Am I saving $ if I lower my thermostat? (Oil heat)

ImYoungxD

Say it's 10 degrees outside.
Would I be saving money if I leave my thermostat at 55 degrees than 70 degrees? Would it be significant savings? Even at 55 degrees, the heat turns on every hour to get the heat from 54 to 55. It'll probably be the same for 70 degrees.

Only two rooms are used so we use electric heating in those rooms. which is $0.15 per hour @ 1500 watt
I have oil heating so I don't think heating the whole house to 70 degrees cost more than 2 electric heating for only two rooms.

ethicalpaul

Yes, you will spend less if you keep your thermostat lower than if you kept it at a higher setting, all the way down to 0, where the greatest savings can be had!

I can't say how much this is offset by your electric heating, but at these temps, I would be concerned about freezing pipes in the cold sections of your house.

GW

large system (oversized) and fast recovery---yes you can save money

small system (so called "right-sized")and slow recovery---not so much

There is no steadfast answer to this question; there are several variables.

Less heat takes less energy- that's a no-brainer. But it's the recovery time that send this topic sideways

ethicalpaul

My understanding from the question that the OP wasn't doing a setback, but was leaving the setting low.

KC_Jones

Do you want to live in a house at 55° all the time?
Are you carefully monitoring the basement and the water pipes to make sure you don't freeze anything keeping it that low all the time? Some of these old houses can have issues even at 70° indoor temperature.

ImYoungxD

Confirming that this is not setback.
Basement has it's own thermostat which is set at 60 to prevent freezing I may lower it to 55.
None of the pipes are next to the wall other than the hose faucet which is closed.
2nd floor faucet is dripping to prevent freezing if temps are under 20
We can handle 55 degrees in the kitchen/living room since we don't stay in those room.
We probably use electric heating 4-6 hours on weekdays

Thanks all.

KC_Jones

Are you on city water?

ImYoungxD

KC_Jones said:

Are you on city water?

No. I live on Nassau County.

KC_Jones

ok, was curious because letting a faucet run like that will cost you some bucks after a while.

pecmsg

KC_Jones said:

Are you on city water?

ImYoungxD said:

KC_Jones said:

Are you on city water?

No. I live on Nassau County.

KC_Jones said:

ok, was curious because letting a faucet run like that will cost you some bucks after a while.

I thought all of Nassau County was on City Water?

ImYoungxD

pecmsg said:

KC_Jones said:

Are you on city water?

ImYoungxD said:

KC_Jones said:

Are you on city water?

No. I live on Nassau County.

KC_Jones said:

ok, was curious because letting a faucet run like that will cost you some bucks after a while.

I thought all of Nassau County was on City Water?

When I see city water, I'm thinking of water in the 5 boroughs/NYC.

Since I live on Long Island, I thought my water is suburban water (is there such thing?). We have water towers in each town. I guess it's municipal water which is the same as city.

ChrisJ

City water or not it costs money.
Well water doesn't come for free. You have to run the pump, and the pump will wear and have to be replaced sooner. Same with the pressure switch for the pump etc.

I don't know what is cheaper, but I'm betting it ultimately costs more to have a faucet running slow / dripping with a well than it does with city water.


Now, if I was concerned about a pipe freezing, there is absolutely no doubt I would leave the faucet running very slow. More than a drip.

Brewbeer

At 10F outside temp and 70F inside temp, my house looses about 27,000 BTUs/hour. At 10F outside and 55F inside, my house looses about 22,000 BTUs/hour. The difference is about 20%.

Jellis

great article about this topic
https://heatinghelp.com/blog/the-leaky-bucket/

KC_Jones

"city water" means you don't have a well on your property.