Anyone Notice?

Weezbo

heck i call 56F "Working Man's Temp" warm enough to Know you arent freezing and cool enough to actually move about and get the work Done! :)

i keep a constant temp of60 in the three bedrooms the "Living room and kitchen and Bathroom well lets just say i like them warmer and warmer and warmer the colder it gets outside...mostly i think it is psychological...I used to live in Bermuda where 76->84 is considered "Nice".:)

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Nasty cold snap. High fuel prices.

"Please Help!" type messages when deep setbacks are being used in an attempt to save fuel but are resulting in SEVERE comfort problems.

Hmmm...

Start expecting lots of service calls for frozen/burst pipes!

Bob W._3

Notice a lot of people keeping homes at 60. Can't be very comfortable.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Am doing that myself, but am honestly getting used to it. The big old iron rads help!

Am certainly not however using daily setback on top of the general setback!!!

D107

setbacks

Here 30 miles north of NYC, we keep nighttime and weekday day temp of 58, evening and weekend days at 65. Last night temp got down to 25 and it took six hours for the indoor temp to go down to below 58. If one of us gets stuck with the 58 degrees for any amount of time, we find ourselves losing the will to do much of anything; creeps up on you.

Makes you REALLY appreciate living with today's technology. Way back when if you weren't near the fire in the log cabin or later on near the kitchen stove in the tenement you had to be in bed with blankets piled high. Whereas in my old NYC apartment if temp went below 80 at anytime the phone calls would start insisting the boiler was broken.

Keeping temps low saves money but also saves dry sinuses. I guess a central humidifier is next on the list.

David

jp_2

dump question?

why do pipes burst during set backs? even if set back to 45F shouldn't cause problems, sounds more like extremely poor insulation.

glad my woodstove doesn't freeze with daily setbacks to 20F.

jackchips_2

Many times

it happens during the set back period.

Going from say 68 to 45 (extremely low) could take quite a bit of time when the circulator does not come on and if there are any pipes on exterior walls, cold basements or exposed to any type of moving air they could freeze.

One possible reason.

Jack

jp_2

6 hrs?

wow thats a long time, Id say you're better off leaving the tstat where its at!

I could see where outside lines could freeze here, but then, if it take 6hrs you must be insulated pretty good.

D107

to JP: setback to 58 at night gives me enough room above 32

in case the heated porch addition gets 10 degrees colder than where the thermostat is--very possible. If it was zero, it might only take two hours to go from 65 to 58, but as was said 68 to 45 is another matter.

And I'll ask the pros here: if your expansion tank is undersized, do you run the risk of the cooler water contracting to the point where the boiler will feed more water into the system, only to have the pressure suddenly increase when it gets heated up again and blow the relief valve. Happened to me when I merely raised the aquastat temp from 160 to 180 when it got cold.

David

scott inM.E.

pipeburstbonanza!

We got the thawing machines warmed up, tonight it's supposed to get in the single #'s. I would rather pay for a tank of oil than start repairing my H2o + heat pipes, pay me now or realy pay me later!

ScottMP

How about

pay me now or ... **** about the fact that I wasn't really there that long and you did'nt realise that I was charging you overtime and your cousins friend only charges half that much and you'll finish paying me in June .. Later.

AHH yes .. freeze ups.

Scott

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Dave Yates (PAH)

They must

have relatives living here too!

Yes, we've seen an unusual increase in frozen lines this year and I believe it's related to folks trying to conserve energy. Turning down the stat allows the colder freezing temps a wee bit of additional penetration into the wall cavity and we've seen instances where they're closing off rooms or entire wings by throttling back air vents or closing radiator valves.

Deep setback or turning back a thermostat for long absences from a home can trigger a freeze event as well. Funny how the HO's typically deny having cut back the heat!

We had one instance where vanity lines in an outside wall were freezing. The HO & GC were both breathing fire! It was either remove drywall or siding to access the space & the GC + HO dictated it would be the siding & that we'd be paying for both their time from lost work. As it turned out, the electrician had seen our blue & red pex tubing and assumed it was cable or other wiring and pushed them to the outside of the insulation when they were roughing in the electrical circuits! D'OH! Certainly made me feel worlds away better to see the GC squirming after the ration of s%$@ he'd been giving me in front of the HO BEFORE he'd uncovered the problem. Relocated the lines on the proper side of the insulation - end of problem. Last night was bitter cold here too & this morning those lines remain unfrozen. They reside in the outside wall due to this being a SOG with radiant heat. HO wanted all water lines kept out of the slab.

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scott inM.E.

open mouth insert foot

Dave it seems to be a rather current problem I have noticed this past year with alot of G.C.'s not trusting there tradesmen and mouthing off in front of H.O. or C.O. to make themselves look Schmaat! All to often we win.

steve_93

We'll be in the green just as soon as it gets cold.

Love those set back ads and commercials I see, save yourself a couple of hundred bucks a years.

Seems as though they forget to tell you, if you freeze your system up it may cost you thousands....

Come on cold!!!!

Phil_6

setback

All I know is that when we get those days when it's reallllly cold I crank the heat up and pay the bill. 10 degree days are no time to be cheap. Heck, if it's too hot I'll crack open the windows if I have to rather than chance the frozen pipes.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

You'd be proud of me Weezbo. Am having ZERO problem doing "Working Man's Work" at 53° but I'm not pushing my sweat sleeves up like I did at 56°-57°.

Am having a bit of problem with 59° in my office for the "sit on the butt" work... Am cheating with one early-morning blast of forced air up to about 67°.

jeff_51

single digits cold????

c'mon, it doesn't even start getting cold till about -20

Darin_3

AW DANG IT!!

I went on an overtime call last night because the customers freeze stat was giving him a warning at his summer home. he is 4 hours south and we are 40 min north. Imagine my digust when at 12:00 AM I walk in to find his stat satisfied at 44*. I am glad for the double time but I would have appreciated the sleep or at least the courtesy of a little common sense.