What's more efficient?

Question

We heat our home with oil (yay, New England 🙄) and my guy and I were just debating how to most efficiently heat our home.

Option A (His side): Leave the heat off whenever we're not home- which is quite often- and then turn it on whenever we're home. This means letting the house get down to 50°F or less sometimes and then heating it up to 65°F when we get back.

Option B (My side): Let the heat stay consistent. Leave it on 60° or so while we're away and maybe heat it up to 65° when we're home but ultimately don't let it fluctuate more than 5°

Which one is the more efficient way?

Answer

Option A gets pipes and stuff frozen

Answer

It takes more energy to heat up a home 15+ degrees than to keep it consistent +/-5 degrees. The rule of thumb is to turn it down when not occupied but not off.

Answer

His option can cause serious damage. We rent and management sent out a warning about that.

Answer

Definitely option B! I work from home and have oil heat, so I keep the thermostat at 58 degrees all the time and bundle up. I'll turn it up to 62 if we have friends/family coming over because they're not used to such a low temp inside their houses.

Answer

Oil is SO expensive! My mom and dad went from using propane to a pellet stove and saved so much money! And we live in central New York, so we get horribly cold winters. They were paying between $350-400/month for propane when they used the furnace and now they only pay like $80 for like four or five months (it's used for cooking only now). I mean, pellets are pretty expensive too (like $250+ a ton here) and they go through like 3 tons from October to april/may, but it's still way cheaper than what they were paying. And that's heating a single story 3 bedroom 1,500sqft house between 68-72

Answer

Option A takes more energy

Answer

B. It takes more energy to heat the home when it gas completely been turned off.

Answer

B of course. It has to work so much harder to heat back up. This year we've been pissing away oil it sucks!! (I'm in NH). Highly recommend the ductless mitsubishi ac/heaters. I keep the heat on 60 and that thing heats up the house. Super efficient too

Answer

I work from home but i wear a thick sweater to stay warm and keep the heat down during the weekdays, at ~62, and turn it up to ~65 when the kids get home from school till i go to bed at night when i turn it down again. On weekends when we're home its kept turned up most of the day turned down at night, if we aren't going to be home we don't turn it up till we get home.

What's more efficient?

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