I have a 50X100 with 14’ ceiling that is insulated pretty good with a hanging Moline natural gas heater. I’m curious if you guys think its cheaper to leave the thermostat set at 63 or turn down to say 50 at night and turn up to 63 when i arrive in the mornings. I work in the shop Mon-Fri so the shop will be closed up on sat and sun. Thanks for any suggestions.
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Running gas heat
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Jeepster04
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2013
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Depends on location and outside temps. If outside temps are mild, maybe. Maybe something like 55F would work better.
Yes I forgot to add location. Bowling Green KyDepends on location and outside temps. If outside temps are mild, maybe. Maybe something like 55F would work better.
pcmeiners
Well-known member
Ran a school building and turned back the heat on the weekends. On a Monday morning I needed to have a computer turn on the heat at 3am for a 68 degree temp at 8:30am; 3 extra hours of heat than the setback during the week.. Yes you save money but the materials within absorb a lot of heat come the Monday early hours. I set back to 55 on the weekends
fitter30
Well-known member
All the mass- cars ,tools and building take time to warm back up. Air is easy.
American Locomotive
Well-known member
Heating setbacks always save money. The closer the temperature your shop is to the outside temperature, the less heat leaks out. Some will try and argue "but the heat has to run a bunch to pull everything back up to temperature!" - which is true, but the time the heater spends doing that will be less than the total combined time it would have ran all night at the higher temperature.
Ultimately what it comes down to is how long are you willing to work in a cold shop for? Your shop looks like it's mostly air, so it will probably heat up decently quick from a 63 > 50 setback.
Ultimately what it comes down to is how long are you willing to work in a cold shop for? Your shop looks like it's mostly air, so it will probably heat up decently quick from a 63 > 50 setback.
PassnThru
Well-known member
My initial thought was just turn it back up when you go in - that's what I do but my garage is only 24X32 so I can be back to 70 within an hour or so. With that much space your results will likely vary. Around here (greetings from BGKY) my garage rarely gets below 50 this time of year so it's not an issue and I work out of it year around.
HoosierBuddy
Well-known member
Agree with American Locomotive above with one exception.
First the agreement: Heat transfer out of a building is dependent upon the temperature differential inside the building and outside the building. If you setback the t-stat, now there is less difference between those 2 temps. Less heat is lost by the building. Therefore less heat is required to hold the lower temperature in the building.
OP is using a natural gas heater so he uses less NG and saves money every time he sets back his t-stat. Yes the furnace has to run for a bit to get the temperature back up, but the net-net is it runs less than it would have if he'd done nothing.
The exception to this is heat pumps with backup resistance heat. If you set that t-stat back you do reduce the amount of heat loss, but when you turn it back up, you'll force the resistance heating strips to help get the building back up to temp. Those strips use 4 to 5 times as much electricity per btu compared to a heat pump, so unless you were going to leave the temperature set down for a long time (maybe a week?) you would be better off just figuring out the lowest setting you could live with all the time and leaving the t-stat alone.
First the agreement: Heat transfer out of a building is dependent upon the temperature differential inside the building and outside the building. If you setback the t-stat, now there is less difference between those 2 temps. Less heat is lost by the building. Therefore less heat is required to hold the lower temperature in the building.
OP is using a natural gas heater so he uses less NG and saves money every time he sets back his t-stat. Yes the furnace has to run for a bit to get the temperature back up, but the net-net is it runs less than it would have if he'd done nothing.
The exception to this is heat pumps with backup resistance heat. If you set that t-stat back you do reduce the amount of heat loss, but when you turn it back up, you'll force the resistance heating strips to help get the building back up to temp. Those strips use 4 to 5 times as much electricity per btu compared to a heat pump, so unless you were going to leave the temperature set down for a long time (maybe a week?) you would be better off just figuring out the lowest setting you could live with all the time and leaving the t-stat alone.
Crazyjake8493
Well-known member
It is always cheaper to set back your temperature when away and raise it back up when you return.I have a 50X100 with 14’ ceiling that is insulated pretty good with a hanging Moline natural gas heater. I’m curious if you guys think its cheaper to leave the thermostat set at 63 or turn down to say 50 at night and turn up to 63 when i arrive in the mornings. I work in the shop Mon-Fri so the shop will be closed up on sat and sun. Thanks for any suggestions.
The thought that the recovery would use more energy is an old myth that needs to be put to rest.
I went that way in my house, trying big setbacks. I needed to set the daytime temperature higher because the walls and things held the cold. Another complaint was the very short cycles that electronic stat would run.
After a winter I got rid of the programmable thermostat and replace with a good old mercury thermostat. Very happy with the change. Constant temperature and the bill is the same or slightly less.
After a winter I got rid of the programmable thermostat and replace with a good old mercury thermostat. Very happy with the change. Constant temperature and the bill is the same or slightly less.
BillK
Well-known member
My shop is 30 x 60 and has another unit on three sides so its pretty well insulated. I keep my heat and ac on 24/7/365 If it gets cold the heat comes on. If it gets hot the AC fires up. One of my customers who is an HVAC guy told me years ago that i was wasting my time turning the heat down at night because all of the equipment and engine parts were all getting cold and then in the morning the furnace had to run longer to get everything heated up. All of those cars in your shop are going to get colder when you turn it down. That might not matter to you but engine block measurements actually change significantly with the temperature.
At home we have the thermostat turn the heat down at night only because I sleep much better when it is cooler.
At home we have the thermostat turn the heat down at night only because I sleep much better when it is cooler.
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Setting back may always save money in theory but I bet in reality it usually is a wash.
I stopped doing it a couple years ago
I stopped doing it a couple years ago
American Locomotive
Well-known member
"HVAC Guys" are rarely versed in physics or thermodynamics. I wouldn't take anything they have to say about setbacks with any real seriousness. Setbacks save a measurable amount of energy. It's not even "in theory". It's fundamental laws of physics kind of stuff. The cooler your house is, the less heat it loses to the environment, the less your heat has to run. Many, many studies prove setbacks save energy.
The problem is the savings are very hard to quantify because of the variability of weather AND fuel prices. "I didn't save any money the year I tried setbacks" - well fuel prices went up 9%. "When I went back to my normal routine the year after, my bill was the same" - well we had less heating-degree-days the following year because the weather was warmer.
You would need to normalize it for heating degree days AND fuel prices, which ain't easy.
The problem is the savings are very hard to quantify because of the variability of weather AND fuel prices. "I didn't save any money the year I tried setbacks" - well fuel prices went up 9%. "When I went back to my normal routine the year after, my bill was the same" - well we had less heating-degree-days the following year because the weather was warmer.
You would need to normalize it for heating degree days AND fuel prices, which ain't easy.