In an effort to conserve my heating oil and stay within my budget, I’m sitting here with my thermostat set on 62. What I’m wondering; disregarding the initial burn to raise the temp up to the desired setting, are you burning any more fuel to maintain a temp of 68 – 70 degrees than you do to maintain a setting of 60 – 62 degrees. Seems like at either setting the boiler kicks on when the temperature drops a couple of points and burns until the couple of degrees are recovered. Does the burner have to run longer to go from 68 to 70 than it does to go from 60 to 62 ? Any thoughts on this ?
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Be not afraid of going slowly. Be afraid only of standing still. chinese proverb
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I'm no expert - I'm not even good enough to be bad - but I'd bet this is the case:
The higher the difference is between inside and outside temps, the more energy it takes to maintain a particular indoor temp (in heating season).
So, I'd bet that it's less energy to maintain 62 than 70, if the temp outside is significantly lower than 62.
Once the boiler is running, though, I think your observation is correct - that it takes just as long to raise 2 degrees from 60 to 62 as it does from 68 to 70. I'd think that it actually runs more often, though, at 68 than at 60.
Anyway, I have no scientific basis, or otherwise, for these statements, just intuitive thinking.
Let's see if I'm even close! :)
The key is that it is harder for your house to maintain the higher temp, and so it will more quickly drop those 2 degrees that cause the burner to kick on. Your house could easily maintain the outdoor temp, right? No indoor-outdoor differential to cause a heat transfer. Maintaining a temp 5 deg higher would be a little more work. 10 deg a little more, etc.
Heat transfer rate is a function of the difference in temperature, so if the outside temperature is, say, -10F, then the rate at which heat is lost if the inside temp is 62 is lower than if the inside temp is 72. So, yes, it will take more energy to maintain a higher temp than a lower temp.
Thanks everyone for the answer. You'all seem to be in agreement. Not what I was hoping for,but ,I'll just have to bite the bullet and go on at 62. Oh! well, only got 2 more months,Feb . & Mar. I can do two months with no sweat (literally).
Melissa;
I'm no expert- I'm not even good enough to be bad-----
Maybe not, but you know enough to be dangerous. LOL
I keep the thermostat at 61 during the day, 58 at night and crank it up as high as 63 or even 64 when we're all hanging around home in the evening. Naturally, it's a little warmer upstairs as the thermostat is on the ground floor.
A couple of weeks ago I was watching the TV news with my daughter. They were doing a piece on tentants suffering in the bitter cold because their slumlords wouldn't turn up the heat. The Social Services inspectors whipped out a thermometer and, OMG!, it was only 64 in there!!
Daughter: "Dad!!!?!!!" Me: "Oops, busted!"
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
So is your daughter now threating to call social services? ;-)
No...She's back at school where they have to keep the dorm windows wide open to stay cool.
Al
I take it you live alone?
There you go.... It's just me and Tonto and he can't complain. I have the heat turned off in the whole house except for the kitchen , dining and one bath. I'm hunkerd down in my bunker,waiting for the worst to pass. I'll be out in the spring with the woodchucks,you can bet your sweet bippy on that.Be not afraid of going slowly. Be afraid only of standing still. chinese proverb