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October 07, 2024, 07:37:26 PM
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Home Climate Control Settings

Poll
Question: How do you set/program your home thermostat?
Constant temp Day and Night - 0 (0%)
Variable depending on day of week and time of day, but never entirely off - 7 (63.6%)
On or off depending on time of day and day of week - 1 (9.1%)
What's climate control? I live in the tropics - 1 (9.1%)
I have nothing to add and should shut up and go away - 2 (18.2%)
Other (Explain at will) - 0 (0%)
Total Voters: 11

 
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Author Topic: Home Climate Control Settings  (Read 3091 times)
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spacey
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Home Climate Control Settings
« on: June 25, 2008, 02:25:59 PM »

The wife and I are in disagreement as to the most efficient way to program the thermostat. I prefer it to program it variably depending on time of day and day of week, odds of being home, sleeping habits, etc, but never let it vary more than about 4 degrees from the desired temperature at peak operation. She believes we should simply program it to shut off when we're not home or are sleeping. I maintain when it turns completely off and gets too hot/cold relative to optimal desired temp, it has to work too hard to catch up and any savings in energy from it being off are lost on it having to catch up.

It's all very unscientific and we haven't actually done any kind of comparative study. I'm betting Clive has, so maybe he'll share his results. As for the rest of you, what say you?
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birdymaker
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Re: Home Climate Control Settings
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2008, 02:27:59 PM »

whole house fan is as good as it gets.  Smoking
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women are like tornados. In the beginning there's a lot of sucking and blowing. In the end, the car's gone, the house is gone..
stroh
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Re: Home Climate Control Settings
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2008, 02:41:31 PM »

A.  LOL  Who had nothing to add and shut up and went away?   Laughing


B.  Ah, one of my favorite arguments.  Ranks right up there with good ol' 50/50.  I am firmly in your camp.  There is no way in hell you can save money by shutting the system off, losing whatever heat you have in the thermal mass, and then restart the system having it run constantly to attain the previous ambient temp.  Of, course as opposed to reducing/raising temperatures just beyond comfortable when allowable, letting the system run much less.

Ours is set to sleep times and away times (a good 10 degrees) but adjusted for weekends.

Good luck.
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Aske
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Re: Home Climate Control Settings
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2008, 03:17:31 PM »

humid grotto
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Aske
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Re: Home Climate Control Settings
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2008, 03:19:20 PM »

anyways, you should try to get it as close to your desired temp points as possible (within 2* or so) at the times of day when outside offers the least resistance, while minimizing the total number of on/off cycles where possible
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Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century.
--  Chimpy McFlightsuit, CEO of Bu$hco Industries of 'Merka
Walfredo
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Re: Home Climate Control Settings
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2008, 03:59:34 PM »

We're in your camp too.  We got a new fancy schmancy lennox system with programmable doicky climate control and the lennox guy said to do exactly as you described.  So we do based on our normal week.

We tried making the home/away ranges greater once and it was obviously not the most efficient way.  When it is 80-90 outside in the evening and you set the house to 78-80 while at work it takes all evening to finally get it down to 72 running constantly. 
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twoiron
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Re: Home Climate Control Settings
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2008, 04:09:52 PM »

I have two settings:

Hot or Cold.

I like to keep things simple
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birdymaker
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Re: Home Climate Control Settings
« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2008, 04:55:16 PM »

A.  LOL  Who had nothing to add and shut up and went away?   Laughing

Good luck.

that would be me.  Grin
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women are like tornados. In the beginning there's a lot of sucking and blowing. In the end, the car's gone, the house is gone..
gleek
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Re: Home Climate Control Settings
« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2008, 06:23:42 PM »

Have you learned nothing from Mr. Ford?
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Seamus
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Re: Home Climate Control Settings
« Reply #9 on: June 25, 2008, 08:33:32 PM »

Nothings ever simple for me.

I set it to a cooler temp starting at about 10:00 at night. (70)

Warm it up to wake up. (72)

Off while we're gone at work. When it's off like this the house usually doesn't cool down more than 4 or 5 degrees in the winter.

Warm it up to come home. (72)

rinse/repeat/ similar for weekends, different times though.

The hard part is the summer, when the furnace may not come on for a good two months, I may force fire it this year though.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2008, 09:03:25 PM by Seamus » Logged Return to Top
Clive
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Re: Home Climate Control Settings
« Reply #10 on: June 25, 2008, 10:33:43 PM »

Actually, I've not done any calculations.  I had a brief fling with programmable thermostats and went back to tried-and-true Honeywell hockey pucks.  Had issues with both the Hunter and Rockwell units (three in all): they'd lose the program and revert to some insane temperature, they'd lose the ability to be programmed (yeah, that's nice), or they'd just lose it.
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gleek
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Re: Home Climate Control Settings
« Reply #11 on: June 25, 2008, 10:41:28 PM »

Link

Quote
2) Going to work for the day? Don't turn off your central AC when you leave. Instead, keep your room somewhat cool (about 75-78 degrees). When you arrive home, return the temperature to your comfort level.

We keep ours at around 80 during the day, and take it down to 77-78 in the early evening.
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Woman, open the door, don't let it sting. I wanna breathe that fire again.
Seamus
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Re: Home Climate Control Settings
« Reply #12 on: June 26, 2008, 06:44:31 AM »

Quote
it has to work too hard to catch up

Ours (the Honeywell Chromotherm III) has a function where, 1/2 hour before the desired time/temp setting, it slowly cycles itself towards the programmed temperature, I think that's so the furnace doesn't have to work to hard to catch up.
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Clive
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Re: Home Climate Control Settings
« Reply #13 on: June 26, 2008, 07:34:35 AM »

How does the HVAC unit work "harder"?  Do you guys have variable-speed furnaces/AC units?  Mine just have two speeds: ON and OFF.
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Walfredo
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Re: Home Climate Control Settings
« Reply #14 on: June 26, 2008, 07:48:56 AM »

It's on or off but when it has to cool or heat great ranges it runs for a long time to do that.  I'm guessing that is what they mean by work too hard. 

We like to have it perfect when we are home.  Downstairs and upstairs each have their own units.  And all our bedrooms are upstairs.

This summer since we are in the 90-100 degree range for months on end.

Down:  sleep:  72, wake 72, away 75, home 72 and it starts preparing for my arrival 30 minutes in advance

Upstairs:  sleep 68 (we like it very cool at night obviously), wake 72 (but it stays like 69-70 while we are getting ready for work), away 75 and home 72. 

At times we run it down a degree while home to circulate air and cool off for a bit.  The lennox unit was seriously the best investment we ever made on our house. 
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For hither not, I am the stallion.
Come fear, come love, I am the stallion.
You know that I am the stallion, mang.
I am, I am the stallion, mang.
You know that I am the stallion, mang.
I live, I walk, I am the stallion, mang.
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