What temp do you have your AC at?

70 Fahrenheit /21 c

Mine's at 78, just as Jimmy Carter recommended.

Datalounge is a US site, OP, and people in the US don't measure temperature in degrees Celsius, OP. We do it in Fahrenheit.

Mine is set to 300 degrees Kelvin!

75 F in swampy western PA

Fahrenheit is so much better than Celsius. With Celsius, it's like "It's 15 degrees out, I better wear a jacket...oh it's 18 degrees? Well then, I can skip the jacket!"

When I lived in Phoenix, I would set it to 72, and that damn thing would run 24/7 all day and all night (from April to October). Now that I live in Colorado, I still keep in at 72, but it only runs, at most, from 3 PM to 7 PM.

I guess Tucker Carlson is posting here.

What's AC ?

[quote]Now that I live in Colorado, I still keep in at 72, but it only runs, at most, from 3 PM to 7 PM.

When I had mine at 23C (73F) I noticed that too. The guy who installed my system said it was ok if it ran for hours non stop but I feel like it should not be doing that.

76 degrees year-round. And I live in the frozen north.

In LA, all year round 72° for central air

75˚ with a heat pump in the deep south. Current 12-month running average for power: $58. 1500SF home.

Between the "A" and "T," OP!

When I'm home during the day it's usually on seventy degrees; however, at night I drop it down to sixty eight. I live in Florida and I'm hot by nature.

You type redneck, OP.

Who needs AC?

I keep mine at 24°C during the day and 23° at night.

72 F

70 year-round. Houston Texas.

It's at AC360°, bitches.

76 in Phoenix when I'm at home. When I leave for work I set it at 90 then dial back down when I get home.

75 F all year round

OP.. I lived in Europe for 40 years and I never had air-conditioning. How weird you'd give temperatures in Celsius.

[quote]76 in Phoenix when I'm at home. When I leave for work I set it at 90 then dial back down when I get home.

A 14 degree swing is huge. Your AC has to be working overtime to bring the house to that temp from such a high temp. It takes much more energy to cool a room than to maintain a reasonable temperature.

Even setting it for 76/86 you’d see a difference in electrical usage.

Wrong!! "It takes much more energy to cool a room than to maintain a reasonable temperature."

You left out the time component.

Now think about the error of your blanket statement and come back with a more refined position.

Who the fuck is you, r26?

This muthafucka here.

R26, time has nothing to do with it.

If I want to cool a room from 90 to 60, the AC is going to run for hours to accomplish that. If I want to maintain a temperature of 70, it won’t need to go on as much.

What are we R24, chopped liver?

See myth #5 dumbass:

75 when I'm out, 72 when I'm home, down to 68 when I go to sleep

"Alexa. Set the AC to...."

In the summer it's on 76°f 24/7. In the winter it's on 66°f 24/7. I like my home on the cool side in the winter because of my eczema. If I run it any higher it dries my skin out even more and I itch like crazy. I have lots of nice cozy sweaters to wear around the place.

Who the fuck is Michael Bluejay?!

Here:

[quote]Fluctuating Temperatures Throughout the Day

[quote]Small adjustments are great and are an effective way to lower energy costs. However, many homeowners take this too far, and they allow their homes to warm up too much during the day. When you do this, you force your air conditioner to work much harder getting your home down to the desired temperature again. This stress can use more electricity in the long run than it would if you maintained the temperature all day long. Instead of letting the temperature fluctuate as much as ten degrees, keep the variance between three to four degrees.

[quote]However, if you are planning on leaving for vacation or an extended business trip, you can let the temperature fluctuate more. You don’t want to turn the air conditioner off completely, but the added stress of re-cooling your home will still be offset by a week’s worth of energy savings.

72 all the time.

Even in winter, r34?

That’s too warm for me. Like others said, I like it cool.

I keep mine at 81F (27C) while I'm at work and 78F (25C) when I'm at home. All of my windows face northwest, so the afternoon/evening is when my a/c works the most. If I'm too hot for some reason I just temporarily turn on a small fan, rather than cool my entire home. Doesn't happen often.

American translation: Celsius x 9 /5 + 32. Is the U.S. the only nation still using Fahrenheit? It's what you're used, at the end of the day. Gotta go, the kettle is boiling @ 212F rather than 100 degrees C.

More info:

19.5 Celsius. All day, all night.

Mine is too hot at 71, and too cold at 70!

I go back and forth between the two, depending on what I am doing throughout the day.

For those of you posting in Celsius, nobody here even gives a fuck what you’re talking about!

Small window unit for bedroom at night, shutting down central unit for 10 - 12 hours each night will save you a bundle.

I did this in 2008, r41, and my little 5K Btu A/C paid for itself that first summer in electricity bill savings.

It's a Samsung, still going strong, and cooling by bedroom to 72˚ every night. I figured its cost and it is 6¢ an hour.

It's been humid as South Hell today!

Learn how to use proper grammer you ass.................you DONT end a sentence with a preposition. And I hardly run the AC only when its over 90 outside as AC just adds to our C02 in the air. When I do I set it at 81.

U talkin' to OP? R44

[quote]Does it take more energy to cool a house in which the AC has been off all day, than to keep the AC running at, say, 85 degrees during the day?

[quote]No. Cooling a hot house down at the end of the day always takes less energy than leaving the AC running all day, even if it's running on a high setting.

What the site is not addressing R30 is time. In a place like Phoenix, if you leave it off (or at a high temp) it will take HOURS to cool it down. Even if it costs more money it is worth it to leave it on. You get home at 5:30ish, it is 90 in the home. It will be 9:00 before it gets down to the 70's (in the summer).

Then you got a shitty AC, r46.

My house can cool down in 30 mins. from being switched off all day while I'm at work.

I don't have AC. There's no need. It's cold most of the year and we usually just suffer through the summer months lol.

Seriously R47?

My AC is a year old and when I turned it on last week it took over four hours to reach the set temperature.

Seriously, you need to get a better HVAC company out to your home! One that knows what they're doing!

Here's a hint if your central A/C vents are in the floor. Put an oscillating fan in front of the vent and turn it on high. It will catch that cold air coming out of the vent and send it shooting out into the room and cool down the room much quicker.

If it takes 4 hours for your A/C to bring the temperature down to the set point, you probably have a unit that is undersized for your home. I can come home (condo) and put the central A/C on and within 10-15 minutes the temperature is pulled down from high 80's to low 70's. Maybe my system is oversized for my condo because I have the smallest floorplan in the building, but 4 hours? No.

American, OP!

79 or 80, Vegas

When's the last time you changed your air filter, R47? You gotz somethin' wrong dere, Omigo! You better have a look at all your duct work and make sure you have no offset pieces/air leakage, etc.

I change the filter every 30 days.

I had the duct work cleaned out after the new HVAC was installed the tech said it was ok with no leaks or issues.

^ Refrigerant leak? That air should be coming out ICE COLD! Sorry, dude but it should not be taking four hours to cool your place to set temp. Something's not right, AND YOU'RE PAYING FOR IT!

73°f

r55 -- you meant to write r49

I live in Central Florida; additionally, I'm menopausal, so 69 degrees, always.

78 in the summer for air (I've always loved the statement "Turn The Air On"), and 68 for heat in the winter, maybe 70. You people who put the air on 72 make me shiver just reading that! You all must be rich.

This guy:

You all are fucking crazy.

Any higher than 68 in the summer is madness.

^^^ 400 lb. caftan-wearing, sweaty hippo

Who blabbed?!

If one's suddenly stuck with bills, 76 degrees.

74 F in Dallas, Texas- the high was 97 today.

R61 is right on the money. One must account for body acclimation to seasonal changes. When it's 90 degrees outside with dense humidity, then 78 with no humidity inside is going to feel just right. Likewise, when it's 20 degrees outside then 68-70 is toasty enough. Rule of thumb: If it's summer and you're reaching for a blanket in your house OR if it's winter and you're running around barefoot in shorts then you're wasting energy!

[quote]And I hardly run the AC only when its over 90 outside

Wouldn't your hair be on fire at that point?

72 degrees in Minneapolis. I usually have it on only at night. Turned off when I not home.

[quote]Learn how to use proper grammer you ass.

Kelsey?

66 at night to sleep because I like to sleep with a comforter year-round.

I was told a while back that approximately 1-2 degrees per hour is standard cooling time with Central Air.

R72 is my kind of people.

"I was told a while back that approximately 1-2 degrees per hour is standard cooling time with Central Air."

There is no standard central AC installation, so that statement is false.

I'm R72, and I sleep fat.

80 in Vegas. But it’s still in the seventies at night, so the house cools down by itself. And there’s fans in every room.

In July, on the days when the bottom temperature is 90+, i raise it up to 81-82, depending on if I’m at home. It’s really hard on the A/C when there’s a heat wave in the hottest part of summer and it’s 100F at 10:00 at night.

R75, I didn’t say standard installation. I said 1-2 degrees an hour is standard cooling time.

I'm making a whooshing sound with my mouth and passing a hand quickly over my head while looking at you, r78

So R78 you're saying it would take between 5-10 hours to cool the house down from 85F to 75F? No way. Something is seriously wrong with your system if it takes that long. My place cools down that much within 1/2 an hour. It is a small place, but still....

[quote]It takes much more energy to cool a room than to maintain a reasonable temperature.

I've looked at my electricity usage for the past week. It shows the same pattern I see every summer. I use less electricity M-F turning it up while I'm at work and back down than on the weekends when I'm home keeping it at the same temperature.

74F, down from the usual 75F, but it was hot tonight.

74 F for AC, 72 F for heat/furnace in the winter.

South Florida: 77F all the time during the summer mainly to keep the house air dry or everything rots.

The rest of the year..Sliding glass doors open. No A/C

Fat people hate it.

How much do you guys pay for energy if you run your ACs 24/7?

Someone here mentioned that a smaller window unit can save you money.....but can you also sleep comfortably with all that noise? All the window units I ever had were incredibly loud.

^ You get used to it very quickly. The first night or two you might wake up when it cycles on, but then after that it's not an issue. You engage the energy saver function on the window unit so that it only cycles on as needed to maintain the set temp - just like a central unit. There ARE window units advertised as being "whisper quiet."

And there a lot of people who buy white noise machines as a sleep aid, so a bedroom window AC substitutes quite nicely.

As for me, I like hearing my bedroom AC on its LOW setting and only costing me about 25¢ a night. The sound doesn't bother me a bit.

Fat people don't want to admit it, but the human body can acclimatize to no AC.

Before WWII, most American residences did not have air conditioning and life went on. Most folks employed little tricks to staying cool at work, at home, and during the heat of the afternoon.

My grandparents in the South, all born in the 1890s, used air conditioning only very sparingly in their last decades. They preferred fans, sleeping porches, and porch sitting.

To add to R188, I bought a cheap mister fan and Ace Hardware last summer (around $140). You hook up the hose to id and it sprays a fine mist of water in an outdoor setting. Best money I've ever spent and saves me a lot on A/C as I can just sit outside on the deck with it on during 5-8 when the sun is still out.

^ MORE HUMIDITY - YAY!

OP, never end a sentence with a preposition. Never!

They work well in a hot and dry climate R90. Arizona, Colorado, parts of Texas, Utah, etc.

R92 - indisputably good point! I yeild.

[quote]I yeild.

You do what, now? Don’t be doing it over here. I don’t want to catch it.

^CUNT!

I can't set the a/c lower than 78F (26C) because we'd freeze if I did. It's not the system - it's the location of the thermostat. This summer it's been used maybe twice for actual cooling because so far we haven't had much warm weather in New England: more rain than anything else. But it's very, very effective in removing humidity from the air so I've been turning it on for ten minutes or so and then off again two or three times a day.

In the winter, 71-72F (22C) in the daytime when we're home, 62F (17C) when we're not or at night. Our place is well-insulated with energy-efficient windows and that helps a lot.

The utility bills (gas and electric) total $225 a month average year-round. If two thirds of that goes toward the heat and a/c, I'm thinking $150 a month to be comfortable in a three-story 2000 sf house is a good deal given our climate.

Jesus, r95, it was a joke. Calm down.

We love you, R97. Catch this

San Francisco here - set it to whatever the weather app says. AC??? What's that?

I just got hypnotized!

Once again we experience the issue with written communications: inability to tell tone of “voice.”

Love coming back at ya, r98

My home has a premium central air conditioner. None of that Johnny-come-lately cheap equipment for me.

I have Carrier Air Conditioning. It’s great, like me.

It's at 78 right now. New, 18-seer two-stage system. It's swampy as Hell outside and nice and cool and dry here inside. I am already seeing savings on my monthly cooling bill for investing in a more expensive system. It doesn't run full-blast all the time when it's really hot. So it's not likely to burn itself out. I'm in Texas and it stays hot from April to October, with a huge unrelenting spike in July and August.

I live in Virginia and leave the AC on even in winter. I live in a condo.

Why do you leave it on even in winter??

Are you sure you don't have a heat pump and it switches to heat automatically. You see the outside unit operating and you think it's your air conditioner, maybe? Do you receive gas bills?

I’m sure, r104.

I leave the heat off and the AC blowing cold. I guess the heat from the other units in the building keep it too warm in mine.

I have an individual unit in my utility closet.

- r105

Judging by the comments about the time to cool a house, maybe we should also ask: do you have central or wall/window/individual room units? And if central, are they floor vents or ceiling? I've experienced all 3 in living situations and the best and quickest cooling was central ceiling vents. That system would cool the whole house down in 15-30 minutes.

Best house I ever owned for cheap energy cost had all the ductwork and registers in conditioned space. Didn't have a basement so the ductwork was hidden by chases and fur downs along the ceiling instead of running through the attic.

It was an all-electric home with a central heat pump.

It was cheap to heat and cool because the heat pump didn't have to fight attic heat or cold at the start of a cycle.

If you live alone, unless you turn your AC off when you're away for more than 4 hours, your AC will continue to do what it is designed to do: remove heat from your home and dump it outside.

As the hours pass and the heat re-infiltrates inside, the AC will continue to remove it, over and over again with each cycle. This wastes money since no one is there to enjoy the coolness. Same with leaving a ceiling fan on in a room no one occupies -- who feels the cooling breeze?

Yes, the AC will run for a longer than its usual cycle once you get home and set your thermostat to your desired temperature. But that will cost you less than have it it cycle multiple times during the day when you are not home.

Now, if you are one of those who has an under-sized or poorly designed HVAC system, and you cannot abide arriving home to a house that it higher than your ideal temperature, may I suggest you invest in a programmable, or better yet, a Wi-Fi thermostat. (Get a wall timer if you have a window or portable AC.) Then you can have your AC restart a short time in advance of the time time your normally get home.

Less wear and tear on your AC and money/energy saved!

-R78- here: I have central air with ceiling vents. I believe that is pretty standard in Texas, but not sure. That configuration, as someone mentioned, coosl the place down pretty quickly when it kicks on. Thank God. I don't know how the pioneers survived this heat. Oppressive.

76 winter and summer everywhere except the bedroom. 66 in the bedroom in summer w/ the AC on. About 70 in winter in the bedroom, when heat filters in from the rest of the apartment. I never use the heat in the bedroom. I have wall unit air conditioners and electric baseboard heat. My electric bill would fund a small third-world country's energy needs for a week or so. Don't care. Comfort comes first.

Sorry, R102, 78 degree is not "cool", especially at night.

R88, yes, you can get used to life without A/C, or with the thermostat set at 80 in summer and 65 in winter. I grew up in DC, with warm, humid summers, and we didn't get air conditioning until I was 11. My parents didn't install it because they liked spending money. They bought it because keeping the house cool (meaning 72 in the daytime, 68 at night, or thereabouts) is a great advance in civilization ... only slightly less great than central heating and running hot water. You can survive without those, too, but who would want to? What's the point of being a 21st century middle-class American if you don't enjoy all the comforts of modern civilization?

Testify, r111!

Thank you, R111, but I am actually not prone to overheating. I keep the house warm all year because I'm uncomfortable if the temp is under 75 or so. (My office is pure torture, and the thermostat wars rage perpetually. Mind you, I have allies in the fight not to freeze. They're all women. It's always the men, minus me, who want frost forming on the inside of the windows, and the women, plus me, who want to be able to wear t-shirts and shorts indoors in January.)

Anyway, I keep the bedroom cold, but I snuggle under a blanket and comforter. I like a cold bedroom with plenty of covers. It's cozy.

For those sweaty hippos who like to hang meat in their homes and resent the electric company's massive bills, try this:

Bumping this thread to ask this.

I have my AC set at 72F. We've been having this heatwave in Toronto and the AC has been running for hours.

When I checked the thermostat just now it says the temp is 74F.

The air from the vents is cold and the AC is running, so why is the temperature gong up instead of staying at 72?

It's currently 40C outside.

Your AC is probably busted or low on coolant. Better get it looked at.

r115 most residential A/C units combined with standard insulation can only keep your house ~20F cooler than the outside temperature. close your blinds, plant a few fir trees on the sunniest exterior wall, and switch to a lighter caftan.

R116 it's a new unit installed last year.

[quote]most residential A/C units combined with standard insulation can only keep your house ~20F cooler than the outside temperature

I didn't know that R117.

So it's about 102F outside right now, I guess I shouldn't be too picky about 74F inside.

The house is hit by the sun all day front and back.

I need to move further north.

[quote]switch to a lighter caftan

I'm naked right now.

If your unit is that new, it’s probably still under a warranty. I’d get it looked at... it should be able to cool to 72 degrees without any problem.

I get cold easy, whether it's from outdoor temps or from AC. So, in summer, probably around 74-76. In winter, I might boot it to 78. I'm miserable if indoor temp is lower than 70 or higher than 80.

I live in upper midwest.

I live in an apartment that has central air and work from home. If I'm gone for more than a day, I'll adjust it, but otherwise I don't change it more than a degree or so either way.

During summer, 73 when I'm at home and 75 when I'm away.

70 day / 68 night

70 degrees, 24 hours a day.

Jeez...you folks must be rich.

79 degrees Fahrenheit. Atlanta, GA.

It's a quality of life issue.

I keep mine at 76 F, but I also use ceiling fans in my office and bedroom.

72, Palm Springs

Fuck AC. I've been living in Phoenix for the last month. Average temp here has been 110F and I haven't turned on the AC yet.

You better start getting used to the heat, bitches. Global warming is coming!

R125, I'm not rich, but life is short. You might as well be comfortable on the journey. How do you sleep at night with the temp at 79? I like the house warm but the bedroom cold. It's 77 in here right now, but I'll turn the bedroom AC down to 66 when I go to bed.

76 during the day, 72 at night. Split level and the upstairs is always hotter. 99 today and tomorrow.

R129 It's actually quite comfortable. I have a 1-story condo. The thermostat is in a room with a big skylite, so that might have something to do with it- the other rooms in the house might be below 79 when the thermostat is trying to get the temp down in the skylite room.

I'm in Seattle and thankfully, no need for a/c so far this summer.

Knock wood.

r118 I know you just bought a new unit, but I live in the American South and had a 4-car garage (2x2 with an interior wall, one half was a mechanic/workshop).

We bought a commercial unit that was a little overpowered for the garage and could easily freeze you out within an hour. In case you have to buy a new unit anytime soon.

Thanks for the tip R133.

The system was installed by the same guy I've been using for 20 years so I trusted his judgement.

I explained what the old system was doing and he said I wouldn't need to worry with the new unit.

Sure enough the new unit is doing the same thing--running for hours and some days not keeping the interior temp at the temp I've set the thermostat at.

Very frustrating.

79 degrees feels downright heavenly after coming in from high Dallas heat and humidity. If I am cleaning or doing yoga, I might bust it down to 78. But back up to 79 when I am done fannying around. I do not like it too be so artificially cold inside during the heat-hottest time of the year. Doesn't feel healthy to me. And no, I don't like feeling hot and sweaty: My new system keeps the humidity down inside the house, which makes 79 feel completely comfortable to me. Glad I spent the extra money on a 2-stage system.

^ Oh, and yes: I have ceiling fans throughout the house, and they REALLY help make it feel comfortable at 79.

Celsius? OP is a Russian Boris troll using communist measurements.

Speak Fahrenheit dude

r138 proposed by Dutch–German–Polish physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit. they all use metric these days.

71

I live in Chicago in an apartment that is over 100 years old, so there is no central AC I have to use window units. And since I have a 10 room apartment its impossible to keep the entire place air conditioned so I just have AC's in the bedrooms and huge living room. But when im in the bedroom, since the AC blows right on you I keep it at 78. In the living room its impossible to keep it cooled properly even after putting up sheets over the big openings to the other rooms, so i use a fan in conjunction with the window AC. But when its really hot up on the 3rd floor I just retreat to my bedroom where I can shut the doors and make it cool.

Window units are all about the number of BTUs, R141.

House in NYC metro area. During a heatwave like we just had, I keep the A/C in the main part of the house running at 74 and turn it down to 70 or 72 when I get home for the evening. I lower my bedroom to 64 because I get hot at night and I like to sleep under my duvet or at least a light blanket. Unless it goes over 85 degrees, I don't run the A/C during the day. In the winter, I keep my heat (oil burner) set at 68 and turn it down to 62 at night.

Im in Florida, and I keep mine off if Im just sitting around. I adjust it to high 70s if Im doing housework, and 75 If Im about to go to bed or have company. That's the way to keep an affordable AC bill when it's summer all year.

Florida Power also has budget billing now, to put you on a payment plan for those mega summer electric bills, so you can pay them off in the winter when the power bill is low. I've never used it as the habits above keep my bill reasonable in this hellish heat and humidity all year.

[quote]79 degrees Fahrenheit

Do you eat your gruel chilled at least?