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S/O thermostat setpoints


RootAnn
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Having lived in several different houses, I will say that what feels cold in one is toasty in another, but so that it doesn't derail the other thread & for fun (no judging please!), what are your normal set points for winter? For summer? Your spouse's setpoint?

In winter, we have it set to 65-68 during the day & 60 at night. Starts out warming up to 68, then set point drops to 65 by 11ish when the sun is out & we are all moving around. In the evening, it kicks back up so we are warmer before dropping to 60 by 10 pm.

In summer, it is set 78-80 if we run A/C. Night time is 80. If necessary, I'll bump down to 76 to "get cool."

I'd rather put more clothes on. I can't stand the humid heat here.

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We keep the house about 68-70 year round. Sometimes at night I drop it to 65 if dd14 is overheated. (She has a health issue that makes her temps swing wildly). 

I will say though that gas/electric are not super expensive in our area so keeping it comfy is affordable. My gas and electric bill combined, is under $300 even when temps are below freezing outside or in the heat of summer when the A/C is on every day. I have a friend whose electric bill is often $800 and they keep thier house closer to what you do. 

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In winter we keep it 62 day and 50 night.  We don't have AC so no summer settings.  We just turn it off for the summer although more than once I have had to turn it on in July for a few days when the indoor temps went below 50.  We find this comfortable enough.  The only real downside is that when we do rarely have to sleep elsewhere (a hotel, someone's house, etc....), it is really hard to sleep in a hot room.  And anything above 50 is "hot" to us.

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2 minutes ago, skimomma said:

In winter we keep it 62 day and 50 night.  We don't have AC so no summer settings.  We just turn it off for the summer although more than once I have had to turn it on in July for a few days when the indoor temps went below 50.  We find this comfortable enough.  The only real downside is that when we do rarely have to sleep elsewhere (a hotel, someone's house, etc....), it is really hard to sleep in a hot room.  And anything above 50 is "hot" to us.

This is us too, no ac 62 during the day 55 at night. When we go to other peoples houses, my kids dress to be in a warmer environment and everyone continually asks "aren't you cold? did your mom bring you a sweater?"

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15 minutes ago, Tap said:

My gas and electric bill combined, is under $300

We went all electric years ago. Our water & trash bill is combined with our electric bill. It is rare that all three together goes over $300. High $100s to low/middle $200s is more common. I live in a "public power" state. My bill is much higher here than when I lived in another state & had cheaper power & didn't pay for water (pulled from the pond & treated it in house).

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In winter the heat is set to 63 during the day and 54 at night. We usually run the pellet stove in the late afternoons and evenings so the main space does warm up more during that time. The bonus is that the bedrooms cool down for sleeping. 

We don’t have central air, so we are at natures mercy during the summer. 

Edited by MEmama
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In winter, our thermostat is set for 70 all day and night. 

In summer, we set it for 78 during the day and 74 at night (and sleep with a fan on in bedroom).

We have a large two story house but our gas/electric combined has never been much over 200 even on days like today with 10 inches of snow dumped on us yesterday.

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No thermostat here. Our main heat source s wood, so we just throughbon mother log if we get cold. Our back up heat source is natural gas space heaters which do not have typical thermostats. the space heater is usually set to 1 at night and 2-3 in the day time. No AC, but we do use portable swap coolers in the summer.

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I would freeze in y'all's houses!

In the summer we keep the house at 76.

In winter, we used to keep it at 73, but now keep it at 74.  I have issues with insomnia and told dh that I thought part of the problem was that I was so cold.  I asked him to covertly bump the thermostat up a degree or two and see if the difference in temperature (without my knowledge, so a blind study) would help me sleep better.  And, yes, I am sleeping better at 74.  (He told me a few weeks after he bumped the thermostat up a degree.)

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Ah it depends on so many things.  Our house is not 20 years old, but I think seals on the windows are not good.  Our house was made with cheaper materials.  Depending on the weather it feels different in the house.  A sunny day in the winter and I could be turning the temp down.  But if it is windy then I will feel colder inside.   We all are home all day and they are all working sitting down.  So they get colder than if they were up moving around.  Some rooms don't heat as well as others and are so much colder.  We do have 4 little heaters that we use. 

Also our basement is now a dance studio, thanks to Covid.  So my girls are all in leos and it has been cold down there the last 2 weeks.  Once they get moving after 30 mins or so it is better.   One kiddo is freezing all the time. 3 are dressed for summer all winter long. The kids can use their little heaters in their rooms if they want during the day. 

Anyway winter daytime 70 or 68.  Freezing days I like this past few weeks sometimes I bump it up to 71.    Night time down to 63, I would like it cooler.   I think I am having hot flashes and would love the house colder. 

Summer I like it at 66 to 68 at night.  I think I let the daytime go to 75 or 78?   Summer seems so long ago.  I like the house to be cool for me to sleep well.  We have ceiling fans too. 

Things that I think affect it

You internal temp gauge

What your house is made out of.  I wonder if brick homes keep out drafts better

How fast your house heats up.  Do you get lots of sun?  Do you have lots of shade

1 or 2 story home?

How many people are in your house.  I think our house really  heats up in summer because of everyone. 

How many computers and stuff you have going everyday all day.

Where you live and what you are used to.  Humidity.

 I live in the Midwest.  Cold in the winter and usually humid and hot in the summer.  

Oh and we don't have a fireplace or wood/pellet stove.

Edited by mommyoffive
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Most of the time, the heat is turned off in my master bedroom. The way our house is shaped, that’s where all the downstairs heat floats up to.

I don’t think our downstairs thermostat is all that useful because of our vaulted ceiling/south facing roof. It’s usually around the middle of the dial, which is 65, but it can get REALLY warm in here from the sun. Like, I can’t wear a sweatshirt while doing much housework or I’ll sweat. Profusely. I’ve been known to shut the heat off even if there’s snow outside.

Summer, we have one window AC unit that we turn on high for a little while if we’re especially hot. That tends to be a few days in July and a few in August, then we spend a few days in the fall wishing we hadn’t taken it out. đŸ˜›Â 
 

But, yeah, it’s about the house itself.  I‘M not actually cold tolerant, lol.

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No thermostats here in NZ. People heat a room when they are in it and turn off the heat when they leave. 

When my older boy got to college, he kept telling us stories about having to study under his covers, and then as fall turned to winter, told us about his room being quite literally freezing as in about 35 degrees. I kept saying 'there must be something wrong with your heat! *Please* talk to maintenance!"  But he wouldn't because he didn't want to make a fuss. Finally, a friend came in his room in JANUARY in BOSTON, and said 'OMG, your room is freezing, do you mind if I turn your heat on.' That is when my son learned about thermostats. đŸ™‚

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Usually in the winter it is 67/68 day and 64/65 night. Summer is 78/80 day and 72 night. I've tried to do it warmer at night in the summer but my sleep suffers, opening the windows doesn't work well because the humidity is high it makes so much work for the unit in the morning and once summer is in full swing it doesn't cool down enough at night anyway.

We are all electric, no cathedral ceilings or such, pretty good insulation but not the most expensive windows.

Right now we have it on 64 during the day and 62 at night to conserve more energy, which has felt fine as in the midst of winter we are more acclimated to the colder weather, it is always harder at the beginning of the season. 

Most people here set their units to 70 winter/summer. Dh's coworkers all set their units way higher/lower as do my relatives. My parent's house was 78 the last I visited but they have wood heat to assist so it doesn't cost them near as much. Around here I'd be worried people would call child services if inside temps were set in the 50s. 

Edited by Soror
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We have a theory that we have been kicking around for quite some time within our circle of friends.  Our thermostat is on an interior wall in what is arguably the warmest part of the house.  We have noticed after years of living in a cold climate in a poorly insulated house with high ceilings that it often feels more comfortable (warm) on the coldest and windiest days than on warmer days.  We call this the "delta phenomenon."  Basically, the higher the delta between the outdoor temps and thermostat setting, the warmer we feel indoors.  I have not officially brushed off my heat transfer equations but the theory is that the faster the heat is leaving the house (due to colder temps outside) and warmer it actually is away from the thermostat.  When the furnace is running constantly to try to hold the stat temp, we all feel warmer.  When the furnace does not have to work hard because the heat is leaving the house slowly, it is noticeable warmer near the thermostat than anywhere else.  So, on a warmer day, it might be 62 degrees right at the stat but really 58 degrees in the next room and perhaps even 48 degrees right next to the walls in the wind direction.  But on a colder day, it is still 62 degrees in the next room and while still noticeably colder near exterior walls, less so than on a warmer day.

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We don’t have a programmable thermostat, just an old fashioned one where you move the little lever. And not sure the reading is very accurate, but here’s ours:

Winter 62 at night and 68 most of the day. Occasionally turned higher if we are cold in the family room, which used to be a garage and is poorly insulated.

Summer 75-78 in the daytime, 68-72 at night. 

Idk how electric rates here compare to other parts of the country. With balanced billing 1350 sq ft is $135-$155/mo. Gas heat is lovely! Cheap right now, $60/mo for winter months. I lived with a wretched heat pump for three miserable winters and love, love my Hot gas heat!

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9 minutes ago, skimomma said:

We have a theory that we have been kicking around for quite some time within our circle of friends.  Our thermostat is on an interior wall in what is arguably the warmest part of the house.  We have noticed after years of living in a cold climate in a poorly insulated house with high ceilings that it often feels more comfortable (warm) on the coldest and windiest days than on warmer days.  We call this the "delta phenomenon."  Basically, the higher the delta between the outdoor temps and thermostat setting, the warmer we feel indoors.  I have not officially brushed off my heat transfer equations but the theory is that the faster the heat is leaving the house (due to colder temps outside) and warmer it actually is away from the thermostat.  When the furnace is running constantly to try to hold the stat temp, we all feel warmer.  When the furnace does not have to work hard because the heat is leaving the house slowly, it is noticeable warmer near the thermostat than anywhere else.  So, on a warmer day, it might be 62 degrees right at the stat but really 58 degrees in the next room and perhaps even 48 degrees right next to the walls in the wind direction.  But on a colder day, it is still 62 degrees in the next room and while still noticeably colder near exterior walls, less so than on a warmer day.

I agree with you that the more the furnace is running the warmer it feels inside. I think part of it is air circulation and the furnace circulating air more.

Windy days seem to pull the warmth from a house. Not by changing the temperature of the building, but by blowing through air vents and around windows/doors. I think part of it is perception too though. If I am inside and see it windy outside, it may give me a chill, just because my body's internal thermostat thinking that the wind is going to wick the warmth from my skin. 

Another factor, is how often the door is opened. I worked in retail for many years. The store temperature would noticeably change once customers would start coming in. In the morning we would be warm, but by noon, even after working hard, we would be running space heaters at our work stations. I assume a house is the same way. Opening a door or window, even briefly (people/pets going in and out.....or an open window while cooking), can change the temp and it takes a furnace cycle or two to rewarm the house. 

A North/South or East/West facing house will make a difference too. The West side of our house, is the garage and attic. The neighbors across the street, have the same size wall but the West wall it is thier living room. Thier house is much, much hotter in the summer than ours. Our living room is on the East side, so we benefit from the warmth of the morning sun. 

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I’m in Florida.  We are all electric.

Last year we didn’t run our heat at all - not one time, but it has been much cooler this year.  We keep our heat at 72 during the winter when we need it. 

In the summer we keep our air on 76 during the day, 75 at night. 

I absolutely HATE to be cold.  Dh did an expat assignment in England for two years.  The only time I was warm was when I was in my car.  The house was old and poorly insulated.  We had a huge bay window in our lounge that was not insulated. I wore silk long underwear inside the house a LOT of the time.  We had radiator heat.  It was off at night and on during the day.  The upstairs was pretty nice during the daytime, but it was always chilly downstairs.  Our kitchen jutted out and had three exposed walls.  We had a thermometer in there, and in the winter it would be around 55 degrees in there in the mornings until the radiators got things warmed up.  Miserable to me. 

I will say that radiators are a great way to dry clothing. 

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We keep it at 71 in winter. It's "too" warm in some rooms and too chilly in others but this seems to be the right balance temperature.

We fight a battle in the summer. I try to keep it around 78, but some people keep lowering it, which I'm not okay with.

We can't really have a different nighttime temperature as dh is up all night working.

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We keep it at 63 at night and 66 during the day during winter, and 77/78 during summer.  Those aren't ideal for us as we get cold easily and the summer is hot, but the ac and furnace are old and very ineffective, so even if it runs non stop, it really only gets to the middle of the house.  The back family room and all the bedrooms just don't feel it.  Add that to very expensive electricity and it's just not worth it. 

Next year we are hoping to replace it.  We have three rental houses and we have had two AC replacements and two roof replacements (with high deductibles since it was a hurricane) so we are really tapped out on home expenses this year!

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1 minute ago, Farrar said:

We fight a battle in the summer. I try to keep it around 78, but some people keep lowering it, which I'm not okay with.

I purposely never taught any of the children how to operate the thermostat and none has ever shown any interest in learning.  That is, until DD18 came home from college last Spring due to Covid-19.  She doesn't seem too bothered by cold temperatures in wintertime, so there is no real issue right now.  The issue was in the spring and summertime: her room received more of the cold air so she would sneak down to the thermostat and turn off the A/C (or just turn it up.  I would quickly start overheating as a result.  Grrr...

Why can't these children just be dumb and uninquizitive?

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There's a loose wire behind our thermostat that I keep meaning to fix, but mostly am like, is this really enough hassle that I want to take this apart and deal with it? So occasionally it conks out and you can't adjust it for a few minutes. And the heat or air just keeps going when it shouldn't. Somehow every time my kids have tried to adjust it, it's been conked out. So they think it doesn't work. (Cackles with evil mom laughter) It's dh who I struggle with changing the temperature! Though sometimes he does it at the teens' bidding. Because he's a sucker like that.

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We keep ours at 68 in the winter.  We live in NY and don’t have A/C.  We rely on fans and cooler night breezes in the summer.  We live in an historic brick home built in 1850, with tall ceilings and windows, radiators, and obvious discrepancies in how warm a room is based on how far from the thermostat it is.  I can be pretty warm in the living room, but very cold in the kitchen. 

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In winter, we generally keep it at 68 during the day and 64 at night. We used to keep it lower at night but it would get ridiculously cold downstairs at night where we have one bedroom. During this cold snap, it’s set at 68 degrees 24x7 and it doesn’t get much above 62 downstairs, even during the day. I’d prefer to keep it the house at 70 during the day and maybe 66 at night but DH disagrees ...

In summer, we usually keep it at 78 during the day and I’m not sure what it is at night. Again, I’d prefer it cooler but frugality wins out. 

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For those of you who turn a thermostat down in the 50s in the winter, what type of heating source do you have?  Do you know how cold various rooms in your house are?  My thermostat is set on 68 right now--and it is 68 near the thermostat, but temperature readings in other areas of my house are low to mid 50s

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We moved from our home about a year and a half ago, but we used to set our thermostat to about 55 at night.  I don't know how cold it got in other rooms.  It was an old home (over 100) and could get drafty on the main floor.  My guess is that the thermostat was accurate for the main floor, but the bedrooms upstairs probably stayed a little warmer.  We timed it so that the thermostat started warming up the house about an hour before we woke up in the morning.  We had fuel oil for many years, and then switched over to gas during our last 10 years or so there.

When our kids were all home, we'd set the thermostat to 65-68 during the day.  We were used to wearing turtlenecks and wool sweaters and warm slippers around the house, and we'd block the drafty areas under the door, etc., and were fine.  Somehow after the kids left I became more thin-skinned and turned the temp up higher during the day to stay warm.  (Maybe I wasn't running around as much!)

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We moved this fall, and the difference between our old house and this one is interesting. At our old house, I'd have to keep the thermostat set at 72 all winter, and we were still chilly (radiant heat downstairs, propane heater upstairs). Here, we keep it to about 64 during the day and 60 at night and it's toasty (oil furnace, radiators). No central air here- summer usually means window units or fans when needed.

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Winter: 17C = about 62F

Summer: we only run the AC when it's sticky hot, more to manage humidity than anything.  Usually cooling to about 25C.  We probably use the AC only 20-30 days a year - our lot is well shaded and the house catches breezes well.

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In our current house, DH has it set to 70 during the day, and 60 or 65 at night.  In the summer I think it is set to 75 during the day and 65 at night.  I would prefer to keep it set to 72 during the day year round.  My hands ache when it gets too cold, but the upstairs tends to hold in heat and the downstairs tends to be chillier.  I have a propane fireplace near my desk that I turn on if I start to get too chilly.

I grew up in a home with a wood stove for heat.  We had electric heat in the house, but my parents didn't use it except in really cold weather because of the cost of electricity.  My mom kept the house really warm most of the time.  In the winter it was usually around 75 in the main areas of the house, but the bedrooms were often cold.  Some mornings I would wake up in the winter with ice on the inside of my window. 

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2 hours ago, Bootsie said:

Do you know how cold various rooms in your house are?  My thermostat is set on 68 right now--and it is 68 near the thermostat, but temperature readings in other areas of my house are low to mid 50s

We've had previous houses where the temperature varied significantly, but this house (we bought it about five years ago) is pretty uniform. We did have an issue in the bedroom that sits above the garage, but two/three years ago we replaced the original garage doors with new insulated ones and the problem in that room was solved.

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Usually 68 year round. We might adjust a few degrees for a few hours if someone is really hot or cold, but in less than 3 hours someone complains. I just feel bad for the kid whose room is built into a big gable over half of the garage. Only the one wall is a climate controlled space, and for some ridiculous reason the vents were built into the furthest outside wall (the one facing the driveway).  His room is always 7-10 degrees hotter or colder than the rest of the house.  He did get a giant closet and the best view of the street, but otherwise that room is uncomfortable and loud. He’s also the one that’s been inclined to want privacy since he was old enough to work a doorknob, so typically his door is closed, which only makes it worse. 
 

The worst place we lived temperature wise was a midcentury ranch that was built into a hill and had been remodeled to be open concept between the main floor and the basement. It worked to sell us the house- there was a gorgeous view of a large creek with woods on the other side that would never be developed because that side of the creek would flood. But the house had terrible insulation, huge single pane picture windows,  and there was no way for the HVAC to keep consistent temperatures with all that open railing. It was comfortable either on the main floor or in the basement. And the bedrooms were split. 

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7 hours ago, Tap said:

We keep the house about 68-70 year round. Sometimes at night I drop it to 65 if dd14 is overheated. (She has a health issue that makes her temps swing wildly). 

I will say though that gas/electric are not super expensive in our area so keeping it comfy is affordable. My gas and electric bill combined, is under $300 even when temps are below freezing outside or in the heat of summer when the A/C is on every day. I have a friend whose electric bill is often $800 and they keep thier house closer to what you do. 

I'm just gonna say ditto to everything Tap wrote.Â Â đŸ˜„Â 

I should probably get a programable thermostat.  We could go lower at night since we all have electric mattress pads.  Most of my friends consider my house cold and I warn people to bring sweaters.  The rest of my family overheats and gets cranky so easily that I just bundle up in the winter and stay outside when it's warm.

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6 hours ago, skimomma said:

We have a theory that we have been kicking around for quite some time within our circle of friends.  Our thermostat is on an interior wall in what is arguably the warmest part of the house.  We have noticed after years of living in a cold climate in a poorly insulated house with high ceilings that it often feels more comfortable (warm) on the coldest and windiest days than on warmer days.  We call this the "delta phenomenon."  Basically, the higher the delta between the outdoor temps and thermostat setting, the warmer we feel indoors.  I have not officially brushed off my heat transfer equations but the theory is that the faster the heat is leaving the house (due to colder temps outside) and warmer it actually is away from the thermostat.  When the furnace is running constantly to try to hold the stat temp, we all feel warmer.  When the furnace does not have to work hard because the heat is leaving the house slowly, it is noticeable warmer near the thermostat than anywhere else.  So, on a warmer day, it might be 62 degrees right at the stat but really 58 degrees in the next room and perhaps even 48 degrees right next to the walls in the wind direction.  But on a colder day, it is still 62 degrees in the next room and while still noticeably colder near exterior walls, less so than on a warmer day.

We have the same phenomenon, but I call it My House Needs an Energy Audit.Â đŸ¤£Â Our thermostat is set to 68 in the winter, but the sensor is on the old school analog thermostat in the dining room.  That room has rooms above and below it and is warmer than the living room where we spend most of our time.  This morning, our living room was what I call Five Balls Cold.  We have a Galileo thermometer in there and all of the balls were floating so it was colder than 64 degrees. Our living room is on a slab with a higher, gabled ceiling and no room above it.  We use a fake electric fire log thing in the fireplace as a space heater to break the chill in there.  I should probably upgrade to gas, or at least get a proper electric fire box insert in there.

Edited by KungFuPanda
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My inlaws have had frozen water in their Christmas tree on multiple years. Their living room is the coldest room in a 1860s farmhouse with the interior wall thermostat on 55-62. There is a door to close the living room off from rest of the house. My dh grew up in a bedroom that doesn’t have ductwork for a heat register.  (I travel to their house with my own sleeping bag rated for 15 degrees.)

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9 hours ago, skimomma said:

In winter we keep it 62 day and 50 night.  We don't have AC so no summer settings.  We just turn it off for the summer although more than once I have had to turn it on in July for a few days when the indoor temps went below 50.  We find this comfortable enough.  The only real downside is that when we do rarely have to sleep elsewhere (a hotel, someone's house, etc....), it is really hard to sleep in a hot room.  And anything above 50 is "hot" to us.

Same, although our night temp is 55°. I find it too hot, but I am overruled.

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