It's 64 here in Houston this morning. No heat required but it sure is a nice change from the heat.

A week ago our radiant flooring heat came on. It's dropped to as low as 33f at night. Even the stairs to the loft are heated. We have the garage and shop set to a lower temperature, they just came on for the first time .....yesterday.

Isn't it nice to have this change of weather?!

It is 54 degrees here and the heat is on for us too.

Funny, my dh just said "what's that noise?" It was the heat coming on.

On Florida's Gulf Coast (middle of the state), we had 90 yesterday and it is already 84 today at 11:30 a.m. Cooling a bit tonight, but back into the 90s by Sunday!

The brave 4 plus instructor!

I turned mine on a couple of times yesterday to take the chill off but then turned it off. I need to replace my carbon monoxide alarm before I have it on all of the time. Recently added an app to my phone, PulsePoint, that shows places that had police, fire, and ambulance calls. The number of carbon monoxide calls are scary. I did not schedule the annual furnace checkup until later this month so am making due. There is a possibility of snow this weekend and with the leaves still on the trees there may be problems.

I loved the picture of the pool. I had a Y down the street until it closed a couple of years ago and the picture was almost an exact duplicate of that pool.

I turned mine on yesterday while I had all the windows open to let the stink from first heat of the season out.

We've been turning the heat on when we get up in the morning for the last couple of weeks. Just long enough to take the chill out of the air; we don't need it yet during the afternoons or evenings.

We are having our heat check right now, probably won't need it until next week. Glad to be ready though!

I didn't turn the heat on last night either even tho it was suppose to go down to 44. Slept good under the blanket and comforter. But this morning I turned it on to take the chill off too. Right now the thermostat is set on 60.

Going out now to empty the plant containers and store them away. I normally wait until the end of October but the flowers are nearly spent anyway. Thankfully I had only planted three this year so not much work to do.

Yesterday however I went up to the cemetery to clean off the graves, and the geraniums on Mom and Dad's were still very nice, so I just dead headed a few and added some mulch. I'll go back when I can do all the graves at one time.

We didn’t turn on the heat, but we did change out our very lightweight cotton blanket for a thin quilt. Felt good. And I worked in the yard and gardens this morning for 3 hours. First time I have done that in a long time.

It was 47 early this morning, but our house stays warm for a long time into the fall. Inside, the temp was upper 60s so not near chilly enough to turn the heat on! I'm going to relish the cool, too! It feels so good to be outside in the sun on a day like this.

Funny, one might think of Canada as being colder, but here in Toronto, we still haven't turned on our heat yet. Earlier this week it was over 90 degrees, with humidity! But overnight it finally dropped and is only about 52 degrees outside. My house is still 72 degrees though, so I'll wait until it drops more, before I turn on our heat.

I’ve been going back and forth between the furnace and the AC for the past two weeks, although mostly the AC . Going down to the 40s tonight so I think it will be furnace weather from now on.

Same story here as Toronto, it was pushing 90 on Monday, mid 80s on Tuesday, then the sudden drop to the 40s at night, & I think it only made it to 52 today. I am resisting turning on the furnace though.

Nature is confused - my quince bush is blooming again, the canna is just now blooming, the roses are in mid flush, and I've been hearing a red winged blackbird sounding just like spring. I was confused too I guess --now I suddenly realize that I've got to prepare to get my citrus, begonias and other potted tropicals inside, get the fig into the garage, plan on time to dig up and store my dahlias and cannas, and get the bird feeders up..

We have had temps in the 80's every day in October making it the hottest Oct. stretch in history. And the nighttime temps stayed in the 70's which is higher than July nighttime temps. Then in one day, it dropped to the upper 40's. I walked in the rain yesterday in a tank top and shorts. Today long-sleeved shirt , pants and hoodie and my hands were cold. But no furnace. I'm relishing the cold. I do have the little heater on for the pets.

And ever since I turned the furnace on, I wake up with a stuffy nose plus drippy sinus. ugh. I've had this new furnace two winters, I should be used to it by now.

We had about ten days without sunshine and with rain, drizzle, SNOW, etc. So yesterday when the sun rose it was greeted like a long-lost child!

we also have had our AC on since May... had it on till yesterday... no heat yet bu if these cooler temps hang around, it will probably go on :(

Usually we get almost a month with no heat or AC but not this year. almost going from one to the other :(

I also had all the windows open to air out the house yesterday, it needed it!!! its bad enough that we are closed in all winter but to be closed in all summer was brutal. i think everyone around here is miserable b/c of the weather. rain every day or every other day. we have not strung together 3 nice days since i can't remember when... just a horrible rainy, humid summer :(

woke up to rain, still cloudy... I NEED THE SUN!!!!!!!!!!

Ditto what lily said. I'm not turning on the heat. I love these cool temps. 56, overcast and breezy, aaaaaahhhhh. I opened every window in the house. DH was freezing haha.

Haven't turned the heat back on after the cold front came thru. Weather this am in the 60's and afternoons in the 70's. Most enjoyable!

My theory is, if I don't turn on the heat, and the inside temp is hovering around 58-60, I am burning more calories to stay warm, right? So I can have cake for supper. Right?

This morning it was 52 inside the house. I just had my windows reglazed and am starting to wonder if he left cracks. When I came home from a lecture I turned the furnace on. My experience is that if I leave the temperature at a constant level I use less natural gas than when I used to have the house set on a 65/58 setting.

raee - I like your logic!!

My lower level unit gets minimal direct sunlight and is cool even in midsummer. And we have been having fall temps for at least a month....not much more than mid 60's during the day and in the low 50's or high 40's at night. It's chilly!! I share heat with the main residence and it kicks on in the early morning and evening for a short time. I just had my gas fireplace cleaned and inspected earlier this week and have turned it on a couple of times to take the chill off, as I am usually up long before the heater kicks in. Have also switched to flannel sheets and duvet cover for the bed and added a second afghan to the couch for TV watching! The older I get the more I feel the cold........

"My experience is that if I leave the temperature at a constant level I use less natural gas than when I used to have the house set on a 65/58 setting."

It doesn't work that way.

A heat system replaces heat lost to a colder outside. The greater the temperature difference between outside and inside, the greater the heat loss per hour and the more heat needs to be supplied by the heating system to maintain an indoor temperature setting. So, an interior kept at 58 degrees will use less heating than one kept at 65. One kept at 65 for only part of the day and 58 for the rest of the day will lose less heat to the outside and will need less heat to be comfortable than one kept at 65 for 24 x 7.

Could it be that you maybe need more insulation, or have air leaks, or both?

Elmer did I say anything about what you posted other than I leave my thermostat at a constant temperature. Please explain how increasing the temperature does not use more energy than leaving at a constant. My furnace runs less when left at a constant than when we used to do the up and down. Yours may not but you probably have normal temperatures in the teens and low twenties for most of the winter.

It has been very hot and muggy here - in the low 90's. Then a cold front came through Wednesday night, and now our highs have been in the low 60's and no humidity. Nights have been in the low 40's. Later yesterday, I gave in and turned on the heat - it was 68° in the house, and since I sit most of the time, that's cold for me.

I always turn my heat down at night on the 1st floor. First of all, no point in heating a part of the house where no one is; secondly, makes it too hot upstairs with the heat rising. On the 2nd floor, I rarely turn the heat on at all, until it gets VERY cold outside - they I turn it to 62° during the day, and then off completely at night. I like to sleep in a very cold room! Don't even ask me about the AC in there in the summer!

"Please explain how increasing the temperature does not use more energy than leaving at a constant."

I thought I had explained it but I'll try more detail. Since you seem to have your mind made up, it may not make a difference for you.

Let me round off the numbers and try a simple example, ignoring furnace efficiency. It's cold outside (the temp doesn't matter) and your home is losing 50K Btus per hour at 65 deg interior setting. It would lose 30K BTUs per hour at a 58 degree inside setting. If it takes 4 hours for your house to drop from 65 to 58, let's say it loses 160 K BTUs of heat (40K per hour on average). Had it stayed at 65, it would have used 200K BTUs (50K per hour that's lost at 65 deg) to maintain the temperature. When it was dropping to the setback, it used nothing.

To warm the place back up to 65 will require restoring the same 160K BTUs it lost in dropping to 58. The usage during the period the temp drops and then is restored is 160K BTUs instead of 200+ maybe 100= 300K. So the savings from a 4 hour setback is 140K BTUs not used. Also, for the hours it's at 58 instead of 65, it's using 30K BTUs per hour instead of 50K, saving 20K per hour.

It actually will use a bit more than 160K to restore the setback temperature during recovery because the home will continue to lose heat while the temperature is rising. But it would have either way.

(Gas is usually measured in Therms - that's 100 cubic feet of gas, also 100K BTUs).

Most PUCs (Public Utilities Commissions) require their regulated utilities to pay customers rebates for installing energy conserving or energy efficient equipment. In my area, installing a smart setback thermostat earns a $50 rebate. You can be sure that if using one didn't save energy, they wouldn't pay you to buy one.

I had to relent and turn the furnace on briefly. It might get in the 30's tonight which would be 50 degrees colder than the upper 80's a few days ago. I did it for my pets.

lol lily. I turned mine on last evening for awhile also to take the chill off. It was definitely chilly lol

Still running AC here, though it doesn't come on too often. It's 76 right now but it dropped into the 60's over the weekend with a nice rainstorm. Pretty sure it's the first significant rain of the year. We don't usually use heat until January.

85 here today. No heat needed. I’ve only turned off the AC one evening, last week, when it was cool enough outside to not need it. Temps are supposed to drop tomorrow though so I hope to be able to turn the AC off for the season. I usually don’t need heat on until November though. I like it cold. :-)

Ive used a smart thermostat for a few years now. Definitely smaller bills by doing setbacks when I am not home.

I turned on the heat 2 weeks ago and was used intermittently. This week, it has been on 100% and appears to be the beginning of our heating season. It has gotten cold enough to wilt my hydrangea and stop it for the winter. Last night, it hit 38 F. That'll be the end of most garden plants. A light frost might happen tonight.

Two days ago, we had rain and big wind - took off many colored leaves, enough that we will not have a big showy fall display this year. There are spots of color, but nothing spectacular.

Its time for me to put the mulching cover on the mower and begin chopping leaves. Sigh! Can snow shoveling be far behind? I hope it wil be delayed.

Up to 2 weeks ago, we had summer-like weather.

Our overnight temps will be dipping into the mid 30's starting tomorrow. My moonflower vine just started blooming heavily a few weeks ago, the frost will kill it. And the figs in my backyard have no chance to ripen. Oh well summer's over. As compensation, maybe the trees will be extra colorful this year.