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Most Energy Efficient program for thermostat

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Most Energy Efficient program for thermostat brianthiede 01-18-2007
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Posted by Stormin Mormon on January 22, 2007, 9:03 am
The fuel used depends on the heat loss. Colder building = less
heat loss.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
.

> Travis Jordan wrote:
> > brianthiede@hotmail.com wrote:
> > > I have a gas furnace and a programmable thermostat. What
is the
> > > most energy efficient way to set it up during the day when
nobody
> > > is home
> >
> > > A) Set it to a very low temp (but warm enough to keep
pipes
> > > warm) so it is essentially off until it kicks on with
enough time
> > > to bring the house up to a comfortable temp before we get
home in
> > > the evening.
> >
> > By the way, the concept of "working hard" is unknown in terms
of
> > furnace energy usage.
>
> Citation for your reading pleasure:
> http://www.energyguide.com/esu/RefContent.asp?bid=pnm&id=8
>
> " A common misconception associated with thermostats is that a
furnace
> works harder than normal to warm the space back to a
comfortable
> temperature after the thermostat has been set back, resulting
in little
> or no savings. This misconception has been dispelled by years
of
> research and numerous studies. The fuel required to reheat a
building to
> a comfortable temperature is roughly equal to the fuel saved as
the
> building drops to the lower temperature. You save fuel between
the time
> that the temperature stabilizes at the lower level and the next
time
> heat is needed. So, the longer your house remains at the lower
> temperature, the more energy you save."
>
>



Posted by James on January 18, 2007, 4:59 pm
You are correct in suspecting that there is a point at which it will cost
more to return the house to the desired temp than it would have cost to
maintain a intermediate temp. No one can really tell you what that point is
though as the size and efficiency of the furnace and the house insulation
also are factors. With only 9 hours to work with I suspect you will not
loose much heat. Leave it off one weekend day when you are home and it is
cold out. See how much it drops inside the hour each hour Then you can see
how long it takes to bring it back to the desired temp. If you really want
to get serious get something that will measure how many minutes a day the
furnace runs and then you can experiment to see what effect various
strategies have on the total daily run time on similar days. A resetable
hour meter from a boat and a motorcycle battery charger hooked to the
furnace fan power will do.

I have a gas furnace and a programmable thermostat. What is the most
energy efficient way to set it up during the day when nobody is home
-

A) Set it to a very low temp (but warm enough to keep pipes warm)
so it is essentially off until it kicks on with enough time to bring
the house up to a comfortable temp before we get home in the evening

B) Set it somewhat below the comfortable temp, but not so low that
the system needs to work real hard for a while to bring it back up to
the set temp



My instincts say A - that way the only energy used goes to heating up
the house for when people will be there. But I'm not sure if for
some reason it would use more energy heating up like 20° at the end of
the day as opposed to hovering 10° or so below the set temp, then
warming up the last 10 at the end of the day. If it matters, I live in
Virginia and the house is unoccupied for about 9 hours during the day.



Posted by Jeffrey Lebowski on January 18, 2007, 7:50 pm

> You are correct in suspecting that there is a point at which it will cost
> more to return the house to the desired temp than it would have cost to
> maintain a intermediate temp.

Appreciate please explain further the above...

--






Posted by Travis Jordan on January 19, 2007, 4:37 pm
James wrote:
> You are correct in suspecting that there is a point at which it will
> cost more to return the house to the desired temp than it would have
> cost to maintain a intermediate temp.

Citation please?



Posted by Power's Mechanical on January 18, 2007, 5:13 pm

brianthiede@hotmail.com wrote:
> I have a gas furnace and a programmable thermostat. What is the most
> energy efficient way to set it up during the day when nobody is home
> -
>
> A) Set it to a very low temp (but warm enough to keep pipes warm)
> so it is essentially off until it kicks on with enough time to bring
> the house up to a comfortable temp before we get home in the evening
>
> B) Set it somewhat below the comfortable temp, but not so low that
> the system needs to work real hard for a while to bring it back up to
> the set temp
>
>
>
> My instincts say A - that way the only energy used goes to heating up
> the house for when people will be there. But I'm not sure if for
> some reason it would use more energy heating up like 20=B0 at the end of
> the day as opposed to hovering 10=B0 or so below the set temp, then
> warming up the last 10 at the end of the day. If it matters, I live in
> Virginia and the house is unoccupied for about 9 hours during the day.


They say 10F setback. How about you try it both ways and report back
in two months.


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