And then, this weekend, the weather took a definite turn colder. Saturday morning when I woke up, it was just 63F (17C) in the house. Outside, the high was just 12C (about 54F). (I follow the outside temps in Celsius, but we keep our thermostat set in Fahrenheit. Very Canadian, lol. ;) )(At least for those of us of a certain vintage who straddle both systems.) It rose to a balmy 65F (18C) at one point during the afternoon -- but when we got back from dinner out that evening, it was back down to 63F, and would no doubt have dropped further during the night. (Funny how 17C or 18C outside can be perfectly pleasant, while inside, it feels like an icebox...!)
Dh is reluctant to turn the furnace on before we've had a professional in to clean & inspect it -- but even he was finding it cold. So we caved and turned the thing on. It's nice & toasty warm again in the house, and the towels are drying out properly. (One of my pet peeves during these in-between times when it's too cold for the air conditioning to run but not cold enough to turn on the furnace: damp, musty towels that I have to wash more frequently. Yuck.)
How about you? Have you turned on your furnace yet? When do you usually turn it on (around what date or what temperature), & what temperature do you usually keep it set at?
(Depending on the weather, we've sometimes managed to go to mid-October without turning on the heat. I usually start getting cold once the temp dips below 68F/20C and cave if it gets to 65F/18C or colder. We usually keep the furnace somewhere between 68F and 72F/22C. In the summer, we usually keep the a/c around 73F/23F.)
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
 |
| A timely Facebook find. :) |
Ha! Love the picture (mainly because it applies).
ReplyDeleteWe're in the same boat. Finally cold enough to turn on the heat. Farewell summer! It's been fun.
The first autumn in our new house we had the thermostat at the default factory setting of
ReplyDelete68F/20C but despite our efforts to insulate it costed 800 euros for gas for just oct and nov. We decided to turn down to 65F (18C) during the day when we are home and two hours of 67F/19C in the evening and it makes a huge difference to the bill. I love my cashmere jumpers and shawls!
Love the Facebook find! We try to keep the furnace at 68F over the winter, but as you said, we bump it up sometimes when it's ridiculously cold out. We had the heat on for the first time over the past few days as well - winter is definitely approaching here in New Hampshire.
ReplyDeleteSending warm thoughts your way! :)
It's gone down to minus during the nights here these days and the other day it snowed for the first time (though it didn't stay on the ground). I'm excited for a thin snow layer as it makes everything brighter. :-D
ReplyDeleteInteresting to know about the damp air, though. Over here it's rarely damp except in summer and even then it's never as damp as in Indonesia for example, so I always hang our laundry inside the house and usually they're dry within 24 hours. In Indonesia it's impossible to hang dry the laundry inside the house without making them smell damp (and it takes longer for them to dry, too).
We usually keep the room temperature at 21-22'C, though the bedroom temperature is set to around 18'C. We turn on the heaters when the temperature goes down to 20'C.
Our heat is not on yet (much to my husband and dog's dismay) and I want to hold out on turning it on for as long as humanly possible. We usually end up turning it on around mid October or whenever the house gets below 60 during the daytime and keep it on 67 for most of the winter. Our furnace is pretty crappy so upstairs in our bedroom it probably around 63, which is perfect for sleeping. I've never really been a winter person but with my hot flashes kicking it up a notch I'm actually looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteSo funny how the same temp that feels all right outside feels so chilly inside.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy in the mid-70s to mid-80s (F), so this is my sad time of year.
I find the concept of "turning on the heat/furnace" intriguing. In general, we don't have heating like this - certainly not a furnace (my mind is boggling) - so find it easier to heat at will. So, once you turn on the furnace, it is on for the winter?
ReplyDeleteWell, theoretically, you COULD turn it off. But you probably wouldn't want to, lol. ;) It will only kick in at the temperature you set the thermostat to. Right now, the temps are fairly mild (again)... we've set the thermostat at 68F so it doesn't come on until the temps inside the house dip to that point -- so it doesn't come on very often right now. But it will kick in more frequently as the temps get colder (at which point we will probably raise the temperature a bit).
DeleteI can't imagine not having central heating. Actually, I can... my grandparents' old house had two oil burning stoves that heated the house... there was a pipe that sent some of the heat upstairs to a vent between two bedrooms, and a grate in the floor of the main bedroom (my sister & I used to hang over the edge of the bed to eavesdrop on the grownups' conversation downstairs, when we were supposed to be asleep!), but it could get pretty chilly up there, lol. We usually had a hot water bottle & lots of blankets.
And some of my friends grew up in houses heated by electric baseboard heaters. But most people these days, at least hereabouts, have houses with forced-air furnaces, fueled by natural gas.
Interesting. I think you're prompting a blog post ...
DeleteI am always cold, so I don't run the air conditioning a lot in the summer, but I run up huge heating bills in the winter. I try to keep it on 76. Or I'll turn it a little lower but use a space heater by my desk. And drink a lot of tea. We've only turned it on once so far, but it's pretty cold out. I'm wearing a sweatshirt today.
ReplyDeleteOh, we had to cave a couple weeks ago during a cold snap. What works for us is to warm up the house, then turn off the heat when we go to bed. We do block Boo's vents though as he runs quite warm and always cocoons himself up in his blanket. Sometimes (if DH isn't home) I'll turn it on (even heaven forbid a window is open.) Can't say I've ever worried about the furnace being inspected before turning it on. We do change the filters though often.
ReplyDelete