While some homeowners have considered turning off their heat at night in an attempt to lower their heating bills, it generally is not recommended as a viable option. The fact is, turning your heat off at night creates more potential risk for your home and your family than it does savings on your energy bill.
What you should know before you turn off the heat:
With winter temperatures at freezing and below, turning off the heat for 6 to 8 hours will likely cause the inside temperature of your home to drop below 60 degrees. Such low temperatures can be detrimental to sleep patterns for most people and can be dangerous to infants and the elderly. For the most vulnerable, temperatures should be kept no cooler than 64 degrees.
A Northeast Ohio winter can cause temperatures to drop quickly enough overnight to cause your pipes to freeze. In a cold house, pipes will freeze quickly, and frozen pipes can burst and cause significant water damage.
The extreme temperature drop that occurs when heat is off will cause your furnace to work harder to bring your house back to a comfortable temperature. This is taxing on your heating system and ultimately costs you more money.
A better way to save money
The best way to lower your heating bill is to keep your thermostat set at the lowest temperature at which your family is comfortable when they are at home. If your lifestyle allows it, consider lowering that temperature by 6 to 8 degrees at night and while the house is empty, such as during work hours and vacations.
The average savings for homeowners who do this is 1% to 3% per degree that they lower the thermostat. For a homeowner who lowers the temperature 8 degrees for 8 hours per day, that savings translates to at least $180 per year. For a house that is reasonably well insulated this works because the lower the interior temperature of your house, the slower your house will lose heat and the less your furnace will have to run.
The biggest obstacles in this practice are waiting for the house to warm up in the morning or upon returning home, and remembering to change the thermostat every day. A programmable thermostat solves these two problems.
A programmable thermostat can be set to change to the desired temperatures at a specified time each day. You can program it to begin heating your home before you wake and before you typically return, so that by the time you wake in the morning or return from work, your house is at the optimum temperature for your comfort.
At A&L Heating & Cooling, we are ready to help you make the change that can save you money. Call today for details about programmable thermostats and how to determine the best setting for yours.
FAQs
Although some homeowners have thought about shutting off their heat at night in an effort to reduce their heating costs, it is typically not advised as a practical choice. The truth is that turning off the heat at night puts your house and family at more risk than it does saving money on your energy bill.
Is it more efficient to turn the heat off at night? ›
When you turn off the heat in your home during the winter, your home loses heat faster. When you turn the heat down instead, your home loses heat more slowly, so when your furnace kicks on again in the morning, it doesn't need to work too hard or use too much energy making your home comfortable.
Is it more expensive to keep turning heating on and off? ›
Does turning the heat on and off raise the bill each month? The answer is no. Adjusting your thermostat to lower settings when you're not home or when you're asleep can actually lead to significant heating bill savings.
Is it cheaper to leave heating on all night? ›
Leaving your heating on all night may keep you warm, but it will also cause an increase in your energy bills.
Is it healthy to have heating on all night? ›
2. Lower quality of sleep. It's not only getting to sleep that can be a problem if your room is too warm though. Studies by Tohoku f*ckushi University explain that heat exposure can increase the number of hours we spend awake during the night and reduce the amount of slow-wave sleep and rapid eye movement we experience.
What is the best temperature to leave heating on at night? ›
And The World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests 18 degrees is the ideal temperature for healthy and well-dressed people. Both agree this is also the ideal temperature for sleeping. In practice, you should be heating your home based on the age and health of your household.
What should my heat be set on at night? ›
As a general rule, the recommended heater temperature at night is between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit. A thermostat setting of around 65 degrees is actually better for your health.
What is the cheapest temperature to keep your house in winter? ›
The smaller the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your overall cooling bill will be. You can easily save energy in the winter by setting the thermostat to around 68°F to 70°F while you're awake and setting it lower while you're asleep or away from home.
Is it better to turn heating on and off or keep on low? ›
You may be wondering, however, if you'd be better off turning your heat off completely. In most cases, you'd be better off turning your heat down low as opposed to turning it off completely. According to Wired, it's better to leave your heat running constantly, but just set back to a low temperature.
Is it bad to keep turning your heat on and off? ›
When you ask, "is it bad to turn your furnace on and off?", do you really mean, "is it bad to start and stop the combustion process in a gas furnace?" The answer is no. In fact, your furnace should turn on and off many times in the course of a day.
The ideal thermostat temperature in the winter is 68 degrees Fahrenheit when you're at home. Energy.gov suggests that 68 degrees is a good room temperature while you're awake at home but recommends lowering it while you're asleep or away.
What temperature should I leave my heating on overnight to stop pipes freezing? ›
If you have central heating, use the thermostat to keep the temperature comfortable. We recommend between 18 and 22. If it's freezing outside, set the heating to stay on continuously, but turn the thermostat lower for the night. Remember, the higher the thermostat, the more fuel you use.
Is it a good idea to leave a heater on all night? ›
Electric heaters of any type are unsafe to leave running overnight because they carry a significant amount of risk. If a space heater falls over or becomes too hot from running for too long of a period of time, that can lead to a fast-moving fire that occurs while you are asleep and cannot act fast enough.
Is it bad to turn the heat off at night? ›
Doctors say that temperatures below 60 degrees are not ideal for sleeping. So if you turn off your heat in an effort to save a few bucks, you're likely going to lose sleep. And that is doubly important for those of us living in places where temperatures routinely drop into the single digits through the cold winter.
Should my heat run all night? ›
Keep the Heat On, But Lower the Level
Give your heating system a rest by lowering levels without turning it off completely. Consider that it isn't necessary to keep your entire home at the exact same temperature. Rooms that contain family activity need to be comfortably heated, unlike unoccupied spaces.
How many degrees does a house lose at night? ›
Temperature on waking is usually 14 or 15 degrees, recently. So a drop of 4 or 5 degrees over 8 hours. Seems about average, based on the rest of this thread.
Do you save energy by lowering thermostat at night? ›
You save energy between the time that the temperature stops at the lower level and the next time the heat is turned up. Therefore, the longer your house remains at the lower temperature, the more energy you save.
How much can you save by turning heat down at night? ›
For every degree that you lower the thermostat can help you save up to 1% on your heating costs. If you turn down the heating eight degrees for about eight hours a night, you can enjoy a saving of approximately $180 annually on your heating.
Is it cheaper to leave your thermostat at one temperature? ›
Keeping your home at a constant temperature generally means that your HVAC system will run constantly to meet it. This means that your furnace or air conditioner may run when you're asleep, at work, or out of the house. This wastes more energy than the minimal amount that you might save by having it constantly run.
Is it cheaper to turn the heat pump off at night? ›
Heat pumps operate most efficiently when holding a steady temperature. Turning heat pumps down when you're away or asleep may actually use more energy than leaving them on. The reason is that they have to work harder to come back to the desired temperature than they do to maintain it.
