"Jon Elson" wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:

The confounding issue, though, is the thermal mass of the house. That's
why the DOE explanation says that the savings occur when the temperature
inside the house has stabilized at the lower temperature.
Yes, if the house has only dropped a couple degrees when you get back,
then there's little benefit. if the house cools rapidly to the lower
temperature and stays there for, say, 7 hours before you return, then you
get a benefit. Of course, if your house cools off very quickly, then you
might do best to invest in insulation.

We had a big ice storm a couple years ago, and found we could be
moderately comfortable for about 8 hours before firing up the generator to
bring the furnace online. I think that means our insulation is doing
pretty well.

Jon

Either that, or you live in a cave.

You could judge how much of it is insulation effectiveness and how much is
high thermal mass if you had a few thermometers, a clock, a calculator, and
more time on your hands than anyone should have. d8-)

--
Ed Huntress