That's what prompted me to get a digital at our last apartment. The thing was running the AC or heater like every two minutes for a single minute, and the choices seemed to be 65 degrees or 80. The digital not only regulated temperature better, but showed a significant drop in energy costs.
You can always cover them if they can't be closed. What you'd be doing is twofold: forcing warm air into the areas of the house that need it, and reducing the flow of warm air around the thermostat, both thereby evening out the distribution of warmth. Heat will eventually get down to the thermostat one way or another; you're just ensuring that the places the thermostat doesn't know about stay toasty warm.
If you close all the main-floor vents you could overshoot, yeah, and have a condition where upstairs is hot and the main floor cold. Obviously every house is different; you should experiment and see what works.
no subject
You can always cover them if they can't be closed. What you'd be doing is twofold: forcing warm air into the areas of the house that need it, and reducing the flow of warm air around the thermostat, both thereby evening out the distribution of warmth. Heat will eventually get down to the thermostat one way or another; you're just ensuring that the places the thermostat doesn't know about stay toasty warm.
If you close all the main-floor vents you could overshoot, yeah, and have a condition where upstairs is hot and the main floor cold. Obviously every house is different; you should experiment and see what works.