House temp in winter??

[critter crazy]

Well we tend to keep the heater down, or even off. We have electric heat, and it gets very costly, so we thrive on our woodstove, but that has a tendancy to get the house a tad too warm. But if we arent using the stove, and rely on our heat, we keep the temp between 65-70. Which I find is perfect!

[jennielynn1970]

Well we tend to keep the heater down, or even off. We have electric heat, and it gets very costly, so we thrive on our woodstove, but that has a tendancy to get the house a tad too warm. But if we arent using the stove, and rely on our heat, we keep the temp between 65-70. Which I find is perfect!

I would LOVE a woodstove! I love being outside and smelling the woodstoves and the chimneys. I'm so jealous of those!!! I have a stinky gas fireplace that when I did turn on and try it out when I first moved in, the living room got really hot, but I don't think the chimney was working right and the fumes got really overwhelming. So... no fireplace! It just sits there and collects dust on the gas logs. Not sure how I'd yank them out either. I'm pretty sure I'd have to have someone cap the gas pipes and then deal with getting the chimney cleaned and checked out as well before I burned regular wood in it.

[Hellow]

Well, i like to keep our house at 72 - 74*F but my parents like it at 69*F, too cold for me.

[mina'smomma]

We keep it about 70 during the day when hubby is home and I usually turn it down to 67 when I get home because I'm too hot. I'm a firm beliver if you're too hot put on a warmer shirt or cover up in a blanket.

[Logan]

I'm with you, Jenn. I like to be warm enough, but not too warm. I will tell you that although my mother has always been cold natured, once she had open heart surgery and started taking a blood thinner, it has been much worse. She is thin to start with, but add that thin blood, and poor thing about freezes in our house, summer or winter. That may have something to do with your dad's issues, too.

Right now, we are without any heat in the lower level of our home. I went to turn it on last Monday to knock the chill off, as it had gone down to 33º overnight and heard the worst noise ever. Turns out that something related to a combustion fan (I think that's what they said) failed and fell apart. We have gas pack heating/air conditioning for our downstairs and that means forced air natural gas heat in the winter and electric air conditioning in the summer. Anyway, it was going to cost $400 to replace the part and our unit is almost 20 years old, and we still wouldn't know if there was something else wrong until that part was installed and we fired it up, so we are getting a new unit tomorrow. The upstairs unit is holding its own. It is a heat pump, totally powered by electricity.

The downstairs is cold during the days and evenings, but we used our indoor wood burning stove two nights, just to warm the living area, if we were going to be in that room, and the electric blanket has come in handy, too. For several days in a row, the highest inside temp was 59º, while it was over 70 outside. Most of our leaves are still on the trees, so it is quite shady around our house. Our wood stove isn't all that great, but at least we have it, and it has helped during power outages and with the heat going out this time around. I have used an electric space heater, in spurts, for the sake of the birds and the fish. I worry about them the most. Butter (kitty) and the dogs have been just fine. And we did add an electric fireplace last spring in our kitchen/den area. Tacky, but it will warm up that room better than the heating unit does, when it is working.

Our home is poorly configured and most of the heat and cool are concentrated in the two rooms that are closest to the unit. We will live with that, though, as I don't see putting in new ductwork and a unit under the house at this point.

Logan

[Catlady711]

Our house is old, needs siding and insulation (although we do have a new roof and new windows) and it's VERY drafty. We put plastic up over the entire 3 sided front porch effectively killing all use of the front door.

WINTER - temp. is 70-72 degrees Farenheit when we are home (at that we feel chilly) and when we are not home the programable thermostat goes down to 62. The cats don't like it that chilly but we do have the heated pet bed, numberous warm fluffy pet beds, and several afgans and quilts out for them to use.

SUMMER - We only have a VERY old and HUGE window A/C that was given to us for free. We only have one outlet in the house that can handle the load and unfortunately we have an open house type floor plan that the A/C just wasn't designed to handle a space that large. We only run it when the temp gets up to 90+ degrees in the house, or on the rare occasion that one of the cats seems to be having difficulty with the heat. In which case we run the thing wide open which on a very hot humid day only gets the temp down to 75 after 2 solid days running 24/7 but it's better than nothing.

[Freedom]

Brrrr, I'm shivering just READING this thread! So many of you keep the house too cool for me! I am happy at 70. Overnight it drops to 68, then at 10 PM it drops to 65.

The problem is my Dad. Being in his 80's and with diabetes and a few other things, he is ALWAYS cold. So he likes it at 74 or 75. I have spent the past few winters wearing shorts and T's in the house, only getting "dressed" when I was going out. He wears the threal underwear, and flannel lined trousers, a flannel shirt, a flannel quilted shirt, and a down vest on top of all that. So I can't fault him for not dressing warm enough.

We manage OK in winter but summer is more difficult. I turn on the a/c, he turns it off. He sits still, I am working. I turn on the a/c, he turns it off. As I'm already in shorts and T, I can't get much cooler. And he wore his flannel lined trousers all summer this year!

[joycenalex]

tomorrow, we winterize the house....plastic shrinkwrapped over the windows, check and refill any found air leaks in the basement and check the attic for airleaks/more any more insulation needs. we have a programmable theromstat, at night/when we're not here, its 64, 4:30pm-10 69, weekdays 69, weekends, after 9am, 69. i wear sweats and sweaters alot, and socks to bed. princess peanut wears a kids thermal shirt in winter, alex loves cold weather, the cats, being heat seeking missles, heater hump and are VERY affectionate

[Grace]

I love your house - thanks for the pictures!!

We have a very well insulated house, and keep the temp between 61 - 65° in the winter. Today I had a couple of windows open and it was 45° outdoors. In the summer I try to keep the AC about 80°, but often need to lower it. I don't do well with high temps.

I'm one of the older ones, >65, but I hate hot weather and hot rooms.

[critter crazy]

I would LOVE a woodstove! I love being outside and smelling the woodstoves and the chimneys. I'm so jealous of those!!! I have a stinky gas fireplace that when I did turn on and try it out when I first moved in, the living room got really hot, but I don't think the chimney was working right and the fumes got really overwhelming. So... no fireplace! It just sits there and collects dust on the gas logs. Not sure how I'd yank them out either. I'm pretty sure I'd have to have someone cap the gas pipes and then deal with getting the chimney cleaned and checked out as well before I burned regular wood in it.

I love my woodstove, i dont even mind all the extra work it entails. We cut down, and chop our own wood, as we have plenty off trees on our property.Right now we are using all the left over tops, from having the property Logged as well as all the downed trees from this and last years storms.

I have a huge fear of gas, and would never have it in my house. Everything in our home is electric. It is more costly, but I think much safer. Altho, it does have its downsides, as when we lose power, we lose everything! Can be a tad anoying, since where we live, we lose Power alot!! we actually lost power today for two hours. But we always have heat!!

I can remember a couple years ago we had a horrible snow storm, and we lost power for quite some time! I was melting snow on the woodstove to water our horses! Comes quite in handy!!

In a couple of year we plan to switch everything over to an Outdoor woodstove! That is my ultimate Dream!

[jennielynn1970]

How do you heat the inside with an outdoor woodstove? I'm totally unfamiliar with those. I thought they were only inside deals??

Actually, when I bought my house, I refused to look at anything that was totally electric, lol. I don't mind oil (grew up in a house that used all oil heat), and most of my apartments were either gas or oil heat (I rented mostly in houses or old buildings, not complexes). My first roommate was actually the one who got me to not like all electric. She was frugal to the extreme, and would have the heat off in the apartment and wear her snowpants and a jacket. I heard this from the roommate she had before me. While I like to save money, I will not freeze to death, lol!

I had been dating a guy who was born and raised in Egypt, and when he had stayed with me after his father rented out their house while he was back in Egypt visiting his relatives (nice, huh?? He came "home" to a totally different family living in his dad's house!!). Well, let's just say that we had different thoughts about what was a comfortable temperature. He was home during the day, and I never thought about how warm he would make it if I wasn't here until I got my first gas bill after he was here. HOLY COW!!! During the winter, $100 isn't unheard of for me for a monthly gas bill, although it's normally about $80. When Moe was here, my first and 2nd bills were over $400. He didn't see a problem with this, because he said he was a "guest" and should be comfortable while he's staying here (and no, he didn't help to pay the bills). I came home a few times to the thermostat being 85* and him in a tank top and shorts. I was not a happy camper. Let's just say that things did not end amicably, and he has since moved,(and I also understand a little more about why his father behaved the way he did, lol).

[critter crazy]

How do you heat the inside with an outdoor woodstove? I'm totally unfamiliar with those. I thought they were only inside deals??

Actually, when I bought my house, I refused to look at anything that was totally electric, lol. I don't mind oil (grew up in a house that used all oil heat), and most of my apartments were either gas or oil heat (I rented mostly in houses or old buildings, not complexes). My first roommate was actually the one who got me to not like all electric. She was frugal to the extreme, and would have the heat off in the apartment and wear her snowpants and a jacket. I heard this from the roommate she had before me. While I like to save money, I will not freeze to death, lol!

I had been dating a guy who was born and raised in Egypt, and when he had stayed with me after his father rented out their house while he was back in Egypt visiting his relatives (nice, huh?? He came "home" to a totally different family living in his dad's house!!). Well, let's just say that we had different thoughts about what was a comfortable temperature. He was home during the day, and I never thought about how warm he would make it if I wasn't here until I got my first gas bill after he was here. HOLY COW!!! During the winter, $100 isn't unheard of for me for a monthly gas bill, although it's normally about $80. When Moe was here, my first and 2nd bills were over $400. He didn't see a problem with this, because he said he was a "guest" and should be comfortable while he's staying here (and no, he didn't help to pay the bills). I came home a few times to the thermostat being 85* and him in a tank top and shorts. I was not a happy camper. Let's just say that things did not end amicably, and he has since moved,(and I also understand a little more about why his father behaved the way he did, lol).

I am not realy sure I understand the whole concept of the outdoor stove, but I am pretty sure it is like Forced hot air. My aunt and uncle have one, and it is the Greatest!! They heat everything, including their Pool!

here is a pic of one.

[jennielynn1970]

OOOH! Here I am picturing one of those pot bellied stoves outside! I can be so blonde some times. Duh Jennie, of course there has to be a structure around it or something!!

I want to look into getting my gas logs replaced at some point, since they have been sitting there unused for 3 winters now (who knows how long the other family didn't use them!). If the time comes in the near future to get the furnace replaced (it's less than 8 years old though), I'll have to see what other options are out there.

[critter crazy]

OOOH! Here I am picturing one of those pot bellied stoves outside! I can be so blonde some times. Duh Jennie, of course there has to be a structure around it or something!!

I want to look into getting my gas logs replaced at some point, since they have been sitting there unused for 3 winters now (who knows how long the other family didn't use them!). If the time comes in the near future to get the furnace replaced (it's less than 8 years old though), I'll have to see what other options are out there.

He he he he!!! You are so funny!!!

[cali]

uhh 68* with a cracked window in my winters would cause everyone to freeze to death lol. in the winter my house is kept around 78-80* with all windows shut and sealed. heck my house right now is 74* and its not even winter yet