Heating Oil question
 

Ok here is the scoop. My wife always lowers the heat every night when we go to sleep and puts the temp up every morning when we are awake. I insist her to leave the temp at one place because we save more oil. My wife says no because the temp is so high. I explained to her its like drving a car in the city and highway. When your in the city you waste more gas because you keep accerating. On the highway you save gas because you are at one constant speed. Who is right???

You are right...........if you leave the temp. in one place............say 62° 24/7.

She is right..........if you want to be comfortable during waking hours...........say 68°..........with the thermostat lowered at night to..............say 62°.

The warmer the house, the more the BTU loss to the atmosphere. You can't fight physics.

I was going to laugh at those degree figures (62° & 68°), but then I remembered that I used to live up north (Detroit & dah U.P.), and at one time was used to a wholly mammoth like climate. then I moved...my energy bills are still less than they were up north to this day, and I moved to the south almost 19 years ago (tempus fugit).

In other words, moving, would probably save you even more money than tinkering with the thermostat :D

I know ALOT of people (as I'm sure you all do) that do just that. They try to live where it's constantly 70-80 degrees... ah, snowbirds?

Kentucky is strange, it gets hot in the summer, but never really cold in the winter... not like Maine, Utah, and at times, Maryland...

I have a 7 day programible thermostat...its programmed to 60 degrees when we sleep or are gone (we have a regular schedule) 68 when we are home....

Sorry to say this... but wife is right.

As I recall, warming gas is pretty linear, so I think the difference between ambient and internal is going to be more important than whether the temp is steady or fluctuating.

Houses aren't adiabatic so you're going to loose temp through radiative heating as well as convection. Therefore, ambient temp diff is going to be of greater importance.

I'm trying to imagine a house perfectly insulated. Why would it make a diff whether the temp were steady or fluctuating? Is this one of those PV=nRT thingies?

B

when you drop the temps a fair amount for long periods like 8 hours you do save in heating costs...it takes less to maintain 60 than it does to maintain 70 in winter...but for 1 or 2 hours is it worth it? My Utility bills are 1/2 what my next door neighbor pays winter and summer in what is essentualy an identical house.

I do have a bit more attic insulation than they do too. THey have 4 inches blown in isulation.....I have 4 inches blown in topped by R-38 bats.

I'll follow BHD, we use Nat. Gas and for extended peiods dropping the temp is well worth it.

I too believe in insulation, and have r-30 minimum through my NW Chicago house.
Set back or now computerized thermostats have been here since we moved in.

We have 2600 sq ft on the main level, plus 2 2 car garages (One heated, both insulated) and our year round gas bill is just breaking $42/month. We do have gas water heater, dryer and cooking included in that.

Being the cheap anti-social prick that I am I favor a combination boiler,wood burning boiler with an oil burner to back it up and use for the summer months.

I obtained mine thru a Canadian company and it is perfect,it's combination oil,wood which saves me much cash.

During the spring and summer months It runs on oil for heating the water but starting when the temp is below 45 I burn wood exclusively.

The builder of our house was thoughtful enough to put zoned hot water heat in our house. So with programmable thermostats we have the downstairs at 68 day/60 nite, and upstairs 60 day/68 nite. I don't like waking up at 3AM with cold ears. :sleep:

Auto setback thermostats in my properly zoned house also. OFHW with baseboard, though I nearly had radiant floor put in the concrete floor of last year's addition. Programmed to 68-70 week day waking hours, same 4-8 PM then down to 64. Weekends are programed social floor 68 waking time til early evening. Cooking and baking does some to keep the house slightly warmer than the thermostats are set. Insulated and taped seam vapor barriers for the NE climates plus solar gain. Hard coat, low-E on the third surface of the IG units and some but not all argon filled. Replacements will have krypton fill after argon to minimize the air while maximizing gas. Three ceiling exhaust fan units boxed, insulated and fitted with vent flow restrictors (similar to on your dryer vents).