Cold weather Jellies: Do you have a date before which you will not turn on the heat?

In the winter of 2000 / 2001 I NEVER turned on the heat but used a series of steam vaporizers—
I love cold weather and keep a cooler house than most—but I do whatever feels good and sometimes turning on the heat is very comfortable even if one prefers the cold. Sometimes I turn it on once but don’t run it any more for the entire season,

Ha! I was raised on such a system, no heat before October 1, no matter what. Preferably not before October 15.
As soon as I became the one in control of the thermostat and paying the bills, I decided to turn on the heat when I got cold, and turn it off if I was warm enough. I value that type of comfort pretty highly, after hea5ing primarily with wood for many years.

I switch the heat pump from cooling to heating as soon as it gets a little cool. At the beginning, the heater does not go on very often, so the cost is fairly minimal.

I go by temp, not date.

But I have great tolerance for cold (not so much for heat) so my ‘lower than’ threshold will be different from most peoples’.

Absolutely not. If it’s cold turn it on.

Several years ago I told my husband I will never be cold again. I’m not going to try to save $25 a month and be uncomfortable. I don’t mind being cold outside, I can bear it without much fuss, but in my home I want to be comfortable.

My air conditioner right now is set at both 77 for AC and 70 for heat. If it dips down to 69 it would switch to heat.

November thru January it’s not uncommon for my air to come on during the day and the heater at night. That time of year neither comes on much, we often can have our windows open all day, but if the temperature is extreme enough it uses both AC and heat in one 24 hour period.

Nope, it’s whatever the weather dictates .

Oooo. I’m shivering with BTU anticipation.

First the easy question: Am I saving anything? Since the gas fireplace appliance and your heating system are fed by the same source – and since they are both likely built after about 2000 and are in good running order, the cost per BTU is the same.
But, when you use your gas fireplace you are putting the heat only in the room where and when you need it. That is very efficient. You are not heating all the other rooms in the house like you would be doing if you let your main heating system operate.

I do not have a set date. I pretty much wait until someone complains or I feel uncomfortable. At the beginning of the season I do turn on the system on a cold day to make sure it is operating correctly. I’d rather find out earlier than later if I need to do something.

I try to hold out until Halloween, but it’s dropped into the 30s a couple nights so I had to turn it on for the night to take the chill out of the air.

@cookieman The 30s! ooh – cold!

@LuckyGuy (swoon!) Actually the furnace is a year old and the gas fire two years old.

@janbb One an two years old?! Now I’m swooning! That means they are both pushing 96% efficiency! Be still my BTU producing heart!
If you tell me they are both ventless I really will have to lie down!

Not sure what you mean by ventless but we may be veering into Social now. I don’t mind if it is moved there.

[Mod says] Moved to Social on request.

A ventless gas fireplace does not have an opening to the outdoors. All the heat stays in your house like it does with a gas stove. That is theoretically 100% efficient but since you can never be 100% they call it 96 or 98%. unncae
The newest gas furnaces extract so much heat from the boiler when they do have a vent it is only a piece of PVC pipe. It also has a small pump that pumps out the water that condenses.
Very efficient.

The gas fire is in the old fireplace so it does have a chimney.

@JLeslie I’m surprised your state gets cold enough to have to turn on heat. I bet it’s not very often though is it?
But to answer the question, I try to wait until November 1. Sometimes I can go further into the year, but usually have to turn it on earlier.

We turned on the heat last night. As I get older, the less severe I can stand the temperature.

No. I’ll turn the furnace on when I feel it’s needed. I may have to deal with being cold when go anywhere else, but I will not be cold in my own home.

Sounds like a good excuse to go on a date if you ask me,

“Pleeeze, darlin. Go out with me so I can turn on the HEAT.”

I turn on the heat after the first frost warning on the weather channel.

@chyna Just north of Sarasota/Vero Beach the temperature is 7–10 degrees colder than just south of there in the winter. As you go more north it keeps going down a degree or two every 50 miles or so after that. So, Miami can be 75 when my city (an hour north of Orlando) is 55. One is beach weather and one you need a light jacket. Then at night even colder.

That damned jet stream dips down into Florida sometimes.

Just like pretty much the entire country, January is our coldest month. We still can have 5–10 days of 80’s in January, but easily 5–10 days where the high is in the 60’s (or even 50’s) and low in the 40’s at night, we do hit freezing sometimes. Most of the month the high is 70’s with lows in the 60’s.

Here’s a link with this past January 2020 recorded temperatures, it was a mild January. Just scroll down a little. The year before was cold! “Winter” jackets almost daily, definitely at night. https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/@4175179/historic?month=1&year=2020

When I lived in Southeast Florida I usually put on the heat 3 days a year.

I’ll layer up before I turn on the heat. My daugbter said “You can’t go to that place all ghetto layered like you usually are!”
I told Facebook and they were delighted
.

@janbb: Indeed. I had frost on my pumpkin.

Snowing now in our Town and I have the heat on.
I live in Jasper National Park and this is early to be snowing as usually it snows Oct 31 Halloween every year.
Its been snowing gently this morning and melting on the ground, but now at 2pm its snowing hard and staying on the ground..winter is definably here.

It’s not here. Still feels like summer, except it gets nice and cool at night.

Here in southern NY we had a cold snap a few weeks ago, where the nights were in the 40’s, but now it’s warm again days and nights.

I don’t have a hard and fast rule about putting heat on before a certain date. I try to use blankets when possible in September and October. I remember some years, September was pretty cold.

At the rate we’re going, it’s going to be November by the time I put the heat on for the first time. I have electric baseboard heat, which people will say is expensive but I only put the heat on in the rooms that I am using. If I am not in the living room, I don’t put the heat on in there.

I just was about to ask this again and the old question popped up! I guess it’s a perennial one for me. I was trying to be macho and wait until November but it was 58 in the house this morning and that is too cold for me!

I’ll probably shut the system down again when it gets warmer at the end of the week.

If @LuckyGuy is still following this question, start swooning! I just converted my wood burning fireplace to a ventless gas burning fireplace. I know I won’t recoup the cost of installing it for a few years, but it’s a lot easier than hauling in dirty, buggy wood.
It is October 19, 2021 and so far I haven’t turned on my heat, though it did get down to the 40’s last night.

Mine went on yesterday, probably off again tomorrow. And as soon as I put on flannel sheets, summer will return.

I turned on my heat about a week ago, because our overnight temp descended to the low 40’s.
I refrained from turning it on again until this morning.

In 2017, we hosted the hottest World Series game in history. I don’t think I turned on my heat until mid-December that year.
It was Trump’s first year in office, so it was virtually a year in hell.

@chyna You will love the gas fire. The past few days, before I turned on the heat, I sat in front of it with my breakfast and later with my book. It is so cozy and easy!

And I have a remote control! What could be easier?!

Me too! wouldn’t it be nice to have one in the bedroom too!

Yes!

I was just discussing this with my wife this morning. The heat is still not on and I too want to wait until November 1 (which is such an arbitrary goal really) — but it got down to 40° last night. We’ll see.

@cookieman I’ll probably turn mine off again in the next day or so as the temp climbs again but it sure was nice to have a warming house this morning. And also nice to sleep in a really cold house last night!

This question just reminded me of growing up with a furnace as the only source of heat in the house and was located in the hallway. It was all of us kids’ job to clean it out each fall. We had to take the grate off, which was heavy for a kid, and vacuum it out. Then my dad would have to go under the house to light the pilot light. Of course it never lit on the first few tries. I learned words that I was never allowed to say.
I love this question!

@chyna Did it burn coal?

My Ex grew up in a house without any central heating. Their heat was a coal fireplace in the parlor. it was a bitch to go upstairs to the bathroom or to bed!

No it was a gas furnace. We would fight over who got to stand over it when it was really cold. With 3 older brothers I didn’t get to stand over it very much.

I have always told my kids that I don’t turn on the furnace until November 1. This is a bit tough for most New England Fall seasons. It may sound a bit crazy, but growing up in Minnesnowda helped me to tolerate cold weather.
I think we’ve had about an 90% success rate not including one or two cold nights prior to my magical Nov 1 date which i would turn it on to spare frozen bodies.
I augment my Oil based heat with a wood stove that does a fairly good job for the living areas if I keep at it. I already have 5 cords ready for this season as oil prices seem to be scary for the pending winter heating months.

Here in southern NY, it’s been getting into the 40’s at night (October, 2021). I haven’t put my heat on yet but am thinking about it. Thankfully, tomorrow and Thursday are supposed to be in the 70’s.

It’s time for me to get out my winter clothes.

I remember we had snow in October a few years ago. The days of the seasons being somewhat predictable are over.

I now have not one, but TWO of these babies in my home Toto C200 .

With all these features I can wait a while before turning on the heat:
High-tech electronic heated bidet seat
Gentle aerated, warm water wash
Dual Action spray with oscillating and pulsating feature
Adjustable water temperature and volume
Warm air drying with five variable temperature settings
Automatic air deodorizer
Convenient slim wireless remote, with illuminated touchpad
Elongated heated seat with temperature control
PREMIST® on bowl before each use.

@LuckyGuy So you spend your days warmly on the pot? Hope you have plenty of reading material.

@janbb I can always toss a blanket over it and tent camp in there. On dry days I can turn on Premist for humidity.
Females have a reason to stay there much longer. There’s a front sprayer as well. If I had the appropriate anatomy I don’t think I’d ever leave the room. :-)