So at work today, the discussion of household heating and gas/electricity bills came up (entering winter Down Under), and I commented that we have our central heating set to 14 Celsius (approx 57 Freedoms) overnight, and off during the day/evening. We find that 14 is quite comfortable under a fluffy doona/duvet. I was warmly mocked (well natured), and informed that something closer to 24C (75F) is appropriate, day and night.

Surely not… right?

  • LlamaSutra@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    If I set my winter evening thermostat to 14C my wife would have my head on a spike in the front lawn. Police be damned.

    We keep it at 22C as a compromise during the day and 19 at night (since we sleep better in the cold).

  • snota@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    My house is set to 22 in the morning and switches off at about 11am otherwise the house is too warm at bed time. I have ‘cold’ friends who keep their house much colder so there seems to be a range of preferences.

    • passthepotato@aussie.zoneOP
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      1 year ago

      Hahaha not sure where you are exactly, but my memory of Houston and Corpus Christi involves using my arms to swim through the air - the heat and humidity was suffocating; the air was so thick! Sunglasses fogging up instantly when you step outside from an air-conditioned room.

      We regularly see 110F here Down Under in our south, but it’s a dry heat. You can at least spend the day outside getting stuff done.

      • bloodsangre7@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Your memory is very good. We are 100+ this week with that humidity, it is brutal outside. I’ll take the dry heat/cold any day, Australia/NZ is on my travel list!

        • passthepotato@aussie.zoneOP
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          1 year ago

          Ouch, you can keep that! Hit me up if you’re ever near Melbourne; we’ll take you for a walk through Sherbrooke Forest; if you’re here at this time of year, you enjoy cold mornings, and you’re very lucky - you may even get to hear a lyrebird song - imitating every other native bird in the forest! 😀

  • LwL@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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    1 year ago

    24 seems insane to me, that is way beyond uncomfortably warm. At night I’m pretty sure that’s just unhealthy.

    I tend to keep temperature around 16-18 degrees celsius in the winter during the day, never had a thermostat that allowed setting a target temp so it fluctuates. 16 is alright with double or thick socks and a sweater even when i sit around at my pc. At night I just turn off the heat and open the window, it gets cold but it’s comfortable in a blanket.

  • maporita@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    18C . We live in a condo building that is well insulated so setting it any lower wouldn’t help. I agree, it’s preferable to sleep when it’s cooler. 24C in winter is insane - if you’re cold just put on a jersey or a fleece.

  • xffxe4@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    Mine stays set between 68F and 72F year round, adjusting depending on if I’m hot or cold. My dad was always one to set the thermostat based on cost and I refuse to be that way.

  • plum@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    It is summer here, so our night temp is set to 21C and daytime temp is set to 24C. If we’re away, the AC will turn off.

    In winter, I think we keep the house at 18C at night and maybe 19-20C during the day. Our eco mode minimum is set to 15C so the pipes don’t freeze.

    I also prefer cooler, but we set our temps in a way to save on our electric bill.

    I’m in Canada and we definitely couldn’t just turn off our furnace in the winter - things start exploding when it is -30C or lower.

  • fratermus@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I live offgrid in a campervan and do not have HVAC in the normal sense. I follow mild weather, aiming for daily highs of 65-70deg F. Because I camp in arid regions this usually means overnight lows of 35-45F. I try to avoid overnight freezes for comfort and to protect my water system.

    My roof vent is set to 65F (comes on then and tries to hold that temp). The LiFePO4 battery bank is warmed to 50F. At night I use an electric blanket and dogbuddy to stay warm if needed.

    • tallwookie@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      what you’re doing is what I want to do - do you have any suggestions for links to/communities on lemmy or other federated platforms? liked vandwellers back on reddit a lot but cant find something similar here.

      my rig is a 1987 Ford/Grumman Kabmaster, it’s been in the shop for a while now.

      • CherenkovBlue@iusearchlinux.fyi
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        1 year ago

        Not OP but I haven’t found one yet (though I haven’t looked exhaustively). I think it would be popular if you made a community though!

        VanLife, Teardrop trailers…

  • Pyrrhocore@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    I set temp to 18C when at home during the day, and 16/17C when away or night.
    Bad insulation (empty air…), so if I lower too much it take hours to heat up again.

    • passthepotato@aussie.zoneOP
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      1 year ago

      Ahh yes, we also suffer from a lack of insulation. Empty ceiling and walls. The 50s was a pretty relaxed era for Australian housing.

      • Pyrrhocore@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        It’s a house from the early 70s in France.
        There was almost no insulation. First rules to improve that started around 1974.

        How does it work in Australia? Does gouv try to push people to improve that in old houses?
        I guess it would be great for summer as I think it’s pretty warm there.

  • TechyDad@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    We have our thermostat set to 63°F in the winter. We’ll go up to 67°F or so if there’s a storm bad enough that power loss is possible.

    In the summer, we have our air conditioners set to 70°F.

    • passthepotato@aussie.zoneOP
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      1 year ago

      Interesting idea, banking some heat ahead of a storm. We regularly lose power here, but not for any significant length of time (minutes, not hours or days)