What's your Temp?

Just run another stat up stairs and switch to that one at night.

mudmixer said:

We had a nice balmy 16F this morning, breaking a string of 17 consecutive days since will not down below zero before midnight. We just got snow of 0.4" that meant nothing and not like the ice and snow problems in the SE part of the U.S.

We have been protected by the polar cold and not really appreciable snow or ice since keeping below zero even for highs lead to the "winter blahs" were there are no real problems except black ice in the morning since the main roads and streets are bare. - Now we may be entering the warming & melting season that is more challenging to live with. I had my SUV washed 2 weeks ago and it is still spotless and there are no droppings on the floor. I will take "crunchy" snow to warmer snow.

The lake golfing on the ice is doing well, but usually carts and cars are not allowed even with good ice.

Dick

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Last night I ran into a father and son that were embarking on an expedition to cross our bay here in Erie on foot. It’s really not that wide maybe 2 miles at its widest point and as a kid I skated across it many times and it’s covered with ice fishing shacks so you are never more than 100 yards from some kind of shelter. I had to laugh the ice must be over a foot thick now but they had made wrist straps with nails in them in case they fell thru to claw their way out. But on the other hand underdressed for the cold IMO. I didn’t hear but I’m pretty sure they made it.
When I was just out of high school a friend crossed Lake Erie on foot before such activity was banned. Now that was an impressive act I thought. Once the news of his crossing hit every thrill seeker thought they would give it a try and the coast guard has all but put a stop to it.

You mentioned ice golf. I never tried it but they do a charity event each winter here and set a golf course up on the bay. One of these years I should go down and at least watch it if not sign up. Ours is pull carts only.

nealtw said:

Just run another stat up stairs and switch to that one at night.

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Oh boy that might leave the down stairs cold in the AM. But you got me thinking if I could flip between two stats easy to do and have that switch on a timer that would flip about an hour before we wake up that could work and save some fuel in the process. Does anyone sell a unit that does such a thing I wonder?

Two low voltage timed switches, one for each stat. Something like this. http://www.solar-electric.com/fldctico.html

Leaving Stratton Mtn, VT, the other day the car sensor said -5F.

The Outside Design Temperature where I live is +14F but global warming will probably make that number moot.

Bud, with a programable, it wouldn't take long to figure the temp to set for night to keep the upstairs compfortable.

nealtw said:

Bud, with a programable, it wouldn't take long to figure the temp to set for night to keep the upstairs compfortable.

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That’s my point if I set the down stairs for 65 and the outside temp is 30 the upstairs stays about 65. If I set down stairs for 65 and the outside temp is -10 the upstairs will be 78. Reason being is with a low outside the furnace cycles so much more that it overpowers the upstairs.

What I really need is a stat up that when temp hits 70 it closes the vent until it drops to 65.

Or do what I’m now learning and when it’s very cold go upstairs and close the damper 80% just the opposite of what you would think on a cold night. The next morning I should close it 95%.

look at the timers in post 24

That’s a nice little timer but still during the day when I’m heating down stairs nothing but a manual operated damper upstairs will shut off the excessive heat from going up during the daytime when we are downstairs. Logic says that heat loss up is a constant as is heat loss down, and when its super cold I shouldn’t be getting proportionally more heat up than down just because it cycles more but that is what seems to happen. May be due to down stairs has a variable loss rate while up is constant because we are always opening and closing doors going in and out. Another factor is that the stat is located fairly close to the door to go up and when you open that door the unheated stairs lets in some cold and fires the furnace. There is also no cold air return up so that has to be pulling cold air under the stairway door also.

The best thing would be a motorized damper on the ducts going up that’s on a timer maybe. That could save a lot of heat because we are only up there max 8 hours out of 24.

As a side note we had a 50 plus degree temp swing today.

I still think you could save fuel.

Much depends on type of construction. Some types are more thermally stable and do not respond to the rapid hourly or daily changes in the outside conditions.

My first home was a 1917 one story home built with 10" clay tile walls that were the studded out with full 2x4s and lath and plaster. - 9' ceilings and a flat roof. It also had an over-sized hot water boiler. radiators. In the winter the furnace would kick on every day or so and run and then go back to sleep. - Very safe feeling and economical, but it was dangerous because when you went outside in the winter because you had no idea of what was outside unless you had the TV on. - Dirt to heat at that time compared to the 10 year newer homes around it.

My next home was a 3 BR split 4 level (including basement) that was a little larger. Typical suburbia with 2x4s and fiberglass. With open stairs everything was really open. The furnace cycled very often as the structure cooled off. On the top level where the bedrooms were, no alarm clocks were needed because of the single zone and a programmable thermostat.

I had a lake home (1800 sf) that was built with 8" lightweight block, 2" XPS and brick for the walls. After a few years, I hated to walk in on a Friday evening in the winter and kick on the furnace (programmable thermostat set to 68F from Friday afternoon to Sunday night). I set the thermostat at a constant 65F (24/7)and found it cost me less than $50 a year to be able to walk in any time I chose to be there. No matter what the R-value said, the annual cost was low enough to do it and not worry because I had a means to be notified if there was a low heat alarm. Again, the thermal mass makes a big difference in the real comfort.

The mass has it's dangers. I arrived at my lake home early on a Saturday morning before a front came through. It was about 32F with big flakes coming down and when I pulled the car out of the garage 2 days later, I did not know the actual temp was -42F. I did know we had 20" of snow as I saw the picnic table missing because of the drifts. The drive into town for groceries reminded me of the safety situation. - I was not foolish because everything (electric, cable and phone) there was underground because the lower cost for the suppliers. Now, I live in a 2 story townhouse (4 units per building that is 1-1/2 to 2 stories with the units separated by concrete block party walls - 1980's construction) each unit has a corner, so only 2 exterior walls. This year we have had a month long string of -0F days and my monthly gas and heating and hot water finally got up to $80. Thermostat set at 68F and fan 24/7 for uniformity and comfort. - I could use the set back on the thermostat but since it probably will not make a significant difference, I keep it simple.

Bud, Still thinking about your stats. If you hook up two, you would not need a switch, just hook them up parrallel, which ever one turns on is in control. On cold days when you wouldn't want the downstairs to go below sixty anyway, that one would take over.

I had thought of doing two stats like that and even having both programmable. That would work fine at night as I could idle the one down stairs and let the bedroom one control the temp. That would solve half the problem. Now when I idle the one up and have the lower stat control the down stairs I would be sending up too much heat all day when no one is in the bedroom. That’s where I was getting stuck with just using stats. I started flipping the damper in the morning on my way down and that’s worked pretty well. kind of low tech.

On a temperature note this morning instead of being negative 20 it was positive 20 and I went out and it actually felt warm like I didn’t even need a coat to take the dog out. Figure out a way to save summer heat and winter cool and we will have something.


Edit:

I really don’t think I would need two stats to do what two would do if I set the down to say 60 at night it will keep the bedroom around 68 in most weather. That would be perfect and close the damper in the morning.

So you need a servo motor and a timer on the heat duct.
That constant temp you are talking about is underground, missile silo. There might be something available over in Bowling Green.

If every winter was like this one I might just be looking into a missile silo. Woke up this morning to a really nice warm bedroom and thought ut oh I bet its cold out. -9.9 f and falling still.

After getting ready for work I closed the damper on the heat duct 90%. Will see how cold it got today?

I hear the silos make a great house but look out with moving walls around. The government spared no expense with rebar in those 2 ft thick walls.

bud16415 said:

If every winter was like this one I might just be looking into a missile silo. Woke up this morning to a really nice warm bedroom and thought ut oh I bet its cold out. -9.9 f and falling still.

After getting ready for work I closed the damper on the heat duct 90%. Will see how cold it got today?

I hear the silos make a great house but look out with moving walls around. The government spared no expense with rebar in those 2 ft thick walls.

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Never mind that some else has a missle pointed at it.

Well I survived about 2000 nuclear blasts in my life so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLCF7vPanrY

Not sure if you have seen this. Takes a couple of minutes to really get rolling. Growing up in the 50s and 60s was a lot of fun.

I can't watch most videos&*(%^ computers.

Woke up this morning to a nice warm bedroom and checked the indoor outdoor to find it was -13f again. The truck rolled over pretty slow and the snowplow didn’t want to leave the driveway as it was frozen in place. The gas gage was also on empty and I had to stop for gas and to my amazement no one was fueling very rare at that location about 10 miles north of my house. Looked at the time and temp sign and I knew why I was the only one foolish enough to be pumping gas at 5:30 am. It said -21f. Without any wind this morning I would have never guessed it that cold.