Appropriate Indoor Temperatures

[Lambchop]

Now we've got sparrows sneaking into heated decks at restaurants, getting in by crawling under the plastic sheeting they hang to block the wind . . . and refusing to leave. Poor little guys!

So, this makes me wonder . . . what do YOU consider an appropriate indoor temperature? And how are you dressed for it?

I remember when folks were shocked that anyone thought 68 was ok. They expected 80 at least. I don't know that I could abide an 80-degree room now.

[mutepointe]

My parents, who are in their 80's, still keep their home thermometer set to 80 degrees, "for Grandpap." Grandpap has been dead for over 20 years but he did live to be 103. Mom is the Supreme Ruler of the thermostat. All my siblings are men. When we visit in the wintertime, we take shorts and T-shirts. We tell our wives ahead of time to do this too but they never listen. Then they complain they're hot. We remind them that we reminded them. This goes over big.

My wife has been dealing with menapause for years now. We keep our thermostat set at 65 in the winter. She would like it colder because she's still hot but this is the compromise that we have reached. I have a comforter and a heating pad plugged in and ready at my chair.

[mamakash]

It depends where you live and how high utility bills are for your area. In New Jersey, we maintained a night temp of 68 and a day temp of 70 to 72 degrees because PSEG was reasonable in Jersey(and we heated our house with gas, which is usually cheaper than electric). Now, in New York, where we are FREEZING as I speak . . . we've played around with the day and night temps to try to get the most out of our monthly bills. We still heat with gas but use oil filled electric heaters to supplement the forced hot air heating. We also have a nice gas fireplace downstairs. Last but not least, we bought a whole house humidifier, which we turn on in the morning. If the days's nice and sunny, the heat goes down to 60 and we enjoy the sunshine. We turn it up to 64 if it's really cold. At night, we try to keep it at 64-66 just so the house doesn't really drop. In all, I've gotten used to the overall colder house temps and it doesn't bother me too much. I like summer very much now, which I couldn't say when I lived in Central Jersey.

NYSEG is EVIL!

[highland-piper]

Last night I threw some extra wood on the stove and took the living room up to 90F. I was actually trying to heat the back bedrooms, otherwise I think it starts to get uncomfortable around 80F. In the summer at 80 we'd probably have the AC on, but that's more for the humidity.

[A-Musing]

68 degrees. day.

58 degrees, night.

Sweaters and hot tea.

[emmline]

The front hall thermostat is reading 71℉, and the kitchen is reading 72℉. The trick is, that the kitchen thermostat to which I refer, regulates the in-floor hydraulic heat in the family room, off the kitchen, which would otherwise be frigid. Hence, since it is located in the kitchen, it actually has to be set at more like 74. And if the front hall thermostat is set lower than it is, the kitchen will be too cold. So, it is not often either 71 OR 72 in the kitchen, but we cope with sweaters and, as mentioned, tea.
Upstairs is entirely heated by the in-floor water-filled tubes. I only recommend such a system when it's working. Other times, it's either very slow to catch up to sudden drops in outside temp, and you get to be freezing for a couple days, or it's heating merrily along and the temp outside suddenly goes up. You cannot quickly stop the heat emanating from hot water in the floor.
All these floor tubes are controlled (if you care to call it that,) by a monstrous manifold of plumbing in the basement. I more or less understand it, as I must.
I do not recommend letting your partner install all sorts of obscure technologies and specialized hardware in your house, just prior to checking out, cognitively speaking. Someday, I will convince a buyer that this is all wonderful stuff, and move to a condo.

[HDSarah]

A lot of newer houses here (interior Alaska) have radiant heating in the floor. I think it would be particularly nice for the years when kids are young and playing on the floor a lot. I had babies in the days when I heated with wood, and the floor was often pretty cold.

We have an old house with an old-fashioned forced-air oil furnace. The benefit is that it can heat up and cool down quickly. We got a programmable thermostat and we really like it. I think it's saving us a lot on oil -- before we would manually turn the thermostat up and down on a daily basis, but it often got forgotten when the last person left the house, or went to bed. I think our current program is 66 F for daytimes when people are home; 55 F at night, and 50 F for daytimes when everyone is away at school and jobs.

I wear lots of sweaters, and we have bunches of blankets on the couches.

[rebl_rn]

67 or 68 (if I'm cold) when I'm home. 62 when I leave. I have a split level house, and the lower level is very cold in the winter (cool in the summer too, which is nice). I've tried a couple of different heaters, just got an oil heater (you never have to do anything with the oil) that looks like an old-fashioned radiator and has a digital thermostat. It's nice because it is silent, opposed to space heaters which can be noisy as they blow the heat out. It seems to work pretty well but takes a while to warm up. Lately it's been about 52 when I turn the heater on, and I set the thermostat to 69. I haven't gotten an electric bill since I got it so I don't know how it will affect my usage.

In the summer, I keep the thermostat for the air set about 78 or 79, which is way hotter than I like it but what I can afford. Sometimes I turn it to about 76-77 before bed so I can sleep. That's when having the cool lower level is really nice!

[SteveShaw]

My experience is that wives (going off a sample of one ) and cats like it to be at least 25 degrees or more. It's 18 in here now and I'm on my own and I'm very comfortable and there's snow on the ground outside. I don't need a pullover of any kind and I usually wear shorts indoors. I must have fresh air at all costs. Any attempt to make me sleep in a room with a closed window, or with any form of heating, would result in instant divorce.

[chris_coreline]

our boiler has malfunctioned. So we are running at about a bazillion degrees, its also leaking

the landlord has 'promiced' to fix it 'soon'

[sbfluter]

I'm pretty happy with any temperature so long as the air conditioner isn't on. I hate air conditioning.

[Doug_Tipple]

My experience is that wives (going off a sample of one ) and cats like it to be at least 25 degrees or more. It's 18 in here now and I'm on my own and I'm very comfortable and there's snow on the ground outside. I don't need a pullover of any kind and I usually wear shorts indoors. I must have fresh air at all costs. Any attempt to make me sleep in a room with a closed window, or with any form of heating, would result in instant divorce.

Steve, you remind me of a boss that I once worked for. He set the office thermostat at a frigid temperature that only he was comfortable with. The poor women in the office were always shivering.

Steve, if I was your wife, I think that I would give some serious thought to your divorce proposition if you started to open the bedroom window in the midst of winter. For what it's worth, I keep the bedroom windows closed in the winter, and I set the themostat at 68 degress in the daytime and and 60 at night.

[missy]

we have hot water baseboard heat (gas fired boiler). We keep it around 66 - 68F. We have an additional oil filled electric radiator on the 3 season porch, which is usually ok until it gets around 10F or high winds outside.

[mutepointe]

My parents have Missy's kind of heating system. I grew up with that. I have gas forced air now. I want my parents heating system. It's smooth, it's even, in the midst of a power outage, it still works.

[chas]

My experience is that wives (going off a sample of one ) and cats like it to be at least 25 degrees or more. It's 18 in here now and I'm on my own and I'm very comfortable and there's snow on the ground outside. I don't need a pullover of any kind and I usually wear shorts indoors. I must have fresh air at all costs. Any attempt to make me sleep in a room with a closed window, or with any form of heating, would result in instant divorce.

Steve, you remind me of a boss that I once worked for. He set the office thermostat at a frigid temperature that only he was comfortable with. The poor women in the office were always shivering.

Steve, if I was your wife, I think that I would give some serious thought to your divorce proposition if you started to open the bedroom window in the midst of winter. For what it's worth, I keep the bedroom windows closed in the winter, and I set the themostat at 68 degress in the daytime and and 60 at night.

I have the same problem as Steve. Actually, most men I know have the same problem. My wife likes it at least 10F/6C warmer than I do. We've found a solution, though, just in the last few months. We've lost three trees in the last year, which adds up to about 10 cords of wood. We've saved probably $4000 by not having the wood carted off, so we bought a wood stove fireplace insert. Now, most of the house is kept at 60/16, but the living room is a balmy 72/22, warmer near the stove. It's not unlikely to find my wife bundled up right in front of the stove and me in a tee shirt in the kitchen or music room.