Furnace

Hi, Programmable thermostat? Or when you come home it'll be cold until you set the temp. back up time lapsed to heat the house. If it is programmable you can do whatever you want. Of course it'll save some gas.

I'd leave it at 62. Part of what makes you feel warm or chilly is the temperature of the objects you touch, like furniture. When you return and kick the temp back up to 68 or whatever is your normal number, the heat will run for however long is necessary to heat the air that's measured by the thermostat. That doesn't mean the objects in the house have warmed up, though. That can take longer than you may want to deal with.

Back in 1993, there was an ice storm here and we lost power for 4 days. The house was at 34 degrees when the power came on. The heat ran for an hour and a half, at which point the thermostat measured an air temp of 68. Our reaction was "Oh really?" The house didn't feel warm for about 48 hours.

yes programmable and we keep the house at 62 all the time. drop to 55 when gone for an extended period of time

My main consideration will be the health of my houseplants. I keep my house at 62 deg and the plants should be able to tolerate 55 deg. I don't have any pets. The other consideration will be freezing water pipes. 55 degs should be OK. Everything else should be unaffected by the cold.

I survived the 1991 ice storm, when I had no power to my house for 8 days. The weather then was similar to what we've been having, so I lost all my refrigerated/frozen food and had to go live with a friend who also had no power, but did have a woodburning stove, so we all were at least able to stay warm and cook on her gas stove. I showered at work. If I ever build a house, I hope to include passive solar space heating panels on the south walls and a passive solar water heating system.

Consider the possibility of frozen pipes. It depends on your home. My current home would be fine my last would would have had frozen pipes at the lower setting on a cold night.

I would suggest not using the fireplace to reheat. Unless it is an enclosed direct vent unit it will be far less efficient than the furnace.

Of course setting the thermostat at 55 instead of 62 with gas heat while you're away for the weekend will save you money. It's basic physics. The only cases where it would not would be if the cost of energy were not constant. For example, if you had a heat pump system with electric backup and setting it low caused it to use electric during recovery, then that would be a factor. It would mean for short periods with large drops you could wind up spending more. But that is the exception to the general case, which is the lower you set it, the more energy and $$$ you save.

Don't tell ME about suffering, pal. I had to live with my mother-in-law for

:-)

Turn it to 45, you'll save even more. It never takes as much fuel to reheat as it does to keep it heated.

This is the only correct reply.

Boden

I wouldn't go overboard. Some things don't do well in the cold or when temperature-cycled (e.g. musical instruments, etc.). And, as others have said, the power could fail just when you need it, leaving you with little margin of safety (or none).

Do you think the OP is worried about how much wood he has to burn?

JK

It makes no difference. Most fireplaces in a home with central heat, do NOT had heat overall to the home, but rather remove it. While the figures depend on many factors, the usual situation is that the fireplace uses air and sends a large quality of it up the chimney. That air has to be replaced by air coming in from the outside. That cold outside air in most situations creates a negative heat gain in a modern home.

And some parts of the home (like under a sink on an outside wall) will be cooler than that set 45° like maybe 30°.

Lower thermostat does save money.