# Turn the heat up, or put on a sweater? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004 "2017-12-21T16:28:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/21 "2017-12-21T19:35:26Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > 77F would be stifling for me in the winter. I’d be dying to get outside. It sounds insanely expensive too What temperature do you keep it at in the summer? Is it less than 77F? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/22 "2017-12-21T19:40:11Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > So you actually have your house warmer in the summer than you do in the winter? That’s a fascinating concept to me. Well Cooling vs Heating, I thought most people had warmer houses in the summer than the winter 😕 ETA: I’ll guess I’ll add, I was an HVAC mechanic for a few years and most offices are warmer in the summer than the winter. It’s about saving money usually. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/23 "2017-12-21T19:45:49Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I’m sure this comes up every year, but I just had this discussion IRL again. I actually use my heater in my house so I don’t have to walk around freezing or sit all bundled up. The temperature in my house stays at 77 all year, winter and summer. > > Anyone else do that? Or does everyone else put on extra clothes to sit inside their own house? This is socially irresponsible. California recommends 68 when at home and 55 at night when sleeping. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/24 "2017-12-21T20:04:41Z")
Put on a sweater. I don’t move my thermostat above 64 in the winter. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/25 "2017-12-21T20:08:48Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > This is socially irresponsible. California recommends 68 when at home and 55 at night when sleeping. How is it socially irresponsible? Especially when I don’t live in California 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/26 "2017-12-21T20:09:33Z")
**Mrs. FtG** was on a turn-down-the-furnace kick several years ago. Typing like this was painful. Thankfully she’s seen the light (and the heat). That’s the line I draw in the winter: fingers must easily move. In the summer the issue is comfort sleeping. So there’s a range. Warmer clothes in winter, cooler clothes in summer. But nothing extreme. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/27 "2017-12-21T20:10:51Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Well Cooling vs Heating, I thought most people had warmer houses in the summer than the winter 😕 Right. I too am confused. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/28 "2017-12-21T20:13:30Z")
Well, I am confused too. I’ve heard people say “72 degrees in the house in the winter?? I’d be so hot I’d be dying!” but yet the temperature in their house in the summer is 77 degrees and they manage not to die. I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/29 "2017-12-21T20:20:57Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > What temperature do you keep it at in the summer? Is it less than 77F? We don’t have cooling, and the heat is off. So it’s set to whatever the outside temperature is 😉 For many days in summer this is too hot to be ideal for me. In the day, no big deal. At night I find it harder to sleep if it is too warm to comfortably be under a blanket. Window fans sucking in the cooler nighttime air help mitigate that, although there are always a couple of days that are just too unpleasant for our lack of air conditioning to deal with. We have a very cost effective strategy to deal with that: grumble and moan and look into the costs of a whole house fan or cooling, and then procrastinate enough so that the problem takes care of itself 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/30 "2017-12-21T20:23:43Z")
We have the temp set at 67 degrees. Too chilly to walk around naked, but it’s OK if you are fully clothed. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/31 "2017-12-21T20:26:26Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Well, I am confused too. I’ve heard people say “72 degrees in the house in the winter?? I’d be so hot I’d be dying!” but yet the temperature in their house in the summer is 77 degrees and they manage not to die. > > I don’t get it. Oh, I see. Yeah, 77 would kill me in any season. I wear lighter clothes, run a fan, and stay in the subterranean lair during the summer to stay cooler. And part of it is psychological. 77 because it’s summer is natural and something to suffer through, and you are saving on A/C. Forcing a house to be 77 in the winter would be insanity, and spendy. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/32 "2017-12-21T20:28:47Z")
Ours is set at 70, and I’m wearing a sweater. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/33 "2017-12-21T20:43:08Z")
I turn up the heat AND put on warmer clothes. It’s winter, it’s cold outside, I want to be as warm as possible until summer comes. Here in Ningland that occurs in the first week of June, the day after winter ends. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/34 "2017-12-21T21:08:58Z")
66, and I wear two sweaters. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/35 "2017-12-21T21:17:39Z")
Our thermostat is programmed - no higher than 67° during the winter (62° at night) and no cooler than 76° in the summer - we have ceiling fans in most rooms. As long as it’s not humid, I’ll have the windows open at 80° outside. It works for us. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/36 "2017-12-21T21:31:44Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > This is socially irresponsible. California recommends 68 when at home and 55 at night when sleeping. Ah yes, a heat wave in San Francisco… Of course back in my home turf my battle was with the people who kept the AC all the way down to “refrigerator”. They have been getting three months of payback in electricity-free humid nights, but it took the utter destruction of the power grid. In my provisional digs near The Nation’s Capital my problem is that the thermostat’s idiosyncratic and it serms to wait ‘til it’s 10F off the setting to start up and then seems to keep going until it’s 10F past in the opposite direction. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/37 "2017-12-21T21:34:20Z")
I do 75 in the summer and 68 in the winter. I’m generally comfortable. I’ll turn on a fan if I’m feeling stuffy in the summer (granted I never wear shorts - t-shirt and jeans usually, even if its 95 out) or throw a blanket over me when I’m feeling cold in the winter, but generally 68-75 is fine regardless of what I’m wearing. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/38 "2017-12-21T21:37:37Z")
Set it to 67 in the day (when we’re home), 63 or 64 when we leave, 62 at night. If we get chilly, we put on a sweatshirt, get under an afghan or turn on the electric fireplace for a half hour or so to get the nip out of the air when the kids watch TV in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/39 "2017-12-21T21:54:22Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I’m sure this comes up every year, but I just had this discussion IRL again. I actually use my heater in my house so I don’t have to walk around freezing or sit all bundled up. The temperature in my house stays at 77 all year, winter and summer. All I can say is, Jesus H. Christ, are you operating a sauna? :eek: Or are you a visitor from Venus or Mercury? I had my thermostat at 20°C (68°F) until the weather started turning quite cold, and now it’s at its winter setting of 21°C (69.8°F). No, I don’t wear shorts, but I do usually wear short-sleeve T-shirts. No sweater necessary. Admittedly, I’m more sensitive to heat in the summer in my older years, but even in the summer when the AC seems to throw a real chill in the air compared to the outside, I generally have it set between 73°F and 74°F and no higher. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004/40 "2017-12-21T22:10:42Z")
If the thermostat is on, it’s generally set to 68 in our house. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a/c or heat. My wife and I are polar (heh) opposites in terms of comfortable temperature, so that’s about the best temperature for the two of us to operate in comfortably (although I’m generally in shorts and t-shirt at home, and she sometimes has to don a sweater). We sometimes crank the heat up to 71 for short periods of time if someone needs to warm up before climbing into bed, but I can’t stand it being that warm in the house for very long. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-the-heat-up-or-put-on-a-sweater/805004.md?page=3)