Pulse and... and...?
 

Had a notion to try something new- hypermiling the thermostat. Just like I've been doing for years with my nat-gas water heater (always set on "vacation" until I go "click it on" 5 minutes before a shower). What took so long for this idea to form? :confused:

I already have a programmable 'stat but still the forced-air natural gas furnace has what I think are annoying and inefficient quick on/off cycles. Seems like nothing in the HVAC system ever gets a chance to really get up to a nice warm temp that's sustained for any length of time.

I've long known I'm quite comfortable after I turn in to bed at temps down to the 30s F what with the flannel sheets and foot-thick stack of quilts. My nose feels the cold but it's not a comfort issue like cold feet and hands- it's ignorable and can fall asleep anyway.

So for the last few days I've been shutting the furnace OFF at the 'stat at dusk, not to be turned on again until late morning or noonish the next day. I figure one good pulse "zone"- to reheat the air and the mass of the house and contents- at the time of day when outside temps and solar gain are the greatest should be quite a bit more efficient. Haven't figured out what to call the "glide" phase yet...

Today the high/low outside was 5/-5 F and the predicted temps this week are even colder, perhaps -30. That will be a good test.

I wore out ignitors once a year untils I upgraded to an adjustable swing t'stat. Been 10+ years since I've had to replace the ignitor. I'm set at 54 overnight, 60 from 6-7am back to 54 am till 5 pm and back to 60 till 10 pm. Runs for about an hour straight in the morning, and again in the afternoon, occasionally I bump it in the evening to 61 to for a 30 minute run.

This should actually be easier on igniters.

I had to replace my combustion blower and primary heat exchanger in the first 5 years, I think it was related to short cycles as well. I see a 1 degree swing each way with where I have the adjustable swing set 4 of 5 I think. I have 2 t'stat, a Ritetemp on the LP forced air, and Climatouch on the hot water floor heat.

Climatouch has energy monitors, can input energy cost and it will calculate $. I just input 1 and it just tells me how many hours the pump runs, when the pumps running the water heaters running.

Bigger swing is way better for cooling season as well, less starts, longer runs and more chance to get the air wringed out.

I can picture the wife now, "pulse glide, that's your answer to everything". :D

I can picture my future wife: "no F-ing way, it's too damn cold in the house!"

How about calling it "freeze and thaw" lol

Absolutely- no woman would go along with this. I have no such burden. :)

Was -15F overnight; only got down to 40 inside with a 13 hour... ummm... glide. My nose wasn't even cold.

A bigger swing from the 'stat- that's what I need.

Don't think there's a t'stat with a swing big enough, but a little programming will do. How low will it go while still in heat mode. My Ritetemp goes down to 45, climatouch 41. Decide how long you want the heat to run in the morning. Furnace kick on is my alarm clock, 5 minutes later my bathroom's warm. Have to experiment with how long you want it to run in the morning. It was 2 outside here this morning and furnace didn't run overnight, -15 it will though at least once. Going to go set the swing as far as it goes and see how I like that.



Make it run twice a day, 30-60 minutes in morning, and same in afternoon if solar gain doesn't satisfiy it. Which is what I do on weekends, if I get cold I'll go bump it, otherwise the sun usually keeps it happy.

EDIT: was way off with my swing, it was at 2 of 6, bumped it to 4.

We do 3 pulses per day in our 800 sq ft home and it stays pretty reasonable. Hardly ever gets below 55 even at night when we leave it completely off.

insulate your t-stat, i imagine one of those styrofoam looking faucet covers would probably do too good of a job... maybe hang a cardboard box over it, if thats still too much add holes