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Posted by on February 13, 2007, 11:40 am
bercy46@gmail.com wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I live in Montreal Canada. In the cold winter months, the
>temperatures usually sit between -10 Celcius and -30 Celcius from the
>end of december till the end of february, although it has been a bit
>warmer in the last few years.
>
>In july, it's usually 20 Celcius at night and 30 Celcius during the
>day.
>
>Last night, for example, it was -22 Celcius. Today, maximum of -18
>Celcius.
>
>I heat my house with three sources : a heat-pump and an electric
>furnace (installed a few years back), as well as the original
>baseboards that came with the house. The thermostats for the
>baseboards are almost all programmable, whereas the thermostat for the
>heat-pump/furnace is not programmable.
>
>Question 1 : My electric furnace has two heat strips. One of them is
>not operational at the moment. Therefore, my baseboards are working
>most of the time at this time of year, because the furnace can't
>compete by itself with the low outside temperatures. Does using half-
>my-furnace-plus-the-baseboards to heat my house account for as much
>energy as repairing-my-furnace-and-using-a-lot-less-of-my-
>baseboards ? Or am I losing a lot of money keeping my furnace in its
>crippled state ?
yes
>
>Question 2 : Let's say that I do repair my furnace, would it be
>worthwhile to install a programmable thermostat for the heat-pump/
>furnace, and lower the temperature when we're sleeping and also when
>we're not in the house ? That would mean from 23h00 to 05h00 every
>night, and also from 07h30 to 16h30 every week day ? Or is it just
>too damn cold in Canada that bringing the temperature back up would
>consume more energy than is saved by lowering the temperature ?
yes
>
>Question 3 : In the hot summer months, again, would having a
>programmable thermostat save me energy ? And does using these energy-
>saving periods have an effect on ambient humidity in the house ?
>
yes
>Thanks for your time.
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