Electric Heat Question

[elspeilbergo]

My roommate and I are trying to cut down our heating bill. The other day he was getting on my case about leaving the heat on when no one was around. I explained to him that you actually save money by leaving the heat on because you don't have to completely reheat the house whenever you come home. He said that I was a wrong and an argument ensued.

Which of us is right?

PS: No fists have been thrown... yet.

[bignerd]

I think the general consensus is that you save money by using those programmable thermostats. Have the heat on when you are home and off or lower when you are at work or sleeping.

I don't know if you can set electric heaters to a programmable thermostat or not.

[Tik-Tok]

You are right.

It's been proven that lowering your thermostat more than 3-4 degrees will cost more to reheat the same area, then if you just left it on.

If you need proof, just try it yourself, look at your electric meter one day in the morning when you leave, record the #, do it your roomates way and turn off the heat, and when you get back crank the heat back on until the room is up to temp, then look at the meter reading again.

The next day, do the opposite, leave the heat on, and see what the reading is right when you get home.

[Neons4life]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
You are right.

It's been proven that lowering your thermostat more than 3-4 degrees will cost more to reheat the same area, then if you just left it on.

If you need proof, just try it yourself, look at your electric meter one day in the morning when you leave, record the #, do it your roomates way and turn off the heat, and when you get back crank the heat back on until the room is up to temp, then look at the meter reading again.

The next day, do the opposite, leave the heat on, and see what the reading is right when you get home.

So the question is who is now going to give this method a try and post numbers of the difference? Would have to make sure the temperature of each day is the same to make things fair.

[FishPoo]

Mmm I think its the other way around.

Turning it down when you're not home and asleep, you do save energy because it takes less energy to keep the home at a lower temperature compared to what it takes to reheat the home to a certain temperature.

Otherwise I don't see the point of a programmable thermostat?? :dunno:

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by FishPoo
Mmm I think its the other way around.

Turning it down when you're not home and asleep, you do save energy because it takes less energy to keep the home at a lower temperature compared to what it takes to reheat the home to a certain temperature.

Otherwise I don't see the point of a programmable thermostat?? :dunno:

It's only more efficient to a point, like I said, it's been proven that lowering less than X-degrees require more energy to reheat the same area. X obviously has many factors, including your insulation, your heating type, etc., but they say the magic average # is 3 degrees.

[TACO.VIDAL]

Proven?
Magic number?
They?

Give us some links to scientific studies or at least reputable sources.


Originally posted by Tik-Tok


It's only more efficient to a point, like I said, it's been proven that lowering less than X-degrees require more energy to reheat the same area. X obviously has many factors, including your insulation, your heating type, etc., but they say the magic average # is 3 degrees.

[88jbody]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok


It's only more efficient to a point, like I said, it's been proven that lowering less than X-degrees require more energy to reheat the same area. X obviously has many factors, including your insulation, your heating type, etc., but they say the magic average # is 3 degrees.

it would also depend on how long the heat was lower to see if it offset the extra energy used to re-heat the house.

if it takes x to heat it up from the lower temp
you would want to make sure that you save more then x energy wile the temp is lower.

[sr20s14zenki]

I have my thermostat set to go down to 17.5 over night, come on at 6:00 when i get up, go to 19.5 degrees, until 8, then turn down to 17.5 during the day until 4:00, then back to 19.5. seemed to save a bit over the piece of crap manual thermostat i had before

[Khyron]

Everything I've read says it does make a difference as long as the time is significant. Ie, a car burns more fuel on startup so some people argue that it's "cheaper" to leave a car running instead of turning it off and back on again. It's true but only until about 20 seconds.

A thermostat is the same - if you're gone for 8 hours, yes there will be more energy expended during the 20-30 mins to bring the temp back up. But for that other 7.5 hours, the closer you are to the ambient temp outside, the less overall energy you're expending for that time period.

It makes more difference with air conditioning than heating though.

Edit for a link: http://www.greenandsave.com/utility_savings/electric/programmable_thermostat.html

[xLostx]

sounds like murdering said roommate and using his body as a blanket for heat is the only option....