What do you keep your ac set at?

[me again]

We keep ours set at 79, and that's constant. We don't monkey with the thermostat adjusting it all the time. OUr bills are a lot less than this time last summer. We use ceiling fans a lot and guess we're just used to the temperature but we get complaints from "friends" who say its too hot in here. Well, we tell them that's how it is here, if they want it any lower they're more than welcome to go to their own home and adjust theeir ac however they like.

We had some "friends" who would just adjust ou ac down whenever they were in our home, we oftentimes didn't notice until it had been running for awhile or after they left. So we bought one of those lock box things to put over the ac control, last they were here they left awfully soon perhaps they didn't like our house?

Well, to each his own. Just wondering what the rest of you keep your ac set at

 

[kors]

I also keep it set at 79. We are getting all new windows soon, so that should help. We are also getting a whole house fan installed too. We have some box fans that really do the job.

 

[me again]

i'd like to keep it lower but we really just can't afford it. Our last month's electric bill was $248, that was doing everything we could to conserve the electric short of just turning off the ac.

 

[momof296&02]

I admit we monkey around with the ac! We have central air, I wish we had ceiling fans. In the day if noone is home it is set at 76 automatically, when we are home I lower the downstairs thermometer to 73/74 & upstairs stays at 76. At night the downstairs goes to 76 & upstairs 72 unless we feel it's too hot. I'm pretty particular about the temperature of everything- our pool heater is almost always set at 82- if it's really hot then the heater goes off. I wonder why DD5 says the pool at swimming lessons is too cold???

 

[perd]

Had it off until yesterday because it's been such a nice spring, pleasant temps for the most part. I work at home all day and I am fine turning on the attic fan, even if it is getting pretty warm. I love the heat!

Yesterday the humidity rose and the temperature rose, though, and I turned the AC on when DH got home from work because he is out in the heat a lot for work and likes to be in the cool air when he gets home.

Ours is set on 75 when he is home and when he's not here I either turn it off and open the windows or turn it up to 76, 77, 78, 79...I can't stand to be cold!

Yesterday when he got home, though, the thermostat was reading 81 and I turned on the AC and it took it about 4 hours to cool the house down to 75 with the AC running constantly. So maybe I didn't save any money by having it off all day and then making it cool a hot house.

If it were up to me, the AC would still be off. I much prefer fresh air coming through my windows.

 

[pbharris4]

68 or 69 during the summer and 71 during the winter. I think our digital thing on the wall is off by a few degrees though. I have a lot of house to cool off though. We have a lot of windows as well. I could probably crank it up a tad.

 

[LisaInNc]

It varies and a play with it a lot. We like it very cold at night so it is around 75 and runs most nights then I turn it off in the morning and my house keeps very comfortable until around 2 pm and I run it for another few hours until it is off until bedtime.

I never have it on if we are not home the house cools really quickly so I just turn it on when I get home.

We live in NC and it gets hot here but I moved last year into this house after living in a 115 year old victorian with window units so it is bliss to me to have it so cool in here.

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

We keep ours set at 72, never touch it. In the winter, I keep it at 69.

 

[rentayenta]

We have two; one for the main level and one for upstairs where the kids' rooms are located. The main level is set at 78* all of the time. The upstairs is set at 76* during the day and then goes to 78* at 10 pm. We have only been in this home since Nov. Supposedly having two ac's is supposed to result in a lower bill but more expensive to put in. We shall see. We have ceiling fans in all of the bedrooms, the living room, and the loft and they are always on.

 

[DisneyAprilFool]

Uh, here where it's 120 degrees already, it seems- we are happy to see 82-85 degrees during the day. Of course, we're cheap and run a swamp cooler- so it's less expensive then AC. What would I LIKE it at? 75 sounds very sweet!

But when we've seen $400 electric bills because of the AC and when the power company constantly hikes up the rates (like 4-5 times in 5 years!)- it isn't worth the money to keep it cooler!

 

[tooh8ful]

I have a programable thermostat so it is 72 degrees when I get home from work until 11pm, then it goes up to 78. At 6am it cools back down for 2 hrs then up to 80 until 5pm.
The heat does the same thing in the winter, warmer when we're home or awake, cooler when we're gone or sleeping.
My electric bill has been significanly lower since I had the programable thermostat installed.

 

[LanaJae]

I have a programable thermostat so it is 72 degrees when I get home from work until 11pm, then it goes up to 78. At 6am it cools back down for 2 hrs then up to 80 until 5pm.
The heat does the same thing in the winter, warmer when we're home or awake, cooler when we're gone or sleeping.
My electric bill has been significanly lower since I had the programable thermostat installed.

This is definately the way to go, we have ours go lower during dinner time for cooking, then about 75 in the evening, and then up to 80 at bedtime and then down to 78 at 11 am.

Also, if you run your furnace fan continually, the air gets more evenly distributed. You'd think it would cost more in electricity, but it usually stops the compressor from running as often, so saves a little. It also protects your home from moisture areas, etc.

 

[LanaJae]

We had some "friends" who would just adjust ou ac down whenever they were in our home, we oftentimes didn't notice until it had been running for awhile or after they left. So we bought one of those lock box things to put over the ac control, last they were here they left awfully soon perhaps they didn't like our house?

Well, to each his own. Just wondering what the rest of you keep your ac set at

You have some pretty bold friends! Go over to their house and turn on the lights in every room and see how they feel.

 

[homedad]

72 during the day 68 at night.....before kids I'd set the winter temp down to 55, we like it cold at night

 

[MrsKreamer]

After the electric bill went up again, I started putting it on 77. Just a few years ago I thought it was too hot to keep it on 74! Gradually I just keeping setting it warmer. It really makes a difference on the bill.

 

[rn_wannabe]

While I don't agree with your friends changing your temp. I do know that it's so much easier to do something about being cold than it is hot. If you're hot and at a friends house you can't really take off your clothes or jump in a cool bath, but the owner of the home can lower the temp for the comfort of guests and wear a sweater, jacket, pants...herself so she doesn't get cold and then of course change the temp back the way she likes it when her company leaves. I'm not saying the owner is obligated to do this, but it's a nice thing to do if possible. For some people, being hot, actually brings on miserable negative physical symptoms. Of course, cold can do the same thing, but again more can be done about feeling cold, than feeling hot. Hope I didn't offend. JMHO.

Melissa

 

[shortbun]

72. My son keeps turning it down to 70 but it's because he goes outside, gets all sweaty from being very active and then wants to cool down fast. I say take a cold shower. We had a discussion about his paying the electric bill yesterday. Hopefully that will stop his piracy of the thermostadt. To those of you who keep it on 79 and use ceiling fans. why not just open your windows and cool with the night air every day while using your fans? I honestly think your houses would be about the same temp and you'd have fresh air. I could not live in a house set at 79 with windows closed. Just too stuffy.

 

[beattyfamily]

I like it cool.

We keep the downstairs one on 70 during the day and upstairs at 74. At night I put downstairs at 74 and upstairs at 72 (I'd make it 70 but my girls room gets colder faster than our room and I don't want to freeze them!).

If I make it any higher than 74, we can't even tell it's on.

In the winter I put both the upstairs and downstairs heat on 65 at night and 68 during the day.

Right now they are off though.

 

[ADisneygirl]

We keep it at 76.

This new AC is much more efficient than the old system. My A/C bills are in the high $100's now, with the old system we set it at 80 and our bills were about $350! It was terrible last summer.

 

[me again]

While I don't agree with your friends changing your temp. I do know that it's so much easier to do something about being cold than it is hot. If you're hot and at a friends house you can't really take off your clothes or jump in a cool bath, but the owner of the home can lower the temp for the comfort of guests and wear a sweater, jacket, pants...herself so she doesn't get cold and then of course change the temp back the way she likes it when her company leaves. I'm not saying the owner is obligated to do this, but it's a nice thing to do if possible. For some people, being hot, actually brings on miserable negative physical symptoms. Of course, cold can do the same thing, but again more can be done about feeling cold, than feeling hot. Hope I didn't offend. JMHO.

Melissa

You know, I tend to agree with you in that one should consider the comfort of one's guests, I realize not everyone is comfortable at the temperature we like. But these people weren't exactly guests, they're neighbors who just drop by, bring their kids over, that sort of thing. Now if I invite people over for dinner I always lower the temperature a few degrees, because, more people in the house = more heat, if I'm cooking it means more heat, and I do want my guests to be comfortable. also, if there's workmen in the house doing something I always lower it, I figure it benefits me because the more comfortable they are the better a job they do!

But just to drop by to cool your buns, then lower our ac! That's nerve!