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What temperature do you heat you house to?

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  • Feb 8th, 2021 11:28 pm
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Dec 29, 2008
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octapuss wrote: all good insight. My thermostat is in the main living room. I am in a backsplit house so there is alot of of levels and rooms in the house. I would love to know and be able to adjust the tempature in the top floor. I think there is portable thermostats. Is that the solution to being able to adjust the heat in the evening? Comfort vs savings at night.
Check out the ecobee3, installed it last month and comes with a remote sensor. One of the rooms in the house has one duct in a very bad location and the room is large so always stays cold. With the remote sensor it will average the temp between the main stat and the sensor or I could just set the remote sensor as the main temp reader. As i said it averages the temps so other rooms may get slightly warmer but that's easily fixed by the duct dampers or closing the duct. One of the other rooms is always hot does not matter if dead of winter or summer and I just keep the duct slightly open and works.

Last year I always had complaints the house was to cold and the temp swing between the main floor and the cold room upstairs was about 3.5C but now temps are average.
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jebise wrote: Check out the ecobee3, installed it last month and comes with a remote sensor. One of the rooms in the house has one duct in a very bad location and the room is large so always stays cold. With the remote sensor it will average the temp between the main stat and the sensor or I could just set the remote sensor as the main temp reader. As i said it averages the temps so other rooms may get slightly warmer but that's easily fixed by the duct dampers or closing the duct. One of the other rooms is always hot does not matter if dead of winter or summer and I just keep the duct slightly open and works.

Last year I always had complaints the house was to cold and the temp swing between the main floor and the cold room upstairs was about 3.5C but now temps are average.
I thought it's bad to close some air vents because it puts more pressure on your furnace?
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May 30, 2010
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aquariaguy wrote: I thought it's bad to close some air vents because it puts more pressure on your furnace?
Closing some vents shouldn't be an issue, but closing too many will. It's all about balancing intake air flow with out take flow.
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Aug 12, 2011
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Winnipeg
I'm a new home owner i set mine to 68F (20C) from 5PM to 6:30AM (all day for weekends) and 60F (15.5C) from 6:30AM to 5PM on weekdays.

That should be fine for my house right? (1050 square feet, hardwood floors)

I need to get a thermometer to make sure the temperature is right on my thermostat, it feels colder in my house then in my parents and there's is the same temperature but with carpet floors.
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May 4, 2006
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20 when I'm home and 17 when I'm not. My wife loves the house at 23, but I cook at that temperature!
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Oct 4, 2014
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bowmanville, ON
17c all day everyday. 1120 sqft detached two story.
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Dec 27, 2013
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Woodbridge
22.5 usually. If we're feeling particularly cold we'll go up to 23.5 but no higher. When we get our new place we're going to have a programmable thermostat and let it go down to 19 or 20ish overnight but warm up to at least 22 by the time we get up.
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Apr 17, 2005
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Brampton
cdnguy77 wrote: 17c all day everyday. 1120 sqft detached two story.
I'm cold just thinking about it lol That's freezing cold IMO!
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Oct 4, 2014
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bowmanville, ON
patrob wrote: I'm cold just thinking about it lol That's freezing cold IMO!
i don't find it cold. if i go too hot i find it "stuffy". its also where the last owner of the house had it set at.
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Jan 19, 2004
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Toronto
Have been at 19.5 and 20.5 for a 2400 Sq ft house. We don't even feel remotely cold. Just pjs around the house.
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Dec 2, 2008
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Belleville
68. Grew up with fahrenheit and can't seem to shake it.
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Oct 22, 2007
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As an experiment, I dropped our temperature from 71 to 65, put on a couple layers with a sweater and my wife has informed me that it's simply not worth the little savings it would give us. Our hands are cold and wearing a sweater just isn't comfortable since isn't life about being comfortable in your own home.

To each there own people, but I'm at an age where comfort is more important than saving a few dollars per month.
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Maymybonneliveforever wrote: As an experiment, I dropped our temperature from 71 to 65, put on a couple layers with a sweater and my wife has informed me that it's simply not worth the little savings it would give us. Our hands are cold and wearing a sweater just isn't comfortable since isn't life about being comfortable in your own home.

To each there own people, but I'm at an age where comfort is more important than saving a few dollars per month.
Comfort over cost :cool:
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Jan 11, 2008
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Toronto
Usually 20C when I'm at home, and 16.5C when away or sleeping.

If I'm home during the day and forget to override the thermostat program, I usually don't bump the temperature up unless it drops below 18C.
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Feb 22, 2012
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Reigniting an old thread. (Pun intended)

Fascinating reading here.

A few things I have directly observed or thought of (I'm sure all of these have been discussed before, I am not claiming any of these ideas to be original)

-Location matters (a farm house or acreage will experience more exterior "wind chill" than houses crammed together in the city).
-Location matters in respect to outside temperature (a house warmed to 20 C when its -30 C outside will feel colder than an identical house warmed to 20 C when it's 0 C outside)
-A condo may be insulated on one or more sides (and sometimes above or below) by another condo, greatly reducing your heating costs
-Age of structure matters (I've heard countless people say that 20 C in a brand new house "feels warmer" than 20 C in a 50 year old house

So unfortunately we are not comparing apples to apples in these discussions as much as we might think we are.
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Jan 9, 2011
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16.5 at night and during the day when nobody's home. 19-20 when we're at home. 3-level end-unit 1970s townhouse. Electric baseboard heaters with their own thermostats in each room.
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Styleman wrote: Reigniting an old thread. (Pun intended)

Fascinating reading here.

A few things I have directly observed or thought of (I'm sure all of these have been discussed before, I am not claiming any of these ideas to be original)

-Location matters (a farm house or acreage will experience more exterior "wind chill" than houses crammed together in the city).
-Location matters in respect to outside temperature (a house warmed to 20 C when its -30 C outside will feel colder than an identical house warmed to 20 C when it's 0 C outside)
-A condo may be insulated on one or more sides (and sometimes above or below) by another condo, greatly reducing your heating costs
-Age of structure matters (I've heard countless people say that 20 C in a brand new house "feels warmer" than 20 C in a 50 year old house

So unfortunately we are not comparing apples to apples in these discussions as much as we might think we are.
Exactly, there are no one size fits all. People in Ontario or Toronto done understand the -40 with no windchill cold. Its dry, but cold. They have warmer temps, but more humidity. They think a 1500 sq ft bungalow, should only have a 60,000 BTU furnace and all is fine, while in the west a 60,000 BTU furance would not even keep your house set at the temp you want due to the extreme cold for days on end we can get. that a 100,000 BTU furnace is way oversized for a house that size. But they dont have the same factors, so that information is wrong. Lots of places in Canada, cant be one size fits all.

Same as how fast a house heats up, Ive looked over tons of websites the last two years on everything from how fast does your house warm up to how long does your furnace run. So many variables, you cant get a straight answer

Some posts are my house heats up 5 degrees in an hour, to it takes 4 hours to heat my house 6 degrees.

Whats the factor in that, and which one is better.? Is the 5 degrees in an hour correct? I would assume with that, thats an immensly over sized furance. As well, wheres the thermostat, the hallway. Because the hallway hits that temp, doesnt mean your farthest room is that temp. Your hallway can be 21 degrees, and a basement bedroom be 17. So does that mean your house heated up correctly?

I have two Ecobees, dual zone, one on each floor. I also have 4 sensors upstairs, 3 sensors downstairs. And I can tell you right now the "main" thermostat heat warms up faster than bedrooms and kitchens.

If I just let my hallway and rec room thermostat tell me the temps, yep, my house heats up fairly fast. But when I use my sensors in the heating program, It takes it 2.5 hours to go from 16 degrees to 21.5 degrees, since its the average between all the sensors.

Is 2.5 hours good, I dont know. According to some websites, its terrible, to others its good. The rooms closer to the furnace room heat up a lot faster then then farthest rooms just due to the longer duct work. I take those out of the equation

Problem is, one small bedroom with one vent thats above the furnace with the door closed can be 25 degrees by the time the kitchen warms up to 21.5 Because that room is larger of course it will take longer, the duct runs are the longest, even though it has 3 vents. It also has 4 large windows and a door to the deck. So more glass means less insulation compared to just an insulated wall. The bedroom has one window, so that has to be factor as well.

IS insulation a factor, yes. How many windows as well, is the basement a full basement, or a walk out. How high are the ceilings, how many air returns. Drafts from unknown things,. Hell even furniture placement plays a factors if you have a couch in front of a supply vent or a return.

Location is a factor as well, Ive lived out of the city, with only trees around us, and yes windchill is a factor. I moved into the city, but on the outskirts. I have nothing behind me, and wind still plays a factor, as I have only one house beside me, so I have a north, south and east full exposure. When getting an energy assessment, while the view and privacy is nice, I was told that the south exposure will be a factor in energy use, because of the windows and 100% exposure to the wind. Not because of crappy insulation, its just science. Would having triple panes windows help, yes it would. Would also cost a ton of money

So in short, while I am no HVAC expert, Ive been a homeowner for 25 years. And in reality, there is no straight answer. A house side by side can be 100% different due to the builder, the layout, even where the furnace is situated in the basement

My temps are - UPSTAIRS Daytime - 21.5 degrees Nightime 16.5 degrees DOWNSTAIRS DAYTIME - 22 degrees Nighttime 17 degrees

I also have mu upstaris thermostat come on an hour earlier than the basement, since no one us up in the basement at that time, but we are up for work upstairs. I also heat the basement a bit higher since heat rises. Does it help with the comfort in the house, I dont know . Ive been tweaking the Ecobee stuff for awhile now, testing this and that
Last edited by WikkiWikki on Feb 6th, 2021 11:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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OntEdTchr wrote: 22.5 usually. If we're feeling particularly cold we'll go up to 23.5 but no higher. When we get our new place we're going to have a programmable thermostat and let it go down to 19 or 20ish overnight but warm up to at least 22 by the time we get up.

Believe a lot depends on the type of house, insulation and where the thermostat resides.
We live in a 4 level (basement, 1st floor, main 2nd floor, 3rd floor) 4 bedroom side split bungalow in Toronto (North York) which is about 60 years old, perhaps 1,800 square feet not including basement. Not much insulation in houses of that timeframe, however place has been renovated and all windows and doors are replaced.

Our thermostat resides in the kitchen on the 2nd floor, we usually keep at 22.5 to 23.0 Celsius in the winter, however if we're feeling particularly cold on -20 nights we'll go up to 23.5 and be comfortable.
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Nov 13, 2019
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Toronto, thermostat in kitchen, 21 during the day, 20 overnight

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