Comments on: Tip #2: Turn your thermostat down 3 degrees

By: Get Rich Focusing On The Big And The Small « Eliminate The Muda!

Get Rich Focusing On The Big And The Small « Eliminate The Muda! — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:13:30 +0000

[...] position when he gives suggestions such as Buy Generic For Stuff You Don’t Care About and Turn Your Thermostat Down 3 Degrees. Both are great suggestions and both great examples of being [...]

By: Advice my Mother Never Gave Me « My Leveraged Finances

Advice my Mother Never Gave Me « My Leveraged Finances — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:51:54 +0000

[...] I set my thermostats down three degrees based on Ramit’s post. MONTHLY SAVINGS: [...]

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:09:22 +0000

Marie’s point a few comments above this one is not to be taken lightly. Allowing your home to cool significantly, then heating it back up, places a large load on the system. If your home cools down more than a few degrees, you’ll notice that your furnace will have to run a LOT for an hour or two to get the air in the house warm, then everything else in the house warm again.

My grandfather is a retired HVAC engineer, and he explained to me why my programable thermostat probably wasn’t saving me much. I can’t begin to recall all of the terms he used, but it made sense to me when he explained it. I guess if your home is moderately to well-insulated, it makes little difference whether you let the furnace kick on a few times an hour throughout the day or you shut it off while you are away or asleep and give it a workout when you get home or wake up. Setting the thermostat lower and leaving it lower will certainly help, but letting the temperature fluctuate wildly will not help much, I’m told. If you will be away for several days and can cut the temp down to 50 or something, by all means do it, but I’m not changing mine from 65 anymore. My heat bill (which was already a ton in the winter) has not gone up.

Insulating homes with little or no insulation and caulking or replacing old, drafty windows is the best solution to unnecessarily high heating bills, according to what I’ve read. that work is done in my century home, and next I will look into replacing my old old furnace, which I suspect will help quite a bit.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:11:36 +0000

The local news here did a piece on this only their suggestion was to lower the thermostat down to 60 (or lower) at night. This works best with a programmable thermostat so it’s automatic.

Then of course they gave the savings in dollars for our area so it was more motivating for people to know what they could save.

This works great for me. I’ve always slept better when it’s cooler and I can snuggle up in lots of warm blankets and I’m not cold during the day because I have the thermostat set to go back up to 69 just before I have to get up.

By: Save Money during the Recession | Sassy Women

Save Money during the Recession | Sassy Women — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:04:04 +0000

[...] Turn your thermostat down 3 degrees [...]

By: Marie

Marie — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:52:42 +0000

The problem with this tip…is that if you are turning your thermostat back up when you get home from work (at any point of the evening) more than 4-6 degrees, your furnace/boiler is going to do double duty to warm up your home. Cold settles everywhere..furniture…bedding, clothing, pillows etc. THis is an important thing to mention. I have had my thermostat at 50 for two years now….24-7. It almost never comes on but I do heat the downstairs of my 1100 sq foot home with wood. I really enjoy your info, keep up the good work.

By: S. Marie Fraide

S. Marie Fraide — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 20:39:00 +0000

Our bill, which is normally around $60 to $80/month was only $16.00. We took the three degrees and made it more like 5-10 degrees and we’re saving BIG TIME!!!

By: Vivian

Vivian — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:27:50 +0000

for this tip, it will be hard to figure out how much i’d save … our thermostat is already very low … i believe we have it around 65 (we live in the northeast) … i’ll keep an eye out to see what adjustments can be made … i can’t do anything more for now …

total savings = $15/week (day 1)

By: Erica P

Erica P — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:58:49 +0000

Fortunately, I don’t pay for utilities.

By: Terry

Terry — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:37:41 +0000

I live in the north east and I am very aware my of the heating system. 1st off, I ran a sealed “make-up- air” vent to my oil burner, so that the boiler only burns outside air not precious heated air. Next I am keeping my main heating zone at 55, day and night.( I re-zoned my 1st floor zone into 2 zones) Slippers/socks and a fleece is always on. I have no other zones running now. I held off on turning the heat on this year till just last week! I have a matteress blocking the stairs that head up to my walk-up attic, it works perfectly
Here are a couple of tips to be cautious with- Don’t turn your domestic water down too low, if too low it can harbor legionnaires diseases . In extreme cold areas, don’t turn your heat zones too low, A zone that is not calling for heat can end up freezing, then you end up calling someone like me,(a plumber) Always be totally aware of your outside and inside temps, learn how your boiler/ furnace works. As the winter progresses I will make small adjustments to myzones and temps.