Turn thermostat down or leave steady?

Posted by RickH on October 29, 2009, 1:57 pm

> RickH wrote:

> >> On Oct 29, 8:22 am, "Stormin Mormon"
> >>> Please forgive me while I troll for a moment.....
> >>> Is it energy saving to turn the thermostat down, when
> >>> leaving the house? I mean, the furnace has to run to catch
> >>> up when I get home. I have a way of looking at the matter.
> >>> I'll explain my point of view after the argument is
> >>> underway.
> >>> --
> >>> Christopher A. Young
> >>> Learn more about Jesus
> >>> =A0www.lds.org
> >>> .
> >> Yes, you save energy turning it down. =A0In balance less heat is lost.

> > No, it takes too long to re-heat the boiler and all the water in the
> > pipes, radiators, and floor tubing. =A0It is always best to set it once
> > and leave it there all winter. =A0Too much energy is lost when all that
> > water is asked to re-heat all the surfaces again. =A0For example when I
> > feel the return manifold from the coils under my concrete slab after
> > the slab was allowed to cool, the return water is ice cold, all that
> > energy to reheat the slab. =A0No, bad asvice, best to keep it warm and
> > leave it there, saves tons of energy.

> I hope that you were just kidding because obviously you are wrong! Just
> think for a minute.....if you were going to be gone for three months
> don't you think you would save energy if you turned your thermostat
> down? Well, the same would be true for a few hours, just not to the same
> extent.- Hide quoted text -
> - Show quoted text -

Yes, if I turned it down and left it there for a week or longer maybe.

But downturning for any period under a couple days and all the mass
you've spent heating once, now you have to re-heat over again. (my
system has several thousand feet of water tubing under both house
floor and garage slab zoned).

It might be different if you have forced air heat, but for water heat
(via radiators or radiant tube) every installer tells you "set it once
and forget it, the idea is to store heat".

Posted by Tony on October 29, 2009, 7:06 pm

RickH wrote:

>> RickH wrote:

>>>> On Oct 29, 8:22 am, "Stormin Mormon"
>>>>> Please forgive me while I troll for a moment.....
>>>>> Is it energy saving to turn the thermostat down, when
>>>>> leaving the house? I mean, the furnace has to run to catch
>>>>> up when I get home. I have a way of looking at the matter.
>>>>> I'll explain my point of view after the argument is
>>>>> underway.
>>>>> --
>>>>> Christopher A. Young
>>>>> Learn more about Jesus
>>>>> www.lds.org
>>>>> .
>>>> Yes, you save energy turning it down. In balance less heat is lost.
>>> No, it takes too long to re-heat the boiler and all the water in the
>>> pipes, radiators, and floor tubing. It is always best to set it once
>>> and leave it there all winter. Too much energy is lost when all that
>>> water is asked to re-heat all the surfaces again. For example when I
>>> feel the return manifold from the coils under my concrete slab after
>>> the slab was allowed to cool, the return water is ice cold, all that
>>> energy to reheat the slab. No, bad asvice, best to keep it warm and
>>> leave it there, saves tons of energy.

>> I hope that you were just kidding because obviously you are wrong! Just
>> think for a minute.....if you were going to be gone for three months
>> don't you think you would save energy if you turned your thermostat
>> down? Well, the same would be true for a few hours, just not to the same
>> extent.- Hide quoted text -
>> - Show quoted text -

>
> Yes, if I turned it down and left it there for a week or longer maybe.
>
> But downturning for any period under a couple days and all the mass
> you've spent heating once, now you have to re-heat over again. (my
> system has several thousand feet of water tubing under both house
> floor and garage slab zoned).
>
> It might be different if you have forced air heat, but for water heat
> (via radiators or radiant tube) every installer tells you "set it once
> and forget it, the idea is to store heat".

I believe in your situation it will still save energy. The reason they
tell you to "set it and forget it" is for comfort. Due to the large
mass of your system it will have a much slower recovery time, but that
does not mean it will take more energy, it's just slower. Or you could
turn it down hours before leaving and have it turn on hours before
arriving home again. That should help with the comfort.

Posted by IGot2P on October 30, 2009, 12:11 am

RickH wrote:

>> RickH wrote:

Then tell me exactly what that magic length of time is. Is is 3.2 hours,
12 hours, 23.5 hours, or some other time? I did build one new home
with zoned hot water heat and it was great heat but we still turned all
three thermostats down when we left to save energy and it definitely did.

Don

Posted by Stormin Mormon on October 29, 2009, 6:04 pm

The heat lost is the same as the heat you paid for. Lower
temp loses less heat (or loses more slowly). So turning down
reduces heat used, and fuel bill.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

No, it takes too long to re-heat the boiler and all the
water in the
pipes, radiators, and floor tubing. It is always best to
set it once
and leave it there all winter. Too much energy is lost when
all that
water is asked to re-heat all the surfaces again. For
example when I
feel the return manifold from the coils under my concrete
slab after
the slab was allowed to cool, the return water is ice cold,
all that
energy to reheat the slab. No, bad asvice, best to keep it
warm and
leave it there, saves tons of energy.

Posted by DD_BobK on October 29, 2009, 9:38 pm

> > On Oct 29, 8:22=A0am, "Stormin Mormon"

> > > Please forgive me while I troll for a moment.....
> > > Is it energy saving to turn the thermostat down, when
> > > leaving the house? I mean, the furnace has to run to catch
> > > up when I get home. I have a way of looking at the matter.
> > > I'll explain my point of view after the argument is
> > > underway.
> > > --
> > > Christopher A. Young
> > > Learn more about Jesus
> > > =A0www.lds.org
> > > .

> > Yes, you save energy turning it down. =A0In balance less heat is lost.

> No, it takes too long to re-heat the boiler and all the water in the
> pipes, radiators, and floor tubing. =A0It is always best to set it once
> and leave it there all winter. =A0Too much energy is lost when all that
> water is asked to re-heat all the surfaces again. =A0For example when I
> feel the return manifold from the coils under my concrete slab after
> the slab was allowed to cool, the return water is ice cold, all that
> energy to reheat the slab. =A0No, bad advice, best to keep it warm and
> leave it there, saves tons of energy.

Wrong answer! Check previous threads on this topic.

So by your reasoning if you turned down the heat to 50F & left it down
for a week....you wouldn't save any energy because you'd have "add
back all that heat"?

cheers
Bob

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Turn thermostat down or leave steady? - Page 5