Anyone keep one room warm?

**kaurand554** · 12-19-2009, 12:30 AM

In the winter?

I find it is just my daughter in me in this house; my (our, now) bedroom is warm with a portable heater.... and the rest of the house is at 50..... you almost forget when you walk out from the tropics....

How low can the temp be set... to avoid freezing pipes...

**Debbie-cat** · 12-19-2009, 12:35 AM

If the rest of your home is at 50 then your pipes are fine. We keep our bedroom cooler than the rest of the house ...I sleep better that way

**kaurand554** · 12-19-2009, 12:51 AM

for the reply...

can I go to 40? on temp in house w/out freezing pipes... I am stuck between oil delivery before next check (on the 3rd) or Christmas....literally...our (now) room is comfortable; with portable heater...

I have one heater; (electric) electric bill up to date..... can I go to 40 to insure it does not kick on at night in the cold that is approaching; and here..

**Ceashels** · 12-19-2009, 02:52 AM

That's a tough question to answer because if the pipes are not insulated well or are in an area that catches a draft from outside or under the house they could still freeze, even if your home is set at 50F. I have vague memories (from my childhood) of using a lamp (no lampshade) to keep an area of pipe "warm" so it wouldn't freeze. I don't know if that would help you or not.

**sabrelvssammy** · 12-19-2009, 08:29 AM

i agree with ceashels and you are taking an awful risk going that low...the potential for damage and then repair from frozen/burst pipes would far outweigh the savings that you would have from lowering the temps from 50 to 40....if you could get the water out of the lines and then shut those areas off it would be another matter but i imagine you wouldn't be able to do that without affecting areas of the house that you do need to use....

i would leave the temp at 50 and open your cabinet doors so that the pipes can be exposed to a little heat (especially on those rooms where the plumbing runs up against outside walls)...

we too keep the house cooler (56) and use mainly the FR where we have a gas fireplace and i have hung heavy curtains over the doorway into the rest of the house...the FR stays in the 70's with very little effort or cost...we sleep under electric blankets and only turn the furnace on in the mornings while we are getting ready (for about an hr...at about 67)...it's amazing how warm 67 even feels when you are used to 56...

**Hamada** · 12-19-2009, 08:37 AM

The energyboomer website just talked about this. And he basically said the same thing Ceashels did. I am thinking of making my bedroom a warm room. Cat would probably like it also. Just need to find a good heater.

During the day heat is set at 60 degrees. At night it is set a 57 degrees. In the morning and evening it is set at 62 degrees.

duva1080 · 12-19-2009, 12:13 PM

I live in an old five bedroom house.

Just me and my daughter here so I open our bedroom doors and have the other three bedroom doors shut.

The thermometer is set for 62 degrees when we are not here, and 68 when we are.

I have old radiator system for heating, and I shut off the vales to those rooms with the doors shut.

Those rooms drop to about 45-50, I do check them in the extreme cold. Never had a problem.

Been doing this, for two winters now, and have dropped my oil bill by just under $100 a month.

**Trishagirl** · 12-19-2009, 12:17 PM

I have a 19 ft roof in our living room so all the heat goes upstairs and that's where our bedrooms our so it much warmer upstairs than downstairs. So we just put on a sweater when we're downstairs. I keep my heat at 68 during the day and 64 during night. I would be freezing here at 50!

**geckoace** · 12-20-2009, 08:56 AM

I would double check that any exposed pipes are wrapped in insulation too doesn't cost very much at all and makes a difference especially if u also use oil to hear your water

**Nana2two** · 12-20-2009, 11:47 PM

We have 2 faux fireplaces ( electric) I have one in the living room and 1 at the base of the stairs,so the heat rises. Temp set at 60. But it reads 72. I bought these fireplaces before last winter and they help alot.

**Libby** · 12-21-2009, 12:09 AM

BF's apt is very small. We close the door to the bedroom/bathroom and use a space heater/humidifier for the living room area. So yes we only heat one room.

The space heater only goes on around 12 noon when I'm there b/c it gets too chilly for me and occasionally in the evening if we don't cook something substantial where the heat wafts from the tiny kitchen into the living room. At bedtime, we move the heater to the bedroom and crank it on high for about 5-10 minutes, turn it off and jump into the frozen bed.

His apt has baseboard heating which he says he's never turned on once in the 4 yrs he's lived there, doesn't even know if they work lol. I definitely think the space heater is cheaper then the baseboard heaters in his apt...plus he's on the top floor so when the temps drop, everyone below us cranks their heat and it rises up to us

Now that's frugal heating

**wanderlusting** · 12-21-2009, 06:52 PM

We live in an an old, German converted barn (Europeans love to make old buildings into houses!). We don't have forced heat- just one radiator in each room- none in hallways!

We keep the radiators on and since they don't heat up that well, we have some portable heaters that we carry around to heat up the room we're occupying.

**sinopa27** · 12-22-2009, 06:20 AM

I remember my mother having the coldest room in the house like she was storing meat!! I keep my room warmer and the rest of the house is colder.

**Ali Lee** · 12-22-2009, 01:30 PM

I keep an oil filled space heater (Menard's 60$) in the LR/kitchen combo area. It's turned on about noon to 6p, about every day-if I'm here. The thermostat is set on 64*. We have fleece sheets & toasty quilt on the bed. I use a small ceramic heater (15$) in the bathroom, when I shower. AND of course fleece throws are on the back of the LR chairs.