Last winter was our first winter in a long time. We had been living in a tropical location that had very mild winters. We knew that our first winter would feel very cold to us, and it did for the most part. It was the first time I had seen snow in 5 years.
We have a house that has a heat pump for heating and cooling. In the winter, I had set the old style 80's thermostat to 70 degrees during the day and 65 or so at night. I knew I was being wimpy, I could stand it colder than that but I was just not prepared to put my body through it during our first winter. Our energy bills weren't too bad and the house was comfortable for the most part.
During the summer this year, I broke down and picked up a 10 dollar digital thermometer to see what the temp in the house really was (good thing I did too because that thermometer ended up being what we used on our refrigerator issues as well). Turned out that the old 80's thermostat was not reading very accurately and we were actually running the AC more than what was necessary for the temp we were trying to achieve. The digital thermometer enabled us to set the temp where it should be so as not to kill the fish but also to not kill the checkbook.
Anyhow, it has started to get cooler here at night (still have beautiful days in the mid 70's) and last night I noticed that the digital thermometer was reading less than 70 degrees but the heat had not kicked on....that was because the 80's thermostat said that the house was 75 degrees. So in having the 80's thermostat set at 70 degrees, we were actually dealing with a house temp of 65 or so. Which also means at night last year I was setting it near to 60...so I guess I am not as wimpy as I thought. The heat just kicked on this morning and it is 66 degrees in here...
6 comments:
Admittedly, it's been awhile since I've paid for my own heat, but I always like to be warm enough to wear shorts in the middle of December if I want it. Not that I want to, but I've always hated that "if you're cold put on a sweater" mentality of my parents and my former roommate (where I WAS actually paying part of the heat).
woooo. okay, you might not be wimpy, but me and my tropical island acclimated body are. no 60 degrees for me!
Joanne- How is it that you don't pay for electricity? Is it included in your rent? The heat pump actually keeps our rates pretty low, and I am glad right now that I don't have a gas furnace, I imagine those prices will be high this winter.
Randi- I was really cold last winter but I also found the summer to be tolerable...I am worried that I am starting to acclimate and the summers are going to be too hot for me...
I pay for electricity. I pay like 25 bucks every 2 months or so. Our heat isn't electric. It is radient (?)... you know we have radiators and hot pipes running through the building. When I lived in Alaska it was the same way.
Jo- that is pretty cool. My friend has radiant heat in his house but it is all in the floor in tubing...kind of nice when you get out of bed and the floor is warm...
In the dorm in college the floors in the lobby were heated. Those were NICE! In my apartment it is slightly risky. I wouldn't have little kids in it since the pipes are exposed and really hot to touch.
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