a 10 degree difference between the upper and lower floors of our house. What does it matter what I set the thermostat at? It is cold on the bottom floor (even with robes, blankets and slippers on), miserably cold on the middle floor (which thermodynamically makes no sense, but whatever), and a little too warm for sleeping on the upstairs (sleeping) floor.

 

Once upon a time when my husband and I lived in student housing, our apartment would have frost along the INTERIOR living room baseboard throughout the winter. Obviously it was colder in there than the 68 degrees we set the thermostat at.

 

Then there's the other issue - it does actually matter a GREAT deal what temperatures you're used to in determining what temperatures you'll be comfortable with. When this topic comes up, my dh reminds me that when he was in Iraq and went from outside temps in the 120s into an air-conditioned building in the 90s, he felt cold! He even had a soldier who wore her fleece jacket indoors because the difference in temp was so dramatically colder to her.

 

I agree with the bolded in general.

 

But do keep in mind some of us live in newish houses with zoned heating and well placed thermostats.  We have twice yearly maintenance service done on our HVAC system, which includes calibration of all thermostats.

 

When I say ours is 68 (or whatever), it really is.

[creekland]

Ours is at 62 - 64 in the winter when we need heat and I don't turn on the AC in the summer unless the indoors is at least 82.

 

I simply prefer as "natural" as possible for temps (no artificial heat or AC), but those temps are my limits.  In between we have nothing turned on, of course (maybe a fan).

 

Anyone cold could put on more clothes or we had nice chair blankets we used.

 

I use indoor thermometers to gauge our temps - not a thermostat. 

[HSinNH]

Well, I might have thrown off your poll a bit. Our actual thermostat is set at 59 degrees. But, we have a wood stove that heats the entire house, so if someone is cold, guess you should go haul in some wood and start a fire! With the wood stove going, the house is closer to 70.

[kewb]

In the winter the thermostat is set to 67. Lower and I am too cold. Higher and I feel stuffy and overheated.

[xixstar]

I set mine to 58-62 during the day depending on what is going on. And 55-58 at night. Our bedroom has been known to hit the upper 40s and low 50s at night but when it is too cold in the morning we start being late for things because it is too cold to get up. :)

 

I need a programmable thermostat - and no more oil heat and a house less than 140 years old. :)

[Lisbeth]

I can't stand for the kids to be cold, so I set the thermostat to their warmth zone. I make sure they are wearing socks, long sleeves, and long pants/pjs when determining this. Keeping them warm is right up there with feeding them in my book. I think it is basic care.

[fairfarmhand]

I keep ours at 65* in the day and 60* at night.  Anything higher than that and our bill is just too high.  

 

Ours is 62 usually.

 

 

I dream of a woodstove.

 

We have gorgeous vaulted ceilings, but heating all that is awful!

 

[Saddlemomma]

I voted "other" because it depends upon our woodstove, which is our primary heat source.  We only use the furnace as a backup/supplement and for hot water.  Yesterday our inside temp was in the 70's and outside temp was in the 30's, but it felt warmer because it wasn't quite as damp outside.  This morning it's 35 outside and 72 inside, but it feels cooler because the humidity is higher today at 72%.

 

Even though we live in an old farmhouse (1700 sqft), we only used about 290 gallons of fuel last year for heat and hot water.  We used about 4.5 cords of wood for a large Vermont Castings Defiant woodstove.

 

This summer we finished our winterizing project of installing new windows and  new vinyl siding on the south and east sides of the house. Two years ago we did the north and west sides (worst areas for our blistering north winds).  We did these projects as we had the cash for them so we wouldn't have a mortgage.

[dirty ethel rackham]

We have a programmable thermostat.  We have ours set to 64 at night.  It bumps to 70 about 30 minutes before dh gets up for work since most of us have trouble getting out of bed to a cold house..  It drops down to 68 two hours later.  I keep it at that unless we are just really cold.  I have thyroid problems and I am usually always cold. 

[Clear Creek]

The thermostat is set at 66 day and night, which I think is frigid, but it costs an arm and a leg to heat this house. Houses in Texas are designed to keep cool, not warm, so the few months that it is cold outside are very expensive...my electric bill in the winter is almost double what it is in the summer with the A/C running day and night. I keep a blanket in every room but the bathroom and the kitchen so I have something to wrap up in.

 

On especially cold days I have a space heater for the school room; we shut ourselves in the room and I set the space heater at 70 so it feels a little more comfortable. It is hard to write when you are shivering and your hands are going stiff from the cold (as a frame of reference we keep the A/C at 80 during the summer, so we are used to being quite a bit warmer).

[LLMom]

About 67-68 during the day and 65 at night.  

[Firefly]

Connecticut here.  We live in a very large farmhouse, with the original part of the house (and our main living space) built some time in the late 1600s (we're not sure, because it predates town hall).  Fortunately there are many heating zones!  The original part of the house has old windows with the crackle glass and is not very well insulated, but there have been additions over the years and those parts keep their heat better.  Heating ranges from cast iron radiators in the old part to baseboard to one room off the back which has electric heat. We keep the parts of the house we don't use often and the sleeping areas very low- 58ish-- unless we're using them.  The main part where we spend most of our time is set at 63 but we have a wood stove which keeps it pretty toasty on all but the most blustery winter days.  The wood stove has been an absolute godsend.  If I'm really chilly I can pull up right next to it... and in fact I am often parked there in my rocking chair with a cup of tea and my knitting.   :D  But if I get too warm, I can move away, so it's really easy to adjust to get comfortable.  We do dress in normal winter inside clothes... jeans and sweaters etc.  No teeshirts in the winter here! lol  

 

I don't like being hot, especially when sleeping, so the bedroom thermostats are set at 56 at night.  Fortunately the rest of the family is like that too.  Now that the kids are teens anyway-- when they were little we kept it much warmer for them.

[Pamela H in Texas]

We are working on lowering it.  That used to be easy.  I used to be soooo hot all the time.  Crazy hormones.  Now I'm freezing all the time.  But I'm going to be freezing at 72 or 70 or 67 so....

So right this minute, the heat is set to 68. I have on nice LLBean socks and PJs (yes, still) and I'm COLD.

 

The kids are not cold.  My daughter has her sleeves pushed up.

 

[clementine]

We currently have snow on the ground and our heat is set for 68 all day/night, but if I'm feeling a chill I'll bump it up to 70 for an hour or so.  

 

 

[SKL]

I think about 68 would be ideal, but I chose 70 because I do not live alone or make all the decisions.  :P  Actually we don't "keep" the temperature at anything.  One person will feel cold and turn it up, and later another person will feel hot and turn it down, from now until June.  I do realize this is not ideal.  :P

[Tammyla]

Thermostat is set at 72/73, but the house is 2 story with a basement and heats uneavenly.  Some spots/rooms go down to 67' while others are 72/73.  I really do not like winter heating here at all.

[gardenmom5]

dh increased the temp 1mdegree - and it was amazing how much warmer the place feels.

we do have a house that holds heat well - a real advantage when we've lost power in winter.

we don't turn the heat down at night - as we got in the habit of even temps when we had a heat pump.  (that's how they work.)  and I remember being so broke I had to keep a fire going all day while dh was at work as supplemental heat.

also, there are many reports that doing so uses more energy to warm it up in the morning.

[Lawyer&Mom]

68 all day, all night. I'd like to go a bit lower, but we need to keep the baby warm. She has a wool sleep sack, but it can't be as warm as my stack of duvets. (I like to sleep under a lot of weight.)

[BarbecueMom]

68 here, but I also turn it down a degree or two during the day if I notice we are all too warm. Everyone is in t-shirts right now after putting away laundry (and jumping on beds) so I'll probably put it down to 66 until sunset.

[redsquirrel]

I have a well insulated house and programmable thermostats upstairs and down. I love being able to set timers for the heat and I highly recommend them. It takes the work out of having to remember to turn the heat down etc. No more leaving for the day and remembering the heat is running.

 

I hate getting up to a cold house so our heat is set at 55 during the night, but the whole house heats to 68 from 5am-8am and then it goes off.  I keep the upstairs set to 55 (closest I can get to unheated) during the day. The downstairs I have set to 62, but the heat almost never comes on during the day. The house can maintain a temp above that. Last winter was harsh and it came on during the day a few times. It was really cold. During January and Feb it can hang out around 65.  Once it gets to 66 it feels really cold to me, but I just put on more clothes. I can understand why other people wouldn't like it though. But I like low heating bills and producing fewer greenhouse gasses so we just deal.

 

At 6:30pm-8:30 pm the downstairs goes back to 68.  I only turn the heat on upstairs in the evening once it is consistently below freezing outside. When it does, it goes to 68 for those two hours. That makes bedtime for the kids much more pleasant.

 

In NY state there are laws about minimum temp of rental properties. It is not much, lol, but it is there. A landlord must provide heat of ... it could be 65 from december to april. That isn't much but it would keep pipes and people from freezing. But I also know plenty of people whose landlords don't keep their apartments warm. I knew someone who would put a frozen hot dog on the thermostat to make it come on. Then he would quickly eat the hot dog when the landlord came running upstairs to see how the heck the heat came on.  He had ice on the inside of his walls! My experiences with rentals has been the opposite. I have lived in drafty buildings with no insulation and the heat kept running and running due to the cracks in the windows and poorly sealed doors etc. I lived in a few places where I stuffed newspaper around the windows to keep the drafts out.

[flyingiguana]

70 -- but that's the CORE of the house.  Out in the rest of the house, it's quite a bit colder.  When it's 10F or less outside, there's quite a gradient.

 

It's really only up so high because I work at home and my fingers would be too cold to type otherwise.

[TranquilMind]

I recently heard some one complaining about the temperature of the house they were renting and their landlord didn't understand their complaint, which made me start wondering...what temperature does everyone usually keep their house at during the winter?

 

Thanks!

About 64 or 65.  Sometimes slightly higher.  Sometimes lower, if the hot flashes begin.  ;)  

 

Ya'll are weenies, I tell ya!  ;)

[TranquilMind]

63 during the day (in winter)

58 at night for the whole house

 

We still have a ceiling fan, box fan, and a window fan going in our room even if it's in the 40s at night.. I need (and DH tolerates) setting our room to "snowflake." For the last seven years, with my insomnia, I can't sleep at night if the room is over say 61-63, and that's with a ceiling fan and box fan going. If I'm stuck in hotel and it's 65, I lay there all night. I don't necessarily feel hot, I just can't sleep. I've often wondered if maybe my body temperature fails to drop properly at night. Strangely, during the day I can take a nap at normal room temperatures.

 

All of the above means we pay a ton for A/C in the summer but not as much for heat in the winter. Yes, to stay warm we all need fleece jackets and sometimes blankets. But we grew up in the north and my parents especially kept the house on the cool side to save money on their heating bill. So to us it's normal to be chilly inside in the winter much of the time. I guess we save our wimpyness for the summer heat.

Come sit by me.  ;)  It's cool enough.  I like breathing also.  And yes, AC is a given.

 

I had a tenant call me one time on CHRISTMAS MORNING at 2 am (!!!) to tell me the heat had gone out and it was "freezing".  I went over there and it was 59 degrees!  They had accidentally shut it off!  Argh. I reset it in 2 seconds, and went back home, up for the day.  Thanks!

 

It did actually quit 2 days later, and it was a $500 repair on a holiday weekend.  But still....59?  PUT ON A SWEATER (I wanted to say, but they had already lit out for a hotel room, and subsequently sent me the bill.  Au contraire). 

[Laura Corin]

 

 

In NY state there are laws about minimum temp of rental properties. It is not much, lol, but it is there. A landlord must provide heat of ... it could be 65 from december to april. That isn't much but it would keep pipes and people from freezing. But I also know plenty of people whose landlords don't keep their apartments warm. 

 

I don't quite understand this - it must be a different model than I am used to.  The rent includes heat?  I think in the UK paying for the heat (and other bills) is usually the responsibility of the tenant.  Unless you rent a room in a landlord's own house, of course.

 

L

[TranquilMind]

I don't quite understand this - it must be a different model than I am used to.  The rent includes heat?  I think in the UK paying for the heat (and other bills) is usually the responsibility of the tenant.  Unless you rent a room in a landlord's own house, of course.

 

L

No, it is not typical, and the story in that post illustrates why, that whole frozen hot dog on the thermometer thing.  If tenants had paid heat in a cold climate, the landlord would have tremendous bills.  When they are paying it themselves, they are more careful not to be wasteful. 

[Plink]

I had to choose other, which made me laugh.  

 

We run a pellet stove.  Half of the house is fairly warm, and the other half is fairly cool. People shift from one room to the other if they want a change in temp.