Hi,
My thermostat's lowest temperature setting for heat is 45 degrees. (I have forced hot air with a gas furnace)
When I am home, the temperature is set between 68 - 70.
During the day when no one is home it is set at 45 degrees.

Some people have told me that this is not good practice because when the system 'wakes' it does more work and at the end of the day I do not save money on my energy bill.
These people have suggested that I leave the temperature at 60 or so when I am not at home (sleep mode)

Anyone has any advice on what the best practice is?
Thanks

Why don't you ask them what facts they base their opinion on? That used to be the conventional wisdom. More recently I have heard ''turn it down''. I haven't seen any studies. I am sure Honeywell and other selling programmable thermostats have done some, but wouldn't trust them. Maybe the EPA or another government agency has done some work.

It should depend on how well insulated your house is. If the furnace is going to work quite a bit keeping it at 60 instead of 45, you might be better off letting it cool. On the other hand, a well insulated house might not get down to 45. You could sneak home early some day and see how cold it gets before the heat comes on. The cooler the house, the less heat it will lose. On the other hand, the longer the furnace has to run, the less efficient it is. This could be more so with the more efficient furnaces with dual firing rates. A long cycle at the full rate will use more fuel than several short cycles at the low rate.

Bottom line, I don't know. Make sure anybody else actually does know before accepting their answer. There are a lot of opinions around with few facts to back them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by guyinnyc

Hi,
My thermostat's lowest temperature setting for heat is 45 degrees. (I have forced hot air with a gas furnace)
When I am home, the temperature is set between 68 - 70.
During the day when no one is home it is set at 45 degrees.

Some people have told me that this is not good practice because when the system 'wakes' it does more work and at the end of the day I do not save money on my energy bill.
These people have suggested that I leave the temperature at 60 or so when I am not at home (sleep mode)

Anyone has any advice on what the best practice is?
Thanks

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No it won't cost you more by setting temperature at 45; *** you system may take a long time to reach 70F from a 45; but you will save $$ at 45F for sure... it is the same kind of saving for setting the stat at 86F+ in cooling season

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by guyinnyc

Hi,
My thermostat's lowest temperature setting for heat is 45 degrees. (I have forced hot air with a gas furnace)
When I am home, the temperature is set between 68 - 70.
During the day when no one is home it is set at 45 degrees.

Some people have told me that this is not good practice because when the system 'wakes' it does more work and at the end of the day I do not save money on my energy bill.
These people have suggested that I leave the temperature at 60 or so when I am not at home (sleep mode)

Anyone has any advice on what the best practice is?
Thanks

---

You might want to search Google. It's been a while since I looked at this issue, but I seem to recall that the claim is that several studies have validated that it is more energy efficient to set the thermostat low. (Supposedly), according to studies, for every degree of difference, there is an associated 3-5% change in the power bill over the period it is maintained. I have seen no differentiation with respect to heating or cooling.

You will probably have moisture problems because when it drops down to around 60 degrees your humidity level in your house will dramatically increase making it easy for mold and mildew to grow just imagine how much it would be if it is lower. You are better off dropping it 65 to reduce your risk of humidity problems.