Thermostat Settings

Allen_2

Good evening! I have the Honeywell Smart Response Thermostats in 3 seperate zones. The question I have is, is the a general rule of thumb as fars as how low you shoud set your temp while you are not home.

For instance I have the away settings @ 64degrees and the return at 72. Is that to great of a spread? I have a 3 year old Cast iron Burnham Oil Boiler whose effeciency is probably in the low 80's.

Is there a general rule of thumb? Thank you for your help in advance

Al

Mike T., Swampeast MO

It depends...

...don't you just love that kind of answer?

The dependency is on how long you are away.

If just for "working hours"? In my opinion no more than 4° in a reasonably insulated/weather sealed home.

Allen_2

Thanks

The downstairs is in "away mode" for 12-15 hours minimum. (10pm until 5pm the next day)We leave early and get home late.

Thanks for help! There is alot of different theory's out there I and cam here to get the real deal.

Thanks again!

Uni R

A Function

It's a function of how long you are away and how quickly your heating system can recover the temperature (and this second factor is highly dependent on how cold it is outside). The tough part with this is that you can have it all set up nicely to recover when it is 35*F outside but then the first time you come home when it is 0*F out it may not even be halfway back up to temperature. Personally, I wouldn't try and do the spread more than 5*F because any more and you are doing a fairly major heat expansion cycle on every board in your house, every peice of wood furniture, every drywall screw, etc.