View Single Post
  #27   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
Tony[_19_] Tony[_19_] is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,331
Default Turn thermostat down or leave steady?

Stormin Mormon wrote:
Please forgive me while I troll for a moment.....

Is it energy saving to turn the thermostat down, when
leaving the house? I mean, the furnace has to run to catch
up when I get home. I have a way of looking at the matter.
I'll explain my point of view after the argument is
underway.


In most applications it saves energy to turn it down. However if you
have a heat pump, and to get the house warmed up again it goes to
emergency heat, then it can cost more. If you can turn off the
emergency heat and wait a long time for the heat pump to catch up, then
you will save energy. The worst case is electric emergency heat, gas
emergency heat may or may not save money depending on the price and
efficiency of the furnace. Although it just occurred to me that you
asked about conserving *energy* and not *money* so that may mean that no
mater what your heating system is, turning it down then up again will
always save *energy*... I think?