can i lower my thermostat at my office building to 60 degees

Christian Egli_2

You can do anything you want, you're in control of your own comfort. Shutting off or turning down the thermostat always saves fuel, which is obvious, and what should be obvious too is that it takes away some comfort.

Had you kept the setting at 66F all night, the system would have been ON for more than 2 hours in all likelyhood, but not in one morning chunck.

Lowering the heat just a little bit (like 5F) lead to no noticeable difference in comfort and a saving in fuel. Lowering the heat more, saves much more fuel, but it's your choice.

Did your place feel cold as it was warming up from 60 to 66F? I suspect it wasn't because you had glowing steam radiators all that time, which is rather nice in the morning. That's the beauty of radiator and radiant floor systems, you can have a seemingly low air temperature and yet feel very comfortable. It's like sitting in the sun on a cold day.

If everything suits you comfort-wise, experiment with the thermostat even further. Try paying attention to differences in rainy days and be careful not to freeze any plumbing.

For great savings with steam it pays big $$ dividends $$ to investigate the system venting and balance. Next is boiler combustion and scale build up.

Don't forget winterizing the windows and doors.

mid787

setting back thermostat

I have a brick office building around 2000 square feet, only insulation is in attic floor. I'm wondering if its advisible to lover thermostat to 60 degrees overnite to save on fuel oil costs? Today, it took the boiler 2 hours to reach 66 degrees from 60 degrees. This is a one pipe system.