Battle of the thermostat: The science behind your central heating arguments

CoachBoilermaker

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250228-battle-of-the-thermostat-the-science-behind-your-central-heating-arguments

Jamie Hall

I strongly recommend taking the numbers off thermostats and then telling people to set them to where they are comfortable…

ratio

I'm soooo glad I survived those dark pre-AC ages. It was nip & tuck for a while there, in my teens IIRC, but I managed to hang on until central air was available.

DCContrarian

A surprising number of people don't understand what a thermostat does. A lot of people seem to think that it controls how much heat is produced, like the heater controls in old cars, so it needs to be set higher when it's cold outside.

ratio

It's a light switch, not a gas pedal.

Although that isn't quite so true now as it was in the past.

Long Beach Ed

We see too many elderly folks wrapping themselves in blankets and shivering in front of $50 Wal-mart space heaters.

With a shrinking middle class and dubious energy policies, it's unfortunate that a large portion of America struggles with basic central heating costs. Some emphasis should be placed on local heating. Efficient, direct heating of individual rooms for smaller, less affluent residents can be developed. Seniors, students, young people lacking the cash to support central heating could benefit.

Public policy has prioritized "Annual Fuel Efficiency" which has often driven up costs through complex, high maintenance and short-lifespan systems. We have customers whose annual repair costs of their "efficient systems" exceed their fuel costs.

Clean, economic low-tech options should be pursued for lower income homes without central heating needs or the budgets to support them.

hot_rod

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1846577#Comment_1846577

I agree todays electronic thermostats are more computer than on off switch. They can learn on their own, adjust accordingly, even dial our phones or TXT us a message.

And now the utilities can manipulate thermostats, and other appliances.

Jamie Hall

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1846709#Comment_1846709

True enough, @hot_rod — except that for most systems, at the end of the day and all that jiggery-pokery, they still send the boiler or furnace an on or off signal. This, however, is not true for newer heat pumps (which modulate, but need their own usually proprietary, temperature controller — best not call it a thermostat, since it isn't) or systems which use a temperature controller to modulate a boiler or a mixing valve.