Who controls the thermostat at your house?

13 years ago

I admit. I saw this on Hot Topics and totally related. Here, it's a semi-silent fight. Used to be, he was hot and I was always cold. These days, I'm hot and he is cold. I live in a climate that cools off at night. So once I get the house to temp., it stays there during the night. I find that DH resets the thermostat each morning - to off (it's AC season). Of course it doesn't take me long to figure that out and by the time he leaves for work, I reset to a comfortable setting for me and my bulldog, who can not take heat or cold.

At night, DH complains because he is cold. "Turn the thermostat up," I say. Half hour later, I'm telling him to grab a sweater if he is cold - BECAUSE 80 degrees is too hot. Sure, I work in the garden when it's hot but I must have someplace to retrieve when I can no longer stand the heat. And it takes a while to recover. I can work in the garden until I can no longer see out of my eyes because of sweat BUT I must have somewhere to go for relief!

What is the situation at your house?

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Comments (17)

les917
13 years ago
Thermostat pretty much stays at one temp all the time.

He sits down in the family room a lot, which tends to be much cooler yearÃ¯Â¿Â½round, so we close the AC vents in the summer, and he uses a throw if he is chilly. He likes the bedroom colder than I do, so his side of the bed is by the vent, and I snuggle under more covers if need be.

Just not an issue here, I guess. Thank goodness - there is enough other little stuff that can be! LOL
Shannon01
13 years ago
Ok, I am the temperature czar in my house. I hate being cold unless I am in my snowboard gear shredding the mountain. I am thin and get cold to the bone. I would rather be hot cause you can always get naked! lol

My dh loved it when I was pregnant because I was never cold for those 9 months. He calls me his little thermometer, cute huh?!

A few years ago I decided to get that refund from PG&E. For every percent you reduce your usage they would reduce your bill, something like that.

So I experimented with the heat. Dropped to 62 at night, that was the most we could handle. Down comforter and socks around the house worked fine. I allowed heater to come on a few degrees just before dh woke and it shut off just as he left. Then it came back on just before we got home from work and went off after about an hour, just enough to warm up.

We reduced our bill significantly. Only problem was that we reduced it so much that the next year there was no room to save any more. So I caved in and let them have 63 degrees. lol

In summer our master bedroom upstairs and familyroom downstairs face West. We get a southern breeze in evening, possibly more than golddust? as she is higher up than me, but we have no windows on that side of house. Bedroom was 91 degrees this afternoon, but familyroom is nice and cool. Stucco house really helps keep this house cooler than our prior siding house. Just before we head to bed we turn on the whole house fan, best $100 bucks and Sat install we ever did. Bedroom and rest of house cool right down.

There have been times when I turn on the AC. Today we should have but the wholehouse really cooled things off. Some nights here in the valley if you don't get that breeze you will roast. So on comes the ac. I usually set the house to 75 or so.

Our house is really efficient luckily. We also have a fireplace insert now and it only takes a few logs, turn on the fan and the heat rises and keeps us warm without having to turn on the heater. We also have dual thermostats. I usually only turn on the downstairs because the vents seem to let out into the upstairs rooms anyway.

With my chemically induced menopause, thanks to cancer, and the recent heatwave I seem to be a lot more flush at night these days. Just feel kinda clammy and flush. DH likes fan blowing across our bed at night which is nice but it does make my still nearly bald head a little colder than I would like. Night cap makes me too hot. Can't win. Hair will grow back, some day. Then I will be complaining that the fan is blowing my hair too much at night. Let's see.... no hair/dead or hair blowing from fan all night/alive. I go with number two.
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carriem25
13 years ago
We have radiant (in floor) heat throughout both levels of our house. I bought programmable thermostats, but because radiant heat is not quick to respond, they are pretty much left at the same temperature year round. The boiler has a thermostat on it that is connected to the outdoors - it it is more than 20C outside, the boiler does not even kick in. We don't have air conditioning, but it isn't that common here, anyway.

Carrie
cooperbailey
13 years ago
Me. Be afraid be very afraid. ;)
chispa
13 years ago
My DH is always hot ... which accounts for our $700+ electric bill for August!! We just moved to CA and are renting till we find a house we would like to buy. The rental still has many original 1950's windows and based on that last bill, probably old/inadequate insulation. At least the landlord pays for water, which is also expensive here.
golddust
Original Author
13 years ago
Wow, chispa! That IS a lot of money for one month. In what part of California do you live now? It must be the hot part.
Shannon01
13 years ago
Sounds like some folks I know, they run AC all day long and I have heard of huge bills like this. I hope you can find a house that can have whole house fan or other features that can help keep him cool. I too am curious where you are.
User
13 years ago
Chispa, whoa!

DH cares more than I do so I leave it alone. I'm fine with it until winter when it's 64 degrees in the house. Yep, he likes it chilly. I get used to it about halfway through the season. I also always make sure to turn it up when guests come over! I'd prefer the house always be set at 70.
susanwrites
13 years ago
cooper! Be afraid at my house too! Thank goodness for an indulgent husband who lets me keep the house as cold as I need it all the time. The hardest for me is the bedroom at night because the thermostat for the upstairs system is in the hallway, not in our bedroom. So I have to set it at super low in the hall in order to get it bearable in the bedroom. Which means you freeze some body parts when you race to the hall to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

When my mom, who lives in Arizona, came to visit I turned the AC temp higher than normal for her. I was sweating like crazy and she was putting on sweaters and asking me if I always kept it that cold, at 74.
Oakley
13 years ago
ME. But my dh acclimates himself. He's on the cold side, I'm on the warm side. Of course.

But I do have a funny story to tell. One day I walked in our office where our computers are, and bless his heart (It was Winter) he was sitting at his computer with his heavy robe on and a stocking hat! LOL.

But he said it was okay, and he understood. What a guy. :)
golddust
Original Author
13 years ago
That is funny, Oakley. Robert thinks 73 is freezing and he keeps fleece sweaters to put on at night. At 73, I have a fan on me.
igloochic
13 years ago
I have been married twice. Both men consistently judge the temperature to be "83" degrees, be it 15 degrees or 102 degrees. Is this something they teach in a secret man school I haven't heard about? I'm almost willing to marry again just to see if I get the third 83 degree strike...

But since DH and I have our temp issues down to a science I will keep him.

He believes he's in charge.

I know I'm in charge :oP

Fortunately my son is as temperature sensative as I am, and I'm NOT allowing him to go to 83 degree school. DH whines like a little girl when DS gets in the car and asks for the "cold air" or for me to turn on the fireplace in our room at night, given that to DH it's always 83 degrees.
runninginplace
13 years ago
THE WRONG PERSON, oh wait was I yelling? My husband drives the rest of us insane about temperature.

We live in Miami. Yes, hot, humid, over-90-degrees-for-months-at-a-time Miami. My husband is known by our son as '3% body fat dad'. He is 6'5", weighs 180 pounds and is always, always cold. His preferred thermostat setting is 80 degrees. For years we compromised at 78 but as I've entered my lady change phase of life, that just doesn't work. Frankly I don't even know if I have hot flashes because every time I feel suddenly overwhelmed by heat the thermo is set at 82 degrees and the house is in fact sweltering!

What really infuriates the kids and me is his habit of cranking the thermostat waaaay up high when he gets up for a bathroom run at 1-2 am and nobody is awake to reset it to humanly bearable level. My daughter and I get headaches from the heat, my son sweats through his bedding...and my husband isn't even IN the AC part of the house! He sleeps in our Florida room which isn't on the central system. He also sleeps under a blanket, all year long. Even when that room is itself 90-92 degrees.

I have fantasies of having a locked plexiglass case around our thermostat with me holding the only key.
Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
13 years ago
78-79 during ac season and 65-68 in winter. We are both reasonably comfortable with that although at night we keep it on the cooler side 78 in summer and 64 in winter.

During the day, I will adjust to suit my needs as dh is at work!

Sometimes, when I hear him pull up, I run to the thermostat and crank it back up from 75 to 79. (or in the in the winter lower it from 70 to 66) He comes in the house and immediately turns on every fan in each room.

Easier to do that then have some drag out confrontation about our power bills, owning a big house, put on a sweater!, blah blah blah.
Shades_of_idaho
13 years ago
LOL My husband runs the controls because when we were moving in I had the construction guy raise it up high enough to be able to place a desk and mirror under it because I needed the wall space. NOW I can not even see the numbers on it with out step stool. So I shot myself in the foot on that one.DUH

shannon01 I found with the hot and cold caused from chemo and other horror-mone or non horror-mone meds a cotton chenille throw was just the ticket to get me through all of that. No other blanket worked until I tried the chenille. I think it is just the perfect weight to not be too hot too heavy . Be well.

Chris
homebodymom
13 years ago
my DH thinks HE is.....
As soon as he leaves for work I turn the ac way down to keep the house cool. lately it is never cool enough for me : (
chispa
13 years ago
Sadly my kids have taken after DH or been trained by him!!! They too can't get to sleep if it is too hot, but won't just lie uncovered on their beds ... no, crank the AC and then use a blanket! I've given up. Most evenings I have a fleece on around the house, in the middle of summer!!

Runninginplace, your DH and I would get along great!

Who controls the thermostat at your house?

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