Originally Posted By: Euphoric

Originally Posted By: Risky Sandpaper

Originally Posted By: loudsubz

Quote:

In theory, thermostat setback and setup will almost always save energy, based on the following simple principle of heat transfer: the rate of heat loss (or gain) is primarily a function of the difference in temperature between two objects, such as your house and the surrounding air. In the winter, the colder your house is allowed to get, the slower it loses heat. Although your heater may run for a while during the recovery period when it's bringing the house back up to temperature, you still use less energy than you would keeping the house at a constant temperature around the clock.

Quote:

programmable thermostats indisputably work, and so does setting back the thermostat manually, provided you do it systematically. My indefatigable assistant Una conducted a long-term research project in which she installed a programmable thermostat in her house, aggressively dialed back the nighttime setting for winter, then tracked her energy use for three years, using data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to correct for outdoor temperature differences before and after installation. Result: she saved about 28 percent on her winter gas bill, enough to recover the thermostat�s $120 cost in three months.

Granted, Una's situation was unusual:

Her preferred wintertime thermostat setting had long been a toasty 76.
She set the overnight temperature on the new thermostat all the way down to 50.
Her house is older, with poor windows and Eisenhower-era insulation, and may fairly be described as an energy sieve. (Since a well-insulated house loses less heat to start with, any savings due to setting back the thermostat are likely to be modest.)

Quote:

What kind of savings are more typical? Tough call due to wide variation in houses, heating systems, climate, and energy costs. One rule of thumb is that each degree Fahrenheit you set the thermostat back over an eight-hour period translates to a 1 percent savings in heating costs. A study of two identical Canadian test houses showed an 11-degree setback overnight and during work hours generated a 13 percent savings in gas and a 2 percent savings in electricity (the furnace blower ran less). My guess is that's better than most people will get. A U.S. study of 2,658 gas-heated homes using programmable thermostats found a 6 percent reduction in energy use.

Nope, ALL WRONG. Unless Euphoric said it, it must be wrong.

It worked for me, but I am lying...

Now that Im at a computer I can reply ...

you said the EXACT opposite.

On top of being an assclown you didnt log your gas weekly...even if you did(loser) theres no way you know for sure the exact percentage being used by the furnace since you have a hot water heater (and possibly the gas dryer still)
Obviously the furnace is the prime user but any differences you saw werent from playing with various temps and logging any difference(you didnt do that) and because you sure as shit wont notice those kinds of changes in a week(especially compared to different outside temps) and more likely resulted from your increased insulation(which derp any mongoloid would do on an older house. Doesnt take consulting with phd's and looking at your gas bill to figure out more insulation on and old sieve is going to save energy costs).

most of us have programmable stats here. Sure even more advanced ones let you adjust the hysteresis which can result in slightly less cycling when its being used more, but youll get more benefit from basic programming changes than using that feature.

In the long run cycling the system frequently is obviously harder on it. as pointed out in loudsubz quotes(which also touch on some other good points like thermal mass) Even the furnace has a thermal mass. You are better to turn it on and let it run a while then to cycle it on and off trying for tight control.

a few degrees deadband is not something you will likely feel anyways unless you are sensitive like canuck.

would you rather run your car for short trips or longer trips where it comes up to temp properly...slightly different but still an applicable example.

what really throws a wrench in it is the outside temps. And since those vary from yr to yr it gets harder to compare. Combine that with usage changes , and gas cost changes it gets even more complex. Bottom line is adjusting the temp down when you arent home(and/ or sleeping) will save you some dollars on your gas bill and equipment life.
People dont generally think about equipment life since the hvac will typically be there long after you have left.

and 20 in one house isnt the same as the other. Those cold(or hot) spots matter and some t stats dont read the same. But you already knew that. Its not out of left field to ask what dwelling type people are in. Shit someone could be in a condo and have their utilities incl with their monthly maint fee and because of that they prefer to run at 25 all the time. Its important to understand as much of the big picture as we can if we are comparing temps. Fucking insecure bean counters.

I said the exact opposite yet you are repeating everything that I already said?!?!?!?!

LOL @ herp derp troll

Let's racap:

I said based on my logs and calcs of my gas meter over the winter of last year running both reg temp and adjusted I said my house performed better with adjusted.

You agree, yet I am wrong. Never mind, I am actually lying on top of it right? During the winter I logged my gas meter EVERY SINGLE week and i've done the test MULTIPLE times throughout the entire season where my furnace was on?!?! I am not claiming for exact results, but that my best way to reduce error from outside temps. Results were pretty consistent (relatively) between the weeks. The only thing that I found is that during milder temps the programming worked better, but during colder weeks the difference wouldn't be as big...hence why I need to do more testing during colder times to see, which works better.

Also, since you are such a dense wally you do realize that hot water usage is pretty fucking stable week over a week right. Also it's not like I run my dryer 10 times one week and 0 the next. But you are so desperate to be right you are just grasping at straws now. Anyway, now that we know you are worthless, go look up historical temps for last winter (never mind, you don't even have access to that at mickey d's)...fortunately with the mild winter temps stayed pretty stable, which allowed for my calcs to be more accurate than comparing the heating of the house at -30 one week and at +10 the next.

I talk about hot/cold spots...you talk about the same shit...I am wrong.

Hysterisis...only a degenerate that's still in university is trying to push his weight around with irrelevance. Thanks, go back to class wanker. Come back next Tuesday with the latest from your prof $;\)$

I already covered the temps outside being one of the biggest challenges to measuring any sort of result with accuracy. STFU

WTF are you paid for, you know fuck all and the rest of your time is spent arguing on forums and googling bullshit.