When is it acceptable to turn on the heat in your home?

(Photo by Dan LeFebvre on Unsplash)

It's that time of year again: Temperatures outside are turning cooler, and the temperature inside your home is following suit.

You crawl out of bed in the dark (because the sunrise is so late) and immediately search for a sweatshirt because the house is cold.

But just because it's cold in the morning, does that trigger you to flip the switch on your thermostat over to its heat setting?

In my house, I won't go anywhere near that thermostat until Oct. 1, no matter how low the temperature is inside the house.

We decided to conduct an informal survey here at FOX Weather to try and determine when it's acceptable to turn on the heat.

For some, it doesn't take much to cause them to flip the switch.

"Whenever the AC doesn't come on anymore and the indoor temperature doesn't stay above 70 degrees," said Nikki Nolan, a line producer.

But others don't mind a chill in the air, so they wait much longer to turn on the heat. Many on the East Coast said they hold off until November.

"As a Jersey Girl/East Coaster, I'm not turning on the heat until after November, and sometimes I go as far as January," said Shakira Perez, an associate producer. "The temperature outside has to be at least 30 to 40 for me to even consider turning the heat on."

Production assistant Meghan Lenz and associate editor Brandon Ingram are also in the November camp.

"As an East Coaster, when the outdoor temperatures drop below 40 degrees during the day," Lenz said.

"When the temperatures drop below 40, my heat is going on, and that usually starts to happen in November consistently," Ingram said.

One respondent from the Pacific Northwest cited indoor temperatures rather than outdoor temperatures.

"We don't have a specific date in Seattle. We just leave it on to turn on when the house drops below 64 to 65," said Scott Sistek, a senior digital content producer and meteorologist. "That's probably some day in October. But we keep our house quite cold, so it's likely later than most others around here."

Others prefer to be energy efficient and wait until outdoor temperatures drop well below freezing.

"East Coaster who likes it cold and also keeps the utility bills low: needs to be below 25 degrees for heat to go on," said Brianna Coviello, director of product operations.

Residents of Manhattan certainly don't have to worry about their apartments getting that cold because landlords are required to turn on the heat at certain temperatures.

"We do have laws that say landlords have to turn the heat on if the building is 68 degrees or lower and the outside temperatures are 55 degrees or lower," said Deante Parker, manager of digital video distribution.

Those in warm climates such as Florida don't have this dilemma every fall.

"I spent almost 8 years in Florida and never turned the heat on," said Katy Camp, director of content and media. "It was more about turning the AC off."

So to circle back to our original question about when it's acceptable to turn on the heat: We'll just say… it's complicated.