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We keep our home at 65 degrees Fahrenheit in the colder months (Oct/Nov to Mar/Apr). Growing up, I was used to 63 degrees in the house, so anything higher is quite luxurious and, frankly, too warm for me. We have an oil-burning furnace that the hot water also runs through, so our furnace is running year-round with a few exceptions in the summer when the water is hot enough. One other potential design flaw in the house is the thermostat is located near the kitchen. We cook almost daily, guests too, so as the kitchen reaches nearly 70 degrees, the thermostat is not triggering the furnace which leaves the second floor a bit chillier than the first floor.
A few guests have commented that itâs chilly in the house, but most seem to adjust, especially since theyâre only staying 1-2 nights, and understand that older New England homes tend to be drafty and inefficient. To help guests feel more comfortable, we provide space heaters, ample supply of blankets, and basic advice on physics that they might want to leave their door ajar to allow for air flow. In the future, weâd like to improve our heating system and possibly have zoned heating. Right now, if guests are home all day and want their room warmer, we have to heat the whole house. Now, I donât want to appear stingy (although it is quite expensive), itâs also a fossil fuel. And we desperately need an energy audit and some improvements, because whenever the heat comes on, I visualize dollar signs floating out drafty windows and poorly insulated walls.
What do other hosts do? Anyone else with older, oil-burning heating in drafty homes? Any advice/tips?
We do have a wood-burning fireplace, but itâs cosmetic more than anything and right next to the thermostat. Some day weâd like to get an insert, and possibly relocate the thermostat.
Winter: Like most New England homes, our house is built of wood and slightly creaky. Our heating system is also classic-- steam radiators. It is the nature of radiators to hiss and bang once in a while as the system adjusts itself. Occasionally someone finds these things odd. In winter, we keep the interior temperature of our house at around 67°F / 19.4°C during the day, less at night. This is common for the Northeast USA where energy costs are high and old houses leak heat badly. Everyone here wears sweaters indoors, sometimes two.
And I have balanced the system so that even when there is low pressure in the system, the AirBNB rooms get priority. Using third party valves, we open their radiators fully while the radiators in the rest of the house are either off or significantly reduced.
I do not provide space heaters. They cost even more to run than the whole house furnace. Since we have steam heat, zoning is not an option which is really too bad. We provide warm duvets [separate set for winter] and extra blankets.
If you are considering an energy audit, do not delay. They are fully subsidized now, and if you are in MA there are many programs that reduce the price of making those improvements, plus no interest loans. I do not believe that the Federal government is planning to extend these programs anytime soon.
These guests are from ME & NY!!! Theyâre also millennials, and couldnât figure out how to use the space heater that was sitting on their bureau.
You reminded me about steam heat - I donât think we could have zoning either, not w/o gutting the whole system, which would cost many tens of thousand of dollars. BUT, the system was quite modern at the time (1940s) and the radiators were designed to get real hot and provide ambient heat for quite a while.
We could push the thermostat up a notch to 66 or 67, but itâs not real cold yet, and I think sweaters and blankets are more than enough. I suppose if I was sitting at home all day playing video games Iâd get cold, too. Itâs going to be a along 20 days with these guests. (Itâs only been 3 days.) Weâve already upped our Internet plan to meet their gaming needs. New modem arrives tomorrow.
Well, as you know, this is the worst weather for heating a house. It really isnât cold enough for the heat to run all the time which means that the inside of the house is the coldest it is all year long. Once the temps drop to 20Âș, the system is always running. Between 35Âș and 50Âș everyone feels the chill, especially if it is damp outside. I have considered buying a bunch of fleece jackets to let guests borrow and then I price that out and donât hit the âPurchaseâ button.
They also see me wearing two or three layers, two pairs of socks, and sometimes a hat. Funny how they donât complain quite as quickly when they see this is how we live!
Yeah, everyone seems to have different thresholds of temperature tolerance. We just had a guy here from Canada and he was complaining that it was cold here! He liked the house warm and toasty! In our home we have a similar set up as you.; oil heat with forced hot water. About 5 or 6 years ago, we were filling up our oil tank sometime twice a month in the dead of winter. Oil was high then and it was crazy expensive. We had to do something. We decided to put in a wood stove. Itâs a Glenwood, a turn of the century antique thatâs been restored. Not only is it beautiful but it is very functional. Now we fill our oil tank less than twice a year! I use floor fans to circulate the cooler air in towards the wood stove which forces the warm air out and around the house. It works great and the guests love it. Itâs a great conversation piece, too. The stove has already paid for itself in fuel savings. Plus, wood burning is carbon neutral. In other words, if you burn hard woods that have been properly dried, it doesnât put back any more carbon into the environment than the tree took in while it was growing. So wood stoves are much better for the environment than burning oil or gas. We also have solar panels that supply all of our electricity. So space heaters and a/câs costs us nothing to run. The solar is also a great feature that separates us from other listings.
âReasonableâ is a regional-individual variable. I live in southwest Florida â to me, reasonable is 76-78, but neighbors want 74-76, others want 78-82. Anything below 68 is, to me, darn chilly to outright cold depending on wind factors. We set our listing AC to 80, and most guests drop it to 76.
Point of the matter is, what YOU consider reasonable may not be within 20 degrees of your GUESTâs idea of reasonable. You are catering to your guests, therefore you need to be able to have the temps in their space controllable by them. That gas or oil or electricity expense is simply a cost of doing business as an STR. You need efficient AC and efficient heating for the guest space, and need to not complain about how âunreasonableâ guests are who change the temperature above or below what you are comfortable with.
I am going to disagree with @Emily and @KenH. My listing states very clearly what temperatures will be found at my house during the winter months. I am sure that some people have chosen not to book since they, like you, want far warmer temperatures. In this area, an area of older homes and a deep winter, they can book elsewhere but not at my low-season price point. The options available will be a new condo [very few of those on AirBNB] or a hotel.
I am not going to pay more for heat than I receive for the room. The math is pretty simple.
Iâm exactly on your wavelength with this I think. We keep the house at 19 degrees (66 farenheit) which is what we find comfortable. We have this information clearly in the listing. If people want to be comfortable wandering around the house wearing next to nothing, they wonât get that at our place. If they want the window open in winter and expect the heating to keep them toasty warm at the same time - nope.
Weâve had guests from one specific country tell us theyâre cold, theyâre used to at least 25 degrees inside which is just not realistic for our winter season. Now when guests from this country request to book in winter I make it very clear that our weather is cold and the temperature our heating goes to. If they find that too cold, theyâre best to book elsewhere
I am with @anon67190644 and @Gardenhost. If you donât want to actually experience the reality of the country/region to which you have chosen to travel then book a generic hotel and go on a generic tourist tour. Or book a very high-end Airbnb that allows you to use as much electricity and gas as you want, to hell with the cost and the environment. Of course we do everything to make guests comfortable but replicating the temperature of their homeland/ city/ region is not reasonable, in my opinion. âWhen in RomeâŠâ etc.
Thank you for this, I just found this forum, I am in Vancouver Canada & have a guest complaining the basement suite that she has rented for a bargain., is cold and I have the basement set at 73 degrees. When I am down there itâs stuffy at 69 degrees, I canât even imagine. I donât even know what to say to her anymore, She is wearing light clothes and is getting quite rude, she is freaking out that itâs raining ( welcome to Vancouver in November ) that I should supply umbrellas and slippers (I used to they have all been taken and I have decided not to replace them) I have let her know there is a big box store down the street and she can pick these up at under 10$ a piece. UGH
Last winter I had a fellow here in a new construction room, well insulated and not creaky, in El Paso, with central heat and a small space heater. I donât recall the low temp but it was probably above freezing. He is from upstate NY but complained that the small space heater was insufficient.
There is no accounting for individual taste. Just make it clear in your listing whatâs offered and roll with the punches.
And thatâs the key word, isnât it? Temperature is one of those things thatâs different for everyone. My home is set to 66 and personally thatâs ideal for me. But it is my home so I expect to be comfortable. If itâs a deal breaker for guests Iâd rather they go elsewhere. Or put a sweater on
I will add, the thermostat is set to one thing, and then the guests get something else. They are on the third floor. Heat rises. And we have set the system so that the radiators on the third floor get preference. All said and done, those rooms are closer to 69Âș - 72Âș depending on how much the system is running.
I can assure you that in Rochester, during the winter, that all those lovely old Victorians have their thermostats set lower than ours. How long has it been since you lived in Rochester? Did you live in an old house, built at the turn of the last century? Was oil $6 a gallon then?
My point is, my listing states what temperature I keep my thermostat. People can decide for themselves if they can live with that. Other listings in my neighborhood donât set their heat to higher than 63Âș. That is the community norm. You wouldnât book my space. But, you also wouldnât book any of the other homes listed on AirBNB in my area.
Perhaps you could invest in something that will add value to your home as well as making the guests happy - new windows, for example, or some local heat.
Guests who are given some element of control of their environment (a thermostat, for example, or a heater) can never give you a bad review for too little heat.
What temperatures do offices set the thermostat to where youâre from? Where Iâm from theyâre set to between 19 and 24 (celcius) in Summer and 18 to 22 in Winter which is very comfortable.
What annoys me is guests who arrive in the middle of Winter when itâs about 10 degrees, they push the heating up to 30 (its maximum) and then walk around the house in singlets and shorts. Why canât they put on a jersey like the locals do!
For what itâs worth, after going through one winter having to heat 2400sq. feet in my new home with oil heat, I found one good way to save $$ at night when sleeping. I purchased a heated mattress cover for $12 at Wallmart. It comes with a table thermostat and automatically goes off after 12 hours.
Since it is UNDER your body and heat rises you are as toasty as can be all night. Now, I set back my house temp to 60 degrees until 5:30am. Saves me a ton of $$.
They make them for all size beds. King size may cost a few dollars more.
Something else that can make a big difference is a ceiling fan set to pull the air up all the time. If your heat comes from ceiling vents, as mine does, it can be 10 degrees warmer at head level as opposed to closer to the floor. The fan will pull that cooler air up and mix it with the warmer air. The room (with the correct size fan) will have more even heat. The same will work for cooling.
Mine run all the time at the lowest speed. Costs very little to buy and operate.
Iâd also suggest you pick up one of those infrared digital âpoint and shootâ thermometers to get a handle on where you may be loosing heat. You can use it to check registers and adjust as necessary. They cost under $15 at Wallmart or Harbor Freight.
