Leave the thermostat to about 65-70 degrees during the day, OR, turn off the heat completely when I'm away at work and then turn it back it on full blast to 75-80 degrees when I get back home? My theory is that when I turn off the heat, and then turn it back on, it takes a lot of energy to get the temperature back to 75 since it gets cold during the day. If I left it at 65, it wouldn't take as much energy to increase it back to 75 degrees. Hence, I wouldn't overwork the heater. Also, do those space heaters use a lot of electricity?
2006-12-02 13:21:37 · 9 answers · asked by jenahfah 3 in Environment
Your reasoning is good but is incorrect. More energy is conserved by turning off the heat. This is true because the when you leave the heat on you will lose energy to the environment and the heat will constantly run and put out energy that is then lost to the outside through windows and other places. If you turn off the heat then the only energy that you use is the energy to heat the house back up. The heater will not overwork as heaters put out the same amount of heat production to heat the home 1 degree whether it is heating the home from 40 to 41 or from 70 to 71. The energy lost during the day is more than the energy that it would take to that to heat the house from a cold temperature once. The only issue is that you turn off the heat your pipes may freeze which will make an very expensive situation. Also if you turn the heat down to 40 or so it would save the most money as the pipes will not freeze and less energy is lost when the temperature is a lot lower because energy loss to the environment is proportional to the energy difference between the house and the outside.
2006-12-02 13:33:05 · answer #1 · answered by mg 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Turning it off when you are gone saves energy because when the house has cooled all the way to outside temperature, no more heat is lost. But if you keep heating the house, it keeps loosing heat. Think of it as a leaky bucket. Do you leave a faucet dripping into it so it will be full 8 hours later or do you let it all leak away and then fill it up only when you need it? Obviously, you only fill it when you need it. And the bigger the leak, the more true that is. So with a house, the worse the insulation, the more energy you save.
By the way, no need to turn the thermostat up to 80. Just set it at 75. The heater is either on full blast or off. The thermostat does not run the heater at half power ever. It just runs it at full blast until the desired temperature is reached and then shuts it off. If you set it to 80, and set it down to 75 when the room reaches 75, you do nothing different that would have happened automatically by just setting it to 75 and letting it do its thing.
2006-12-02 13:55:43 · answer #2 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The energy you spend is a function of time and temperature setting. The less time the heater is on, at a lesser temperature, the more energy you save.Obviously you save the most when it is completely turned off. Since your house is not a solid block, after the heat has been off all day, the only thing you need to do is to warm the air in the room,that does not take a lot of energy. It is true, there is an initial period of greater heat loss, depending on the rate of absorption of your walls and floors but it is small in relation to all day consumption.
Unfortunately space heaters are a big consumer of electricity, but compared with the elevated price of other heating fuels, they are not necessarily impractical,they are clean, portable, less dangerous than heaters that eat up the oxygen of the rooms, etc.
2006-12-02 17:56:13 · answer #3 · answered by willgvaa 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's better to turn down the heat.
See: http://www.mge.com/home/saving/thermostat.htm
It says, "Fiction: It costs as much or more to heat a home back up after a setback. (Or to cool the house after a summer setup.)
Fact: The longer your house remains at the lower temperature, the more heat you save."
Use a programmable thermostat. Use a sweater instead of setting the heat to 80 degrees! And... don't let your pipes freeze.
...and space heaters do use a lot of electricity.
2006-12-02 13:27:23 · answer #4 · answered by nevisgent 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You're right, leave the thermostat at 65-70, because when the house gets cool, it takes a lot more to warm it back up. Im not sure about how much energy the space heaters use, I guess it varies on the model.
2006-12-02 13:26:53 · answer #5 · answered by Noah 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's probably better if you have a programmable boiler or a timer setting for your heating.
if you can set your heating to be on an 1 - 1 1/2 hours before you get home your house should be nice and warm for you, also if you can set the time to turn the heating off at night (you don't need it under your duvet) you will also save on your heating bills
you can override the timer if you are staying in, (usually with a single button press)
it is also a good idea to check on the insulation in any loft or wallspace as this traps heat and can also save money for a reasonably small outlay
2006-12-02 13:35:25 · answer #6 · answered by bluegreenash 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes space heaters use tonnes of energy. You should have a programable thermostat A good rule of thumb is down at night when your sleeping and durring the day set to what you need it to be. You can get a programable thermostat that has several differant options durring a 24 hour time frame some can be set to come on at several differant times durring a 24 hour period.
2006-12-02 13:27:20 · answer #7 · answered by status quo 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You're best just to leave it set and not keep changing it.
2006-12-02 13:29:46 · answer #8 · answered by Lisa R 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
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2006-12-02 13:34:35 · answer #9 · answered by ehi g 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋