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Just a quick question as I am officially a new homeowner and this may sound silly but I have a few questions regarding heating/cooling in Nashville. I've been used to living in an apartment for quite some time so getting readjusted to an entirely new perspective has been quite exciting and daunting at the same time.
I'm a guy that's been used to turning off everything when I leave (I'm usually out of town every week Mon - Thurs) and since I've lived up on the 3rd floor in my apartment and hot air rises, I haven't had the need to turn up my (electric) heat that often. In the wintertime, I've noted that my typical electric bills range anywhere from $35-45 which I know is a steal but again, that's for an apartment and I'm not there often anyway.
Now living in a new townhome, I'm expecting to pay a bit more for a much larger square footage but I'm not sure how much more. I think my townhome has a heat pump with a programmable thermostat. I've been told and read online that it's not energy efficient to turn off the heat and then turn it on each time because it takes a lot longer for it to heat the whole house and I may run across the issue of pipes freezing/bursting, which uses more energy than having the heat set lower when I'm gone then turn it up later when I get back - which supposedly is more cost effective. I know that if the temperature gradient between the ambient temp and what I set is more than 5-7 degrees, the "Aux On" automatically comes on which forces hotter air quicker but uses a lot more energy. Right now, while I'm gone I have my house set to Heat at 58-60 degrees and when I'm home I turn it up to 70.
Basically, running the heat on all the time when it's colder is a new thing for me but the last thing I want is to get a pleasant surprise of a $1000 electric bill (I'm exaggerating here)... I figure something reasonable for an overall energy efficient house would run me $75-100/mth for a larger square footage than my apartment - we're talking a little more than double the square footage.
What would you recommend as 'energy efficient' settings for both heating/cooling with my heat pump where I wouldn't get a nasty bill but still be comfortable?
You definitely do NOT want to turn everything OFF during the day. You also may be turning your heat down too low during the day, though, thus making your heater work harder when you are home.
A lot depends on how old the HVAC is, what size etc. It's unfortunate your heater is not gas.
Two things are at play: maintaining our budget and maintaining your HVAC unit. If you turn it down too far, even on "automatic," you may save a little, but you will wear out the parts more quickly.
You won't be able to predict this accurately the first month. It takes a couple of months to see if your thermostat runs high or low, and what your personal comfort level is. One of our units heats and cools about 1900 square feet of space, and our thermostat and unit (a gas pac) are about three years old. During the colder months, I set it at 65 during the day and while we're sleeping because we prefer it cooler then. It rarely comes on at night at that temp. I might turn it up to 67 after work, but not much higher. When we're home and it's really cold, I might turn it up to 68 or 69, but rarely higher.
Another thing to remember is ALWAYS change your filters monthly. Dirty filters really restrict air flow and make your unit work harder also.
Hmm... good points. The HVAC unit is completely brand new as the townhome is a new home construction. These past couple of nights have been cold but during the day it's been beautiful with regard to temperatures. Would the electric heating that I have now, would you recommend bumping up to 65 while I'm out of town?
I will have to remind myself to change the filters, especially now since the place is new with the dust settling.
We have a split gas/electric deal - in fact, just had a new one installed. And our HVAC guy said to just set it to one temp and don't vary it by more than 2 degrees. Sounds weird but he might have a point. If I keep it between 68 and 70 . . . it will come on a few times at night for a little bit to keep it 70. Like 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there.
If you have it at 60 while you are away it's gonna have to chug like crazy to get up to 70 when you get back. You should be able to call the electric company and get what the last few months have been when you didn't own it just to see. (We keep it between 70 and 72)
We have a 1500 sq ft house and our electric & gas bill are never more than $150 a month. Gas is higher in the winter, electric higher in the summer. Middle TN Electric bill for September was $127. $20 were misc charges. $107 was for the electricity - 1286 KwH. About 8.3 cents per KwH.
So go look at your meter today and then the same time tomorrow and see how much you are using. Multiply it by about 10 cents to get the cost? Ballpark anyway. Heating uses more power than AC. We had electric heat/cool in CT and winter honestly COULD get to $600 a month - summer more like $250 BUT CT has very expensive electricity, bought off the grid with a huge conveyance fee.
I don't think you have to worry too much about pipes bursting here . . . ? (famous last words . . ?)
(PS. I write the date I change the filter right ON the filter with a Sharpie so I always know if I have been a bad or a GOOD homeowner . . Congrats!)
Hmm... good points. The HVAC unit is completely brand new as the townhome is a new home construction. These past couple of nights have been cold but during the day it's been beautiful with regard to temperatures. Would the electric heating that I have now, would you recommend bumping up to 65 while I'm out of town?
I will have to remind myself to change the filters, especially now since the place is new with the dust settling.
With the filters, it's just one of those habits you get into. It's best to stock up on a few at Home Depot so you won't get caught without one.
When you're out of town, I would leave it at most at 65. Like I said, though, it depends on how your unit runs. Don't jack it up to 70 when you walk in, either. Start at 68 or so.
With everything set aside specifically with regard to personal comfort preference, I'm hearing and have read a bunch of conflicting things but some overlap too. I'm curious to what your thoughts are on this.
As far as heating goes, here are some thoughts I've come across from random people as far as the most energy/cost efficient thing to do:
1. Set temps around 58-60 when you're going to be gone longer than 4 or 5 hours (or in my case, days). Then when you get back, while it will take a bit longer to heat the home, set the temp to 65-70.
My thought: The Aux Heat will kick on to attempt to quickly try to warm the home and that is a big threshold to heat the home, which in the long run will cost a lot of money?
2. When you're going to be gone longer than 4-5 hours, set the temp to 65. When you get back, set it 2-3 degrees higher as needed because that won't need the heat to kick in for too long because the temp was maintained at 65 while you were out.
My thought: This makes sense to me but I'm curious of the cost savings you'd be realizing doing it this way. It seems you're just keeping it to one temp and not going beyond 2-3 degrees.
3. Never turn off the heat setting with the thought of "saving money" this way. That's because you will make the heater work a lot harder to heat the home for a longer time from the colder room temp, which will cost you a lot of money.
My thought: Of course, you won't be spending anything if you have it set to off but turning on the heat to warm the home from freezing will cost big $. Now that I've read/heard some tidbits about this, I'll make sure the heat is always "on".
4. It is more energy/cost effective to keep and maintain the temperature at a comfortable setting (not too hot or cold) all the time regardless of whether you are at home or not. In this case, most common would be 65-68 degrees so the heat won't be working too hard and having to kick on any auxiliary heat.
My thought: Won't this cost a lot utility bill-wise to keep it at that temp all the time?
I apologize for dragging on this conversation, but without having seen my electric bill, I'm concerned as to what to expect and I don't want to be caught of guard with my habits. Thanks!!
With everything set aside specifically with regard to personal comfort preference, I'm hearing and have read a bunch of conflicting things but some overlap too. I'm curious to what your thoughts are on this.
As far as heating goes, here are some thoughts I've come across from random people as far as the most energy/cost efficient thing to do:
1. Set temps around 58-60 when you're going to be gone longer than 4 or 5 hours (or in my case, days). Then when you get back, while it will take a bit longer to heat the home, set the temp to 65-70.
My thought: The Aux Heat will kick on to attempt to quickly try to warm the home and that is a big threshold to heat the home, which in the long run will cost a lot of money?
2. When you're going to be gone longer than 4-5 hours, set the temp to 65. When you get back, set it 2-3 degrees higher as needed because that won't need the heat to kick in for too long because the temp was maintained at 65 while you were out.
My thought: This makes sense to me but I'm curious of the cost savings you'd be realizing doing it this way. It seems you're just keeping it to one temp and not going beyond 2-3 degrees.
3. Never turn off the heat setting with the thought of "saving money" this way. That's because you will make the heater work a lot harder to heat the home for a longer time from the colder room temp, which will cost you a lot of money.
My thought: Of course, you won't be spending anything if you have it set to off but turning on the heat to warm the home from freezing will cost big $. Now that I've read/heard some tidbits about this, I'll make sure the heat is always "on".
4. It is more energy/cost effective to keep and maintain the temperature at a comfortable setting (not too hot or cold) all the time regardless of whether you are at home or not. In this case, most common would be 65-68 degrees so the heat won't be working too hard and having to kick on any auxiliary heat.
My thought: Won't this cost a lot utility bill-wise to keep it at that temp all the time?
I apologize for dragging on this conversation, but without having seen my electric bill, I'm concerned as to what to expect and I don't want to be caught of guard with my habits. Thanks!!
In my experience over 22 years of homeownership:
Option 1 is foolhardy. It is too taxing on the unit, and the few dollars you save by turning your home into a fridge during the day will cost you in the short term when you have to spend several thousand on a new unit.
Option 2 is the most sensible. Keeping the home at a moderate temp saves money and the extends the lifetime of the unit.
I don't understand Option 3. Our HVAC is a gas/electric combo and either has "off," "Heat" or "A/C" settings, so to turn off the heat setting would mean I would be using A/C.
It is slightly more expensive to keep the temp at one setting if you are not home. There's no need to keep it at 68 if you will be at work from 8-5. Lowering it a few degrees, as discussed before, keeps it from kicking on automatically during the day.
Think of it like a car. Do you use more gas going from 0 to 60 in 2 seconds than you do maintaining 40 mph? And if you treat your car that way, gunning it from 0 to 60 constantly, how long would it last?
Gotcha. It seems setting it just setting a few degrees apart is a big deal, but you shouldn't have a variation of more than 3 degrees at any time otherwise you'd be paying more. Is this true?
If your suggestion is cost effective, I'll plan to always set at 65 when out of town or out for a long time and set around 68 when I'm back home. I'm hoping that won't kick on the electric strips (aux heat) because I heard that uses a lot more power for heat pumps... I think if it's more than 3 degrees between the ambient/room temp and the temp you set, it'll kick on automatically.
Gotcha. It seems setting it just setting a few degrees apart is a big deal, but you shouldn't have a variation of more than 3 degrees at any time otherwise you'd be paying more. Is this true?
Kind of. Basically you are trying to keep from using the AUX heat, which will kick in when you try to heat the house too fast.
When I come home from work I kick mine up by about two degrees, let it reach the higher temp (takes less than thirty minutes usually) and then kick it up another two degrees if I'm still not comfortable. Drop it back down at bedtime.
As long as you warm the house up in small increments like that you should not see the AUX heat come on, unless outside temps drop into single digits, and then all bets are off.
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