I use box extenders in situations like this.
What’s your thermostat set to any why? Heat source?
- Thread starter gathermewool
- Start date
I use box extenders in situations like this.
The box was already as deep as it could be. Just a poor design--at least one or more of those 4 cables could have gone into a box with a regular outlet in it.
I was referring to the type of box extenders that protrude from the wall.
https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-6197-I-Shallow-Wallbox-Extender/dp/B0015XKHO0
Yes, I understand that maybe a lot of people might think this looks ugly or hates that it protrudes from the wall.
Sometimes I just use the Wiremold metal boxes intended for surface mount wiring instead, because I hate using plastic.
Circuit breakers used are 15 as are the outlets in use .
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gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
Just bought some heated mattress pads and so far, so good. The kids’ room heat has been off for the last several days and they both reported being very warm. My son actually turned his setting down from 6 to 5 out of 10.
The Queen for my bed just came in today. I’ll report back how that goes. I’m sitting here in my comfy chair with an electric throw in my living room and it’s a balmy 54.3F/50%RH and I’m nice and toasty. I do have to wear my slippers around, otherwise the hardwood sucks the heat right out of ’em. My kids still refuse to wear warm clothes and socks! we have to force them to.
The Queen for my bed just came in today. I’ll report back how that goes. I’m sitting here in my comfy chair with an electric throw in my living room and it’s a balmy 54.3F/50%RH and I’m nice and toasty. I do have to wear my slippers around, otherwise the hardwood sucks the heat right out of ’em. My kids still refuse to wear warm clothes and socks! we have to force them to.
66 degrees during the evening and weekends while were home. 62 at night and during the day while we're gone. We like it cool to sleep at night.
Natural gas forced air furnace in Western New York. Also have a pellet stove in the living room, but haven't used it this year at all.
Natural gas forced air furnace in Western New York. Also have a pellet stove in the living room, but haven't used it this year at all.
gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
I wish our wood stove was upstairs instead of in the basement. The previous owners had a small TV that they watched on a futon down there.
66 during the day. For some reason 66 is warm, but 65 feels cold. 58 at night.
Oil heat. $$$
Oil heat. $$$
Same here, by me……
When I had my Kitchen redone, I had the panel and the wiring upgraded to my kitchen and both bathrooms to 20 Amp circuits……the remain rooms circuits are still 15 Amps, though they are pretty much lighting and standard outlets.
My house is 98 years young.
gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
Edit: my wife controls the thermostat in the room. I’ve been turning the heat on when I wake up, but she keeps turning it off. It’s actually 58.3F in the BR right now, since we just showered and the dehumidifier has been running. /edit
I recently installed mattress heating pads and turned the heat off. Both rooms got down to the mid-50s. The queen size has two sets of coils with independent controllers. My wife turned her side down to 6 out of 10; I woke up this morning and had forgotten I had it on 5 and was uncomfortably warm. I think 2-3 will work for me. One of my kids turned his down to 5, as well because he was two warm. The other is more like me and I came in a couple of times to check and the covers were thrown off. Kept doing that eventually after tucking her back in.
My wife worried that her face would get cold during the night, and she always had cold feet. She said this morning that her feat were warm and didn’t complain about being cold at all.
So, it’s been 35-40F outside and for the past couple of days the heat in the entire house has stayed off, except for a space heater in one bathroom for when we shower. It’s in the low to mid 50s upstairs and right around 50 in the basement. Im sitting here on the couch in pants and a hoody and I wear slippers due to the wood floors being heat sinks. My young kids still run around barely dressed and I have to demand that they put some socks on, at least.
The main rooms and bedroom face south, so the doors, windows and skylights add a lot of heat on sunny days.The incandescent lights on the ceiling fans also add a tiny bit of heat, as do the TVs and such. I do also run dehumidifiers 24/7 to keep the RH < 50%, so that adds some heat. With the lower temps they run a lot more, but we also minimize HUMidifier usage that is usually required here with cold outside temps and warm inside temps.
I recently installed mattress heating pads and turned the heat off. Both rooms got down to the mid-50s. The queen size has two sets of coils with independent controllers. My wife turned her side down to 6 out of 10; I woke up this morning and had forgotten I had it on 5 and was uncomfortably warm. I think 2-3 will work for me. One of my kids turned his down to 5, as well because he was two warm. The other is more like me and I came in a couple of times to check and the covers were thrown off. Kept doing that eventually after tucking her back in.
My wife worried that her face would get cold during the night, and she always had cold feet. She said this morning that her feat were warm and didn’t complain about being cold at all.
So, it’s been 35-40F outside and for the past couple of days the heat in the entire house has stayed off, except for a space heater in one bathroom for when we shower. It’s in the low to mid 50s upstairs and right around 50 in the basement. Im sitting here on the couch in pants and a hoody and I wear slippers due to the wood floors being heat sinks. My young kids still run around barely dressed and I have to demand that they put some socks on, at least.
The main rooms and bedroom face south, so the doors, windows and skylights add a lot of heat on sunny days.The incandescent lights on the ceiling fans also add a tiny bit of heat, as do the TVs and such. I do also run dehumidifiers 24/7 to keep the RH < 50%, so that adds some heat. With the lower temps they run a lot more, but we also minimize HUMidifier usage that is usually required here with cold outside temps and warm inside temps.
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gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
As an aside, I also turned my water heater down 5F from 127-122. Each element has its own adjustment. I figured it out after waiting a few hours and the water temp was still at 127F. I only pulled back the insulating blanket to expose the upper access plate and was too dumb to realize that I only saw one terminal board and one element behind it. Luckily the temp not lowering clued me in quickly.
It took several adjustments, but worked. Note: it’s easier to go low and slowly raise it on crappy designs like this. The tank heats up faster than it cools down when hit water is off, so tuning it in is faster on the way up. While the settings were initially just above the 125F mark, I had to lower well below it to get the new desired 122F.
Finally, mine is old and the terminal boards were exposed, so make sure you open the breaker before sticking a screw driver in there, if applicable.
It took several adjustments, but worked. Note: it’s easier to go low and slowly raise it on crappy designs like this. The tank heats up faster than it cools down when hit water is off, so tuning it in is faster on the way up. While the settings were initially just above the 125F mark, I had to lower well below it to get the new desired 122F.
Finally, mine is old and the terminal boards were exposed, so make sure you open the breaker before sticking a screw driver in there, if applicable.
68 degrees 24/7 fall, winter, and spring. Wife is chilly Willy the penguin wrapped in fleece blankets always. Kids run warm like me. Natural gas, 1680sq ft ranch.
58 in winter NG and 78 in summer. Too many expenses for other things, like food, to waste on comfort. We get by.
Smoky
Smoky
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Nat gas / Rheem furnace - 68 to 70 on cold nights. Stays nice and warm for a good while once off.
First home was total electric - 70 to 72. on cold nights. Got cold almost soon as unit went off.
First home was total electric - 70 to 72. on cold nights. Got cold almost soon as unit went off.
gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
It helps that many of us can acclimate and literally don’t like to be as warm as some here normally keep it. When my family visits or visit them I’m usually in shorts and a t-shirt the whole time. I tried to be accommodating for my SIL recently and she subtly let me know that 68F wasn’t quite warm enough. I turned it up and changed into shorts.
You’re right, though. I feel like people are sometimes willing to go to great lengths to save a few bucks, but won’t lower the heat a bit to save hundreds of dollars! at $0.23/kWh the bills get high here. Even still, I’m not convinced that I’d keep a 70F house of it was half that rate.
A little 104,000 BTU Forced hot water oil fired boiler - with tankless coil for hot tap water.
Don't know the exact number the calibration is a bit off on my old mercury switch T stats. I am in an "uninsulated" Chalet style open log cabin in southern NH.
I think it's set around 64F. The heat rises and it achieves approx 67F in the "attic" or Loft area.
Any colder and the boiler runs too long when a slug of cold water circulates down. If its 0 degress F and windy the system cant reach 64 so I turn it down to 62 and now the heating cycle will be 15mins every half hour instead of 10 mins every hour when its above 32F.
The wife's bedroom is upstairs and it has a door. I close the shutters on the baseboard registers. Gets to mid to low 50's in there. I have been using about 100 gallons per month of oil. Currently that is running $400 a month with oil at $3.999/gal.
Our electric bill (mainly driven by fridge and clothes dryer) is up to $90/month where it used to be under $60 before the rate was doubled this winter. Going to set up a nice clothesline again in the spring.
- Ken
Don't know the exact number the calibration is a bit off on my old mercury switch T stats. I am in an "uninsulated" Chalet style open log cabin in southern NH.
I think it's set around 64F. The heat rises and it achieves approx 67F in the "attic" or Loft area.
Any colder and the boiler runs too long when a slug of cold water circulates down. If its 0 degress F and windy the system cant reach 64 so I turn it down to 62 and now the heating cycle will be 15mins every half hour instead of 10 mins every hour when its above 32F.
The wife's bedroom is upstairs and it has a door. I close the shutters on the baseboard registers. Gets to mid to low 50's in there. I have been using about 100 gallons per month of oil. Currently that is running $400 a month with oil at $3.999/gal.
Our electric bill (mainly driven by fridge and clothes dryer) is up to $90/month where it used to be under $60 before the rate was doubled this winter. Going to set up a nice clothesline again in the spring.
- Ken
68° in the winter and 74° in the summer is what the thermostat is usually set too. Propane furnace. Also have a couple of electric oil filled radiators. Propane went up more than electric in my little town so the radiators don’t add too much to the bill and they help keep the bedrooms a little warmer on very cold nights.
Yeah, 54-55F seems pretty cold for inside, but for healthy mobile people with good circulation its not bad. Throughout 99.9% of human history central heating wasn't a thing, but people weren't as sedentary either.
I was thinking back to our campervan vacation and it was often between 50-60F outside and inside for a few days but we were active, and it was fine really. Only when driving would we really heat the van up really and you kind of needed as you are sitting still, or if we all got soaked we run the van to get some heat in, and the moisture out.
I don't understand why your house is so humid in the winter. Is this an old stone foundation cape or New Englander with a dirt basement and a indoor sump well? You typically want some addition humidity in the winter as the dew point is well below freezing. My Shower is not vented either and it's a bit of an issue, I open the door right after and fan out the steam using a the bath towel as a propeller
takes about 30 seconds.I think if you ran the home at 64 and shut off those humidifiers and other blankets and heating pad and matress pads and dehumidifiers ... everyone would be happier. You appear to be fixated on the high energy rates. CEO's are raking it in - making 10's of millions - some over 50M/yr. and rewarding shareholders ** - edited -
Here I am sitting I'm my 64 deg house with a terry cloth undershirt and a heavy flannel shirt and heavy flannel "sweat" pants and heavy knit socks and house moccasin slippers. No heating pad required. Just a few extra Kcal in down the yapper and into the gut and a hot cuppa tea. - Ken
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