Room temperature battle can heat up
Reaching a comfort zone is a challenge for folks who like differing temperatures
As winter takes hold in Middleton a nightly battle rages involving a man, a woman and a thermostat.
Lisa Fenton and Dan
Smith have wonderful lives together, but they have one major disagreement. Between 5 and 10 p.m. most every evening, the temperature bounces up and down as the couple keeps changing the thermostat setting to their own individual comfort level.
“I’m always cold, he’s always hot,” Fenton says. “He says it’s 1,000 degrees, I say, no it’s not, it’s freezing.”
“(The argument) got heated last night, pardon the pun,” chimed in Smith. “She loves the heat, she thinks it’s fantastic; I’m complaining how damn hot it is.”
The house, heated by oilfired forced air, is over a century old and the couple acknowledged such a setup isn’t efficient. Fenton said the home isn’t drafty currently, due to windows being replaced several years back, but a lack of insulation in the dirt-floor basement and in the attic means “air can escape that way.”
Fenton says while she would set the thermostat at 66 F, Smith would have it set at 60 to 62. The two compromise sometimes, setting the temperature at 64.
“With blankets (for me),” Fenton said. “He puts on a Tshirt and sweatpants.”
At bedtime, the temperature is turned down to 53 F, but Fenton notes that Smith will still occasionally turn the fan on.
“It seems to work for me; she just struggles with the cold,” Smith says of the cooler temperatures:
Fenton didn’t always dread the frigid winters. She was “a major fan” of the season growing up in Ontario.
“But then I lived in California for 18 years and got so far away from the winter,” she said. “Now I hate the cold.”
Smith grew up in a household with parents whose philosophy was to not waste money needlessly, so the heat didn’t get turned up too often.
“I like it cooler, I accept winter and wearing sweatpants and a sweater and that’s that,” Smith said, although he admits his parents, now in their 80s, keep their house very warm these days so “maybe it’s just me.”
Many other Atlantic Canadians, whether because of financial strain or simple frugalness, are willing to forego some extra heat so they can save a few dollars on their heating bills.
Cassandra Holleman, of Middle Sackville, says that, as a child, her family lived on a low income.
“We had a lot of trouble making ends meet, and this was one of the ways we could control costs in a poorly insulated home.”
Her husband, on the other hand, came from a more comfortable family, Holleman said, but saving money was still important.
“His father immigrated to Nova Scotia as a young child from the Netherlands, and was a quite frugal man,” Holleman said. “My husband and his three siblings never wanted for anything growing up, but to his dad, wasting heat was unnecessary. So, they put on sweaters when cold.”
Their respective backgrounds mean the couple have no problems feeling comfortable even as the heat pump is set at 16 C.
“We each have a throw covering our legs, and we’re cozy.”
She said on occasions when she comes inside from the cold, she will increase the temperature to warm up, “but once I’m warm, I turn it back down or I’ll get uncomfortable.”
She says it’s nerve-wracking waiting for the monthly bill. She pointed out that in October 2020, the couple moved from a one-bedroom apartment with oil heat, to a threelevel home with heat pump and electric heat.
“We had trouble controlling our heating costs last year,” Holleman said. “We are comfortable with our blankets. We have couch throws … in the living room, downstairs den and in our sunroom. We'll possibly put a ceiling fan on when we go to bed, and sleep better than we would without.”
But Arlene MacIsaac of Codroy Valley, N.L., has an opposing view of an ideal, comfortable indoor temperature.
“I have no intentions of dressing up to stay home,” she says.
MacIsaac sets her heat at between 20 and 22 C, but many others that she knows don’t have such warm houses.
“They’re bundled up. It’s so cold in their houses that you can’t wait to leave.”
She said winters tend to be chilly, especially with the
wind. And there hasn’t been much snowfall this year, meaning less snow banked up near the house which makes it cooler inside.
There are several practical reasons why she prefers warmer temperatures. As a craft producer, she says extra layers would make it harder to do her work. Also, her husband started taking blood thinners last fall which means he needs more warmth too.
“At first, he said he was going to dress warmer, but I see no good reason to do that when we can turn up the temperature. I know it costs us more, but we’re lucky enough to be retired so why not enjoy it.”
James Farquhar, general manager of Scotia Fuels in Halifax, said the preferred indoor temperature setting is very much a subjective thing. But he points out that in his nearly three decades of professional experience, the average household indoor temperature tends to sit between 18 and 20 C, or 68 and 70 F.
Farquhar says many single people, or couples without children are typically fine
with cooler temperatures, but want it warmer once children enter the picture. And older customers typically like their homes to be much warmer as well, he said, from a physiological standpoint such as poor circulation.
When asked about the efficiency of adjusting temperatures, Farquhar said he often recommends setting the thermostat and leaving it. But many people often want to turn their heat down during the day.
“I normally recommend two degrees for your down temperature during the day when you’re gone, or at night (when you’re in bed),” he said. “Two degrees is very significant in winter time … and isn’t too hard on the system.”
He singled out in-floor heating systems as being a great source of heat, but noted that it takes a long time to heat or cool, so he recommends keeping the temperature in one spot.
He said some people want to turn the heat down by five to 10 degrees, “which is great if you like the cold,” but can create more problems.
“When the house temperature drops overnight, you’re going to have to reheat the house and everything in it. Everything in the house that holds heat also holds cold as well.”
Back in Middleton, Fenton and Smith still haven’t quite figured out how to keep each other comfortable during the frigid winter nights.
“I’m ready to move my little space heater (from work to) home so I can control my own temperature,” said Fenton.
“It’s a battle, it can get intense for sure,” added Smith. “I don’t recommend it for a lot of people.”
“I’m always cold, he’s always hot. He says it’s 1,000 degrees, I say, no it’s not, it’s freezing.” Lisa Fenton