Does anyone keep their home thermostat set to 70° 24 hours a day?

Hi, Kelly, I'm an empty nester who lives in a large home. Heating specialists told me the heat pump would be no more expensive left on one temperature than setting up during the day and lowering at night. It seems to work that way except during those times when the axillary heat runs for long periods.

because my elderly mom lives with us, we keep ours at 72. (24/7) until summer

I keep mine at 67 or 68 at night and 72 during the day. But I have a bunch of pets to consider. If it were me alone, I would be happy with 65. Today it was over 70 so heat was shut off and every door and window was opened. Around 5 it clouded (expecting our first rain within the next few days. YAY!!!) over and temp dropped so I turned it back on set at 68. My house is small, reasonably well built, new roof in 2005, new HVAC in 2007, attic fans and up to code insulation in attic. New windows are next as that is my main source of heat and a/c loss and it gets blazing hot here in summer. My costs are acceptable - to me - but everyone has a different scale of what is cheap or expensive. Plus utility rates vary greatly in different parts of the country.

We also set ours to 68 or 69 before we go to bed (I read about a study where slightly cooler temps help you sleep better). In the morning, we bump it up to 70. We lower it again when we go out for the day and turn it back up when we come home. It’s more efficient to go up or down a degree or more, than if you turn it off and on. The system has to work too hard to get back up to speed to turn on if it’s off.

oh my good ness Not that warm fr the winter. ( would love it but am afraid of the cost! In CT, and out side temps have been below freezing for days) Our winter feel ok for a shower in the morning temp is 68. Our away from the house setting is 60 and being home doing stuff needs to be 64 or higher, because we get too cold to function well by the time the temperture drops to 64.

I keep mine at 72, 24 hrs. Fan set to "ON" not "auto". Air movement through out the house all the time keeps the temperature even rather than a blast of air and a cool shutdown when in "auto" mode.. There also is a 2 to 4 degree differential preset in thermostats. Meaning that the furnace/boiler won't turn on unless the temperature drops below what you set it for.

You're welcome. I am also curious to hear what other real people are doing - not only for living space ,but also to keep water supply pipes from freezing in the crawl space.

I do

when I got up this morning it was -3. We burn oil and that has to be delivered. Oil is the most common heating fuel in Maine and with these temps there was a stampede for it so the dealers could not keep up. We had a tense few days and did turn thermostat down to 60 at one point to conserve. But we have separate rooms, a fireplace and a wood stove in the basement and two elec heaters. Our delivery was $500 and that was at 2.77 a gallon. More than gasoline here.

Well we had a fill on 12/5 and the next one on 1/6. We burned 207 gallons in between but it was exceedingly cold weather for at least 2 weeks. Now up to a balmy 34 or so! I think the gasoline is about 2.46.

If you buy a programmable thermostat you don't have to turn the heat up during the day and down at night. Bundle up. Wear socks, a sweater, etc. We have wood heat only and it is usually around 60 degrees when we get up.

ours is kept at 65. We have an electric fake radiator we use when watching t.v. Also a fake iron wood burning (but really electric) to use when my girl friends come over to play Mah Jongg. Many years ago my Dad who worked for a huge utility, told me to not turn the thermostat down at night as it uses as much energy to get heat up to needed temp as if you had just let it set.