A/C ?...Inspired by the A/C Thread....

[momrek06]

To all of you who have Central A/C do you run the A/C when you are away?

My family has a new home. We are just getting use to Central Air, that being said we went away for 5 days over July 4th and I choose to shut off the Central Air in the entire house...#1) saves energy...#2) saves electric bill...#3) no one would be home to enjoy the air!!

NOW my dilemma was when we all returned home (after a very hot and humid weekend) my house on the first floor was 88 degrees and the second floor was 97 degrees....it was soooo blasted hot ..YIKES!!! It then took almost 4 hours to get the house down to 72 degrees!!!

DH said next time we go away we will leave the air conditioning ON!!!!

How do all you DISer's leave the house when you are away??? Many thanks!!!

 

[summerrluvv]

I turn it up to like 75 or so. That way it's not boiling hot that the fridge starts condensating

 

[jennyl772003]

We live in an apartment, but when we are going away we turn off the central air.

Maybe you should look into a programable thermostat. That way you can set it to turn back on 4 hours before you get home so it cools down.

 

[princess pooh]

I leave it on for the cat (and my mom who takes care of the cat!).

 

[Aimeedyan]

Yep, we always leave it on. Our parents have both told us that leaving it off and then making it worth overtime to cool the house off was more expensive then just leaving it on at a constant temp. So, we do that. If we go on vacation, we bump it up pretty high (85ish) but if we cut it completely off it would be sweltering and would run for hours to cool back off.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

If you don't leave it on, your carpet will start to "buckle" and your paint will start to crack.

 

[marybet]

Ours is set at 77, when we go away I turn it up to 80. I would go to 85 but my DH thinks that is to warm. When we first moved into the house it took about 3 days for it to really cool and DH thinks that you should not let it get to hot. We have an all electric home, with 2 water heaters, and our bill at the highest is about $160, so it really doesn't make a big difference by turning it up.

 

[FSUGrad97]

Yep, we always leave it on. Our parents have both told us that leaving it off and then making it worth overtime to cool the house off was more expensive then just leaving it on at a constant temp. So, we do that. If we go on vacation, we bump it up pretty high (85ish) but if we cut it completely off it would be sweltering and would run for hours to cool back off.

This is what we do too!

 

[Todd&Copper]

Leave it on but turn it up a bit higher than usual. It takes more elctricity to completely cool the house down from 90 than it does to keep it constantly at 80 (I can't recall where I read that, but it was in a newspaper, either Wash. Post or Wash. Times about 3 years ago).

 

[ducklite]

Ours is normally set to 78-80. We leave it on, but set it up to 84. If we didn't we'd begin to get mold issues.

Anne

 

[DznyFan]

Yes. The part of the country I live in, we have to. Usually set it at about 75 - 76 for the day, then a little cooler in the evenings and night. I like it cool when I sleep!

 

[Amy]

Same here - I usually have it set at 75/76, but when we go away, I set it to hold at 80/82. We got a new condenser unit last year and I asked the repairman if it's better to try to keep the temp. semi-constant or let it get real hot while we're out and then try to cool down. He said constant is better because the unit works extra-hard to cool down from a higher temp.

 

[Tina]

This thread reminded me of my neighbors. A few years ago, they went on vacation for a week and the husband turned off the AC as they headed out the door. When they came back he realized he nearly killed the fish in their tank. The house was nearly 100 degrees!!!

 

[paigevz]

Yes we leave it on, it takes more energy to turn it off and then cool the whole place down later, plus as mentioned, the fridge works overtime, using more energy still. We also have a gerbil and cat that don't go with us on vacations. We turn it up though, to about 80.

Simlarly, we have been told that it takes more energy to turn a light on that it does to run it, so you should only turn off your lights if you'll be leaving them off more than 5-10 minutes...........just thought I'd drop that tidbit in!

 

[momrek06]

OP HERE: OMG......Thank you all so much for the replies......I got home (2 days) before my DS and I noticed in his room his computer's FAN was sooooo loud as he left his computer ON with an away message. His DGF has been in Italy and she had left him some crazy lovey dovey message so I was afraid to shut the computer off as he would not have seen the message...UGH...that being said I put on his ceiling fan and his floor fan besides turning the A/C on immediately...DH and I would have turned the computer off if not for that "message"...but within several hours the computer FAN (noise) had stopped as the house attempted to cool off. UGH....well I guess the DECISION has been made. We will leave the A/C ON and turn it up!!!!



As I sit here reading all your responses, when we went to WDW in Feb. we left the heat ON and turned it down to like 62....so it is the SAME THING..summer time turn the A/C UP!!!!

 

[hellokitty86]

We keep the air to about 75 when we go on vacation, for the cats. I also HATE to come home to a warm house, I could never just turn it off and leave. My apartment is on the 3rd floor, and when you have 10 million bags of luggage you have to schlep up 3 flights of stairs, you get hot.

 

[Dan Murphy]

We use this programmable thermostat. http://yourhome.honeywell.com/Consu...nstalled/VisionPRO/VisionPRO™+Thermostats.htm It can be set to a vacation mode, to be off (or some higher, or lower if heating), setting during vacation and turn on, up, or down prior to return.

 

[mrsltg]

Like others, we leave ours on. We set it to about 75 or so (don't want to cook the kitties!) and it's not unbearable when we get home. We do the same thing during the winter (set to around 62).

 

[kimmikayb]

Coming from someone with a husband who worked in the heating and cooling business.....you waste more energy (and $$) turning off your AC. It takes a lot to cool that house back down. Turn it up a few degrees and let it be. Without people coming in and out of the house it will use very little energy to maintain the temp (especially if your insulation is good).

 

[katerkat]

We have two window units and we leave them on, otherwise the cats will mutiny.