Page 1 of 2
Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 5:27 pm
by assateague
I noticed something today. My furnace seems to run far less if I set the thermostat at 80 instead of 72. Is this even possible?
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 6:04 pm
by JGUN
Yep, set it at 85 and it works even better.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 6:06 pm
by assateague
Stop it.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 6:26 pm
by huntall6
You better hope your wife doesn't read that post. That sumumabitch will be set at 90 before you know it!
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 6:59 pm
by jehler
assateague wrote:I noticed something today. My furnace seems to run far less if I set the thermostat at 80 instead of 72. Is this even possible?
your furnace is oversized, short cycling at the lower tempature
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 7:15 pm
by assateague
jehler wrote:assateague wrote:I noticed something today. My furnace seems to run far less if I set the thermostat at 80 instead of 72. Is this even possible?
your furnace is oversized, short cycling at the lower tempature
I don't know what this means, and am inclined to say you're full of shit, trying to stroke me out next month with an $800 propane bill.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:25 pm
by 3legged_lab
assateague wrote:I noticed something today. My furnace seems to run far less if I set the thermostat at 80 instead of 72. Is this even possible?
This bottles the mind. I have been told by our local nat gas provider that they calculate for every degree lower you set your stat you should expect to save 3%.
OK, so why the hell are you setting it to 80*? Only my customers over the age of 80 set their stats that high.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:41 pm
by 3legged_lab
assateague wrote:jehler wrote:assateague wrote:I noticed something today. My furnace seems to run far less if I set the thermostat at 80 instead of 72. Is this even possible?
your furnace is oversized, short cycling at the lower tempature
I don't know what this means, and am inclined to say you're full of shit, trying to stroke me out next month with an $800 propane bill.
Short cycling is when the furnace overheats internally and shuts off before the stat has been satisfied. Basically causing the burner to shut off (fan still running) til internal temp comes down then starting fire back up, repeats until stat is satisfied. Another version can be like John said and is when a furnace larger than needed for the square footage: furnace comes on, heats house up very quickly, then shuts off. Running frequent, short cycles.
The only thing that really comes to mind for the situation you described is maybe keeping the house at 80* may affect the heat anticipator inside the stat differently than it would at a lower temp. Here is a link that gives a great definition of the heat anticipator:
http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-thermostat2.htm
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:47 pm
by 3legged_lab
Now can we correct the original scenario: "Hey tripod, my heater seems to run less often when I have it set at 61* as compared to 54*. Whats going on?"
Now that sounds more realistic.

Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:00 pm
by assateague
I'd set that bitch at 96 if it meant that it only ran for 8 minutes a day.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:04 pm
by assateague
But the short answer is our power was out last night. Woke up at 5 to about a 51 degree house. Some substation went offline, and a shit ton of people were out, so they hurried up and fixed it. About 6:30, when the power came back on, I jacked up the thermostat to reheat the house, and then forgot about it. I realized it around 2, and turned it back down. That's when I noticed it was running a lot, and didn't recall hearing it earlier. So I turned it back up, and lo and behold, it doesn't run as much.
Don't know. If I had some dry firewood, I wouldn't even care, but I've already burned through what little seasoned I had. That's what I get for being a grasshopper instead of an ant all summer.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:15 pm
by obxbufflehead
assateague wrote:But the short answer is our power was out last night. Woke up at 5 to about a 51 degree house. Some substation went offline, and a shit ton of people were out, so they hurried up and fixed it. About 6:30, when the power came back on, I jacked up the thermostat to reheat the house, and then forgot about it. I realized it around 2, and turned it back down. That's when I noticed it was running a lot, and didn't recall hearing it earlier. So I turned it back up, and lo and behold, it doesn't run as much.
Don't know. If I had some dry firewood, I wouldn't even care, but I've already burned through what little seasoned I had. That's what I get for being a grasshopper instead of an ant all summer.
Same thing happened to use with the power thing. It was right after the election so I said someone got mad because dumbass got reelected and cut the power.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:23 pm
by 3legged_lab
assateague wrote: I jacked up the thermostat to reheat the house,
This is funny when people do this. The furnace wont run "hotter" or heat the house up faster by turning it up past the point that you want it to get to, unless you have a heat pump or a 2-stage furnace.
One thing you can do yourself to check and see if its running too hot is check the delta t. This is the temp rise of the air passing through the furnace. For ease we read the temp at the register nearest the furnace and subtract the temp going into the return. Most gas furnaces are expected to raise the temp between 35-60 degrees. If delta t is higher than that range it is over firing and should be adjusted.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:33 pm
by jmitch
assateague wrote:But the short answer is our power was out last night. Woke up at 5 to about a 51 degree house. Some substation went offline, and a shit ton of people were out, so they hurried up and fixed it. About 6:30, when the power came back on, I jacked up the thermostat to reheat the house, and then forgot about it. I realized it around 2, and turned it back down. That's when I noticed it was running a lot, and didn't recall hearing it earlier. So I turned it back up, and lo and behold, it doesn't run as much.
Don't know. If I had some dry firewood, I wouldn't even care, but I've already burned through what little seasoned I had. That's what I get for being a grasshopper instead of an ant all summer.
So let me get this straight. You can shoot emus, stack deer like cord wood, and trap eagles but you can't find some dead wood to cut? Would have figured you had some ingenious but insanely cheap alternative to lp by now. I'm a little disappointed in the legend of Assa.

Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:34 pm
by capt1972
jmitch wrote:assateague wrote:But the short answer is our power was out last night. Woke up at 5 to about a 51 degree house. Some substation went offline, and a shit ton of people were out, so they hurried up and fixed it. About 6:30, when the power came back on, I jacked up the thermostat to reheat the house, and then forgot about it. I realized it around 2, and turned it back down. That's when I noticed it was running a lot, and didn't recall hearing it earlier. So I turned it back up, and lo and behold, it doesn't run as much.
Don't know. If I had some dry firewood, I wouldn't even care, but I've already burned through what little seasoned I had. That's what I get for being a grasshopper instead of an ant all summer.
So let me get this straight. You can shoot emus, stack deer like cord wood, and trap eagles but you can't find some dead wood to cut? Would have figured you had some ingenious but insanely cheap alternative to lp by now. I'm a little disappointed in the legend of Assa.

Or dried up cow patties.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:04 am
by jehler
You have a fancy thermo or an old mercury switch kind?
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Fri Nov 30, 2012 8:55 am
by assateague
Old, about 1979 Honeywell mercury switch.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Fri Nov 30, 2012 9:02 am
by BrewGUN
Get one of these!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B006ML9J4OI want one but my regular programmable will have to do.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Fri Nov 30, 2012 9:29 am
by assateague
Surely you're joking.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Fri Nov 30, 2012 9:32 am
by Olly
Haha this topic is funny. My heat is controlled by using a furnace maybe 3 times as old as I am. It has a knob with the numbers 1-7 to turn it up and down. I like 4 or 5

Sent using Tapatalk
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Fri Nov 30, 2012 4:05 pm
by BrewGUN
Apparently Jehler likes it at 10 when we're up north. Ass$@@# kept turning the damn thing up, if it had an 11 he would have taken it there!
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Fri Nov 30, 2012 4:10 pm
by jehler
BrewGUN wrote:Apparently Jehler likes it at 10 when we're up north. Ass$@@# kept turning the damn thing up, if it had an 11 he would have taken it there!
Fuck you an your samsquantch brother, heater meddling fools!
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Fri Nov 30, 2012 4:12 pm
by BrewGUN
jehler wrote:BrewGUN wrote:Apparently Jehler likes it at 10 when we're up north. Ass$@@# kept turning the damn thing up, if it had an 11 he would have taken it there!
Fark you an your samsquantch brother, heater meddling fools!
Better check that control knob, there's Ehlers fingerprints on there too!
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Fri Nov 30, 2012 4:13 pm
by Mornin Beef
assateague wrote:I noticed something today. My furnace seems to run far less if I set the thermostat at 80 instead of 72. Is this even possible?
I really spent time researching this issue on the internet and have concluded AT is a troll.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:37 pm
by 3legged_lab
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:38 pm
by 3legged_lab
assateague wrote:Old, about 1979 Honeywell mercury switch.
Thought you had a buddy that was going to hook you up with a VisionPro 8000?
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Fri Nov 30, 2012 9:09 pm
by assateague
He was, and he's still riding around with it in his work truck. One of those "stop by when you're in the neighborhood" deals. A year later. But he's doing it for basically nothing, so I can't complain.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Fri Nov 30, 2012 10:24 pm
by 3legged_lab
I guess your whole heat question boils down to this: it will cost you more money to run it at 80* vs 72*.
Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Sat Dec 01, 2012 1:27 am
by QH's Paw
3legged_lab wrote:I guess your whole heat question boils down to this: it will cost you more money to run it at 80* vs 72*.
Now that's a reply that Assa gets.

Re: Hey Tripod

Posted:
Sat Dec 01, 2012 6:10 am
by assateague
Yes. Yes I do.