Wisconsin | hydro70guy - 12/29/2022 18:07
I do not believe you really save money with the turning it down and back up. Once the house and everything in it cools down to say 62 or whatever it takes a long time to warm it back up so what have you really saved?
It's a simple fact that you will use less energy, by losing less energy when the house is cooler. Simple physics, an object at 60 will lose less heat to an environment at 30 than an object at 70 will lose to the same temp. The heat it takes to get back to 70 is the same heat as the house used up during that time it was cooling from 70-60, you only saved the difference in heat loss from the cooler temp. (we'll assume we're not talking about two stage, heat pump, back up, solar, wood etc. or losses/gains from short cycling/steady state operation)
If the house loses very little temp during the set back, you're not gaining much. Or if the mass of the house is high compared to the temperature loss, then the comfort might swing more than desired. Absolutely a simple thermostat is more reliable than a programmable, depends on what you want. A set back thermostat is a very minor thing to save energy, no where near as big of savings as lots of other things that you can do.
Edited by junk fun 1/1/2023 12:37
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Home thermostat
