Will turning your thermostat down at night save you money? How low should you go? Our experts shed light on the hot questions.

Almost everyone seems to have an answer to the question – sometimes conflicting.

Those who don’t are often confused.

“Does it or does it not make sense to lower your thermostat at night and when you’re away from your home for more than a few hours?”

The short answer from our five experts: Yes.

But not everyone agrees that it makes sense for everyone or under all conditions.

The answer, in their words:

YES!

Michael Mayhew, professional engineer and energy efficiency engineer with the Maine Energy Program:

“That’s been proven a zillion times. There’s no question at all about it. There are huge savings to setting back your thermostat. … You always will save money when setting it back. … The farther back the better. … 50 degrees at night is a reasonable set-back” if it’s not too cold for the occupants, Mayhew said.

Yes and no

• Jack Coonce, oil service manager for Downeast Energy in Brunswick:

If you heat with forced hot air, you can turn your heat down to a temperature that won’t allow your pipes to freeze when you leave for the day or overnight. Use a timer to have the heat come back on a half-hour before you occupy those rooms.

If you heat with forced hot water, don’t turn down your heat while your home is unoccupied unless it’s for an extended period. The energy required to re-heat your rooms will cost as much or more than the amount saved.



YES!

• Richard Hill, retired professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Maine:

“You will save money unconditionally. … This idea that it takes more energy to bring the temperature back up is phony.” Hill acknowledged that some types of heating, such as baseboard hot water, might not see as much savings from a thermostat set-back compared to, say, forced hot air, but he stuck to his guns on a savings no matter what system is used. How far should you set it back? From Hill’s perspective, as low as you want, as long as you don’t freeze your pipes.



Yes, but …

The Maine Oil Dealers Association Web site:

“Lower the thermostat setting when you go to bed, raise it at breakfast. (Replacing your one-setting thermostat with a day/night thermostat or changing the settings yourself can save you as much as $100 a year if done correctly and consistently.)

“Lower the thermostat setting when you leave for work, raise it when you return. If you turn your thermostat down five degrees when you’re not at home, you can save about 5 percent on your annual heating bill.

“It’s important to remember that when you do lower the thermostat don’t go overboard. It takes a lot of energy to raise the room temperature from 60 degrees to 68 degrees. Lowering your thermostat setting to 64-65 degrees is just about right.



Yes

Jessica Gilman, spokeswoman for Efficiency Maine

“Regardless of the heating system you have, a small reduction in room temperature can produce significant savings. In general, a 1-degree Fahrenheit reduction will save approximately 3 percent in fuel consumed, and this holds true for the first 10 degrees. After that you receive less savings per degree lowered. If you’re not going to be in the house for an extended time period you should lower the temperature to the lowest setting possible without endangering any kind of freeze-up.”