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teambeattie t1_j6n1ck0 wrote

Reply to comment by hosmosis in Stay warm this weekend by rocksandlsd

My husband prefers a cold house, so we keep it at 60 all winter. Is there an advantage to turning it up in the super cold?

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Epb7304 t1_j6n2yls wrote

Its to help prevent your pipes from freezing, if your heating pipes are inactive for too long they could freeze and stop flow, or worse: burst

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ecco-domenica t1_j6niziu wrote

If you should have a problem with your furnace, a warmer house will give you more time to react to solve the problem before pipes freeze. Furnace techs all over the state will be busy doing emergency repairs & may not be able to get to yours immediately. When I used to do property checks, furnaces always seemed to go out on the coldest day of the year.

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mervmonster t1_j6oj25g wrote

This is why we turn our heat in the basement up before leaving for vacation. The couple bucks worth of heating is worth it. If your basement is nice and warm your house can stay above freezing for awhile should the power go out.

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Connect_Dust_1946 t1_j6pbts9 wrote

Any comment on propane heating systems fed by and outside tank? I’ve been keeping mine around 50, should I be worried about pipes bursting? I’m thinking more of the water system than the heating system

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MrMediocreMan t1_j6pfgho wrote

The frozen pipes are a 2 part concern.

  1. Some homes use hydronic baseboards (aka hotwater baseboards) and have high amounts of insulation. If they set a low temperature the heat may not cycle often. Their baseboards are on exterior walls and may pass through unheated cavities. These can freeze quickly with -30f temps.

  2. If your house has regular plumbing it may be in areas that freeze quickly, like the pipes under the kitchen sink. You can open the cupboard to fix this issue, but often there are pipes in closets or wall cavities that share space with vents that exit the roof. These get really cold too.

Having a higher ambient temperature will prevent a lot of issues in these areas.

I don't think the propane would freeze unless you're trying to use a small propane tank for the application. Like a grill tank for your fireplace could be an issue this weekend when it isn't in seasonal temps.

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Connect_Dust_1946 t1_j6pg1i7 wrote

Hey thanks for the reply! I’m not worried about the propane freezing, moreso the plumbing. I plan to be out of town on Friday and Saturday, when it looks to be coldest, and I’m concerned keep the temp on Low (~50 degrees) might not be enough to keep the plumbing safe while I’m out of town.

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costabius t1_j6nzfzt wrote

In addition to what the others have said, your thermostat is likely at the center of your house, while your water and heat pipes are on the outside walls. When it gets to "stupid cold" levels, it can drop below freezing at the walls before the air around your thermostat knows what happened.

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ecco-domenica t1_j6o860a wrote

This is a very good point. Your thermostat doesn't tell you what temperature the pipes in the outside walls are. I keep cheapo thermometers in the coldest corners of my house. They're not super accurate but if they're suddenly 10 or 20 degrees below what they normally read, I know something's going on and it ain't good.

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