It is a lovely 76' here at the moment, and only supposed to be in the 50s at night this week. However, some of my friends and neighbors already have a fire in their stoves [a lot of folks heat with wood heat around here, including me] at night. It has to be in the low 40s before I will consider lighting a fire in the stove, otherwise my home gets way too hot for me. I have windows open most nights still. I had a window open at night [just a crack] most of last winter anyway, so I could breathe. I rarely heat my home hotter than 70', that is plenty hot enough for me. I dont make it warmer in the summers when I have AC either.
Well, we have to get cold enough not to use the a/c at all. We'll take the window units out before we start using heat. Since our house is small we use electric heaters, one in each room, same as window units for the a/c. Then, we just use heat or a/c in whatever room we are using. But, to answer the question, when I'm wearing two pairs of socks and my feet are still cold. dooley
I'm a fresh air fan (my husband says "fanatic") so we have windows open when everyone else is snugly tucked in. We have a wood stove that I fire up some evenings in November, and the central heat goes on when it gets really cold, say in the low 40's, which is usually in December. That is, unless the cat lets me know she's chilly, then the heat goes on and the thermostat is turned up!
The nights are occasionally dipping into the 40's and the days are mid 60's. When the outside goes below freezing and the house temperature will not get into the 60's by late morning the heat comes on as a supplement. After Thanksgiving the heat comes on to keep the inside temp in the mid to upper 60's. Jerry
I also heat entirely with wood. When it is chilly in the evenings and mornings, we use electric space heaters. When it is down close to freezing I will start a small fire in the wood stove in the mornings and then let it go out. This keeps the house warm through the morning and well into the afternoon. Usually it's close to the end of Nov. before I have a fire going all day long. At night we bank the fire, cut down the airflow and it will usually last all night long.
We turned the LP heater on last week. We also heat with wood. But haven't put in the basement. Old time cellar. Want to mop floor with bleach..Behind getting wood. Been working on house.But farmer friend cut some for us.Got pile we cut just needs to be split.
I like fresh air too. Some of my friends here already have their heat on or fires in the stove, but it has not really been cold yet. It has been chilly with a few nights in the 40s, that is it. A sweater, or a blanket on the bed is all I have needed so far. If I accidently get my wood fire too hot for me, I just open the front door, and the window on the storm door to let it all out. Perhaps I open a window in my bedroom if it got really hot in here. A few local people have even dug out the winter coats and worn them already. You would think it was -50' instead of a delightful 50'.
My first thought was "when H*** freezes over". Then Randy suggested "when icebergs form in my cup of tea" Pretty much both apply. Our daughter has a small electric heater in her room and he has one in his home office (he works at home fulltime) out of self defense. They find it rather hard to type with gloves on. I open doors and windows to enjoy the cool/cold. If it gets cold in the house I put on sweats but the central heat doesn't come on until the temp in the house gets cold, down into the 50's, and that depends on whether it is windy, still, raining, snowing or how frequently my hot flashes are happening. If the temp outside at night is below about 40, we open a window and put the fan in that brings the cool air inside. Our bedroom temp can get down into the 30's then and we sleep like logs. Of course, sometimes winter doesn't get cold enough to even turn the central heat on....I really hate it when I have to run the central AC year round.
I tend to wait until the first frost,..i have a wood burner that heats the radiators and water system,..but i tend not to be too bothered with the cold.
We had a fire for a couple of nights this past weekend . . . it was overcast and cooler . . . a drop from the 90s to the 50s . . . we don't break out the blower until it gets cold, but it is always nice to have a fire when we have days like that. It makes our home feel cozy . . . I will probably go ahead, and break out the flannel sheets in the next couple of weeks . . . it's not that we are freezing, but after having such a hot humid summer, I am always ready to celebrate fall . . . sleeping on those sheets makes me feel like a mouse sleeping on a cotton ball!
Toni, I love your first thought!!! I can't let it get quite that cold in the house as I do not wish to kill my house plants or freeze the water pipes. And a nice fire on a cold winter night is rather comfy. I do have the hotflashes still --women in my family have them for life after the change -- but I also have poor circulation in my feet. Fuzzy socks help a lot. I also find myself opening the front door a lot if I get the fire too hot. :-?
We've had the heat on once already this month. The outside temperature was 33 at night and the house was 50, so we succombed. Now the temps are back up to 70's/50's, so heat is off.
When I wake up with icicles on my mostache, I close the windows. If I wake up with icicles on my mostache after that, I'll set the thermostat to 64. You can always put on more clothes. The CEO of the gas company didn't get rich without what we turn on the heat too high~
