It's That Time Of Year Again! What Is Your AC Thermostat Set To?

[combo52]

The Great indoors

We have five built-in central systems, two main ones and then three auxiliary systems in areas of the house.

Temperature stays around 74 all summer sometimes I said a little cooler in our bedroom at night, In the winter, we usually heat to 70 to 72 depending on the area of the house

The largest system the blower operates 24 hours a day with an electric static filter. Both main systems have large thick pleated filters that remove particles down to 2 µm.

Never open any windows, absolutely no ceiling fans or portable fans anywhere in the house is always cool top to bottom side to side, no bedrooms or bathrooms take on any musty odors, etc. all three bathrooms have good exhaust fans on timers that are used as needed, the master bathroom actually has two exhaust fans one just for the shower area on its own humidistat. The kitchen alone has three exhaust cooking appliances and there’s an additional five close dryers that are exhausted, and the workshop has its own exhaust system to remove, any Dust or pollutants.

The weather here is not extreme. It gets cold enough to kill off bugs and things in the winter don’t have to worry about getting dengue fever here, lol and the summers are really not that extreme even during this recent heat wave it only got to 95 or so

I built a huge screen porch on the back of the house. It has a kitchen in it extra laundry area hot tub and steam room, outdoor shower, etc. I love the great outdoors, And when I want to enjoy the lovely weather all the birds and trees, I do use that area a lot but I like the house itself to always be a perfect environment.

Electric cost are very reasonable. We put 42 solar panels on the roof. I took the free plan so I still pay for the electricity I pay nine cents per kilowatt average electric cost is around $80 a month year round which I consider to be one of the smaller monthly expenses, considering I’m running five refrigerators and freezers, and having every appliance gadget, I could possibly want.

Water cost Here are reasonable just got my quarterly water bill today. It was $122 not bad for two of us living here for all the showers and laundry we do.

 

[parunner58]

We leave our AC set at 76 all year. The few time we have used the heat, wich has been maybe 3-4 times in the 13 years we lived here in Fl it's 68 and leave it on maybe for an hour. Our Average electric bill for a 2000 sq. ft. house with 20 ft ceilings is $308 a month. 4 TV's, 2 fridges, most of the lights are LED, range. Dryer, heat, tankless Water heater natural gas. gas bill is about $35 monthly.

 

[norgeway]

67

Summer 68-69 winter, Donald grew up in a unairconditioned house, His theory is, As long as I can pay the bill ill never toss and turn all night in a hot house! I grew up in air conditioning, In my bedroom at home I had a 1952 Fedders Weather wheel, it had two positions cool and off, It would pull my bedroom down to 55 in the hottest weather. I loathe detest and hate any temperature over 60!

 

[kimball455]

Cool Cape May

Hello Everyone ..

Living at the bottom of New Jersey we get interesting weather. Cape May is between the Atlantic Ocean and the Delaware Bay. I live in Cape May City a few blocks from the beach. The inland areas between the ocean and bay can get quite toasty in the summer. This past week during the east coast heat wave, we had a rather nice breeze every day. That changed today, it got rather warm and muggy.

The entire city of Cape May is a national historic landmark. We have the largest number of Victorian building outside of San Francisco.

I keep the front of the house at 72F most of the time. Back where the kitchen/laundry is located is usually about 75F. Second floor rear bedroom no AC unless occupied. Front (Master) 72F during day, 68F at night.

This achieved with a Samsung mini split system. House is 1100 sq ft. Well insulated walls with Marvin wood windows with thermal glass that has a reflective film. On the budget plan with the electric co. Monthly bill is $88. Heat is gas baseboard condensing boiler. Same boiler does hot water. Gas dryer.

In my spare time I am the President/Historian for the Greater Cape May Historical Society. If you visit Cape May, let me know when you will be in town and I will give you a personal tour of the Colonial House Museum.

Harry

 

[retro-man]

Daytime temp is kept at 73 degrees and night time is 69 degrees. Being right on the ocean also have a dehumidifier running on very humid days. Current bill for the last 30 days was $140.00. Usually open the windows and sliders in the morning early for a few hours if the temp is cool enough.

Jon

 

[gizmo]

Thermostat? What thermostat?

If its too cold I put another log on the fire...

 

[panasonicvac]

Update

Our furnace guy came over. On Monday he fixed a board for one them. This kind from my understanding is if it goes bad, it'd need a new motor. But thankfully someone came up with a aftermarket kit where you can just repair the board instead of replacing the motor. And the second one, there's a leak somewhere in the coolant line. He came back yesterday with some fill & fix injection for inside but this is only for a temporary solution because unfortunately, it's that time where we're gonna need to get a new system because we've had it since 1991. So the plan is to keep using the ac as is until we can replace it next year but we may have to this year if the fill & fix doesn't last for this summer.

 

[polkanut]

Ours is set at 72–73ºF when it's on. Right now the rain is keeping things cool. 

 

[rp2813]

Upper 90s are forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, followed by mid 90s for a few more, then lower 90s by next week.  So far this year, the forecast high temperatures have consistently been lower than the actual ones.  I'm anticipating triple digits.  Low temps will only get down to 70 on Tuesday and likely Wednesday, which means the AC will be cranking well into the night. 

 

The 4th of July typically brings comfortable temperatures, but this year the fire danger is going to be off the charts, and the far inland valleys will be sizzling.  Fireworks are still legal in many parts of California's interior, where the concentration of climate deniers is the most dense -- in more than one context.

 

[logixx]

Currently lovely 81F inside and it's past 10 PM. Time to lay on the floor like a starfish. It's even warmer outside.

These are the times when air conditioning would be nice.

 

[ryner1988]

76 during the day, 72 at night. Stacye gets chilly easily because of circulation issues. On the flipside though we are both hot sleepers, so prefer the house cooler at night.

It's stormy here today, and the forecast states that several days of moderate temperatures (high 70's to low 80's) are coming after the storms move out. I'm looking forward to not needing the AC very much for a while.

 

[william8]

69 during the day, 68 at night (sometimes 67).
I have insulated and sealed the house extremely well. On a 90 degree day the AC doesn't usually even turn on until 4 or 5 pm.

Electric bill is around $120 in July and August. Less than $20 more than in the winter when the AC isn't running. Well worth it.

 

[DADoES]

 
June electric came in at $191 for 1,517 kWh.  Raised the daytime temp to 78°F.

Last year was $205 for 1,449 kWh.

 

[ea56]

This years electric bill for June is $174.78 for 413.3 kwh, last June’s bill was $184.92 for 521.95 kwh, considerably more than the rest of the USA.

Eddie

 

[appnut]

This year for current June billing dates of end of May until June 28, it as $145.84 for 858 KWH. Last year it was $160.76 for 998 kwh. It wws much hotter last year than this year's comparable time period.

 

[DADoES]

 
Electric is my only utility bill (other than cell phone and Internet service).  No natural gas (or propane) or water/sewer.  The water well pump, of course, requires electric power but my water usage is below average.  The aerobic septic system has an aeration pump that runs near continuously and a discharge pump that as runs needed per the daily early-morning timer (and float sensor level).  Two desktop computers that run continuously, another that "sleeps" majority of the time.  All three are connected to UPS battery units that pull power to maintain charge.  Garage refrigerator that obviously runs a lot in the summer heat.  Other electric/electronic gadgets that pull operating or stand-by power.

 

[askolover]

Normally we run at 76 but with this heat I've had to bump it up to 78 because it won't kick off! It's still quite cool in the house, especially at night.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

temps

72 during the day, 71 at night. Would be a degree cooler if I had more control. 

Winter is usually 68. 

 

[whitewhiskers]

West Coast Heat Wave Hits

Forecast for tomorrow is even HOTTER!

 

[rp2813]

106 at my place right now (per the Wunderground station around the corner.  That's seven degrees higher than forecast and it's only 4 PM.  Thermostat set at 76.  I may sleep at my buddy's tonight because he likes it cold, and I can give my AC system a rest. 

 

I sure hope the intensity of this heat is able to defeat the hot ridge over us and suck in the marine layer sooner than expected.

 

[turbokinetic]

I live in Alabama, where most of the year is pretty warm. Because I live alone I turn the A/C off when I leave home in the morning around 08:00 and then turn it back on when I come home in the afternoon. It stays on 68°F.  My home is about 30 years old and has the original 3 ton R22 Goodman system. It still has its reciprocating Copeland compressor. Only takes about 15 or 20 minutes to cool down when turned on in the evening.  

 

I see no need to air condition the house when I am not home, but I want to have my bedroom cold when I sleep.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

ac off when not home

Ours would take far too long to get to appropriate temp if we would turn it off when we are not home, especially when it has been mid 90s lately. Our house is not all that well insulated. Plus, better humidity control is far worth the cost, IMHO.

We could probably get away with it in the winter, though our new thermostat that was installed with our new heat pump clicks the emergency heat on if there is more than a 2 degree difference in the set point and room temp. Just an absolute waste. 

 

[combo52]

Reply number 51

On any heat pump I’ve ever lived with. I always lock out the back up resistance heat. It really lowers the operating cost to do so a lot of times the heat pump in the winners going into a defrost cycle in the automatically turn on the resistance heat so you don’t have any cool air blowing around for a few minutes. I don’t mind that when you look at the cost so I’ve locked out the electric heat.

I did this on my former partners system over 10 years ago. I put a switch on the side of the air handler. I said if you ever feel like you need more heat, go down and change it. He’s never used the resistance heat in over 10 years.

Normally, I find you can turn the air conditioning off when you’re gone and save energy, depending on the power of your cooling system and help well sealed your home is usually your home will not get all that humid. If you leave everything closed up, then when you get home, you can turn the cooling back on, you do save a considerable amount of energy doing this, but it depends on the power of your system and your house if it will work for you or not.

John

 

[ea56]

It’s 11 am and it’s already 96 F outside and 72.5 downstairs in the living room. It’s projected to reach 106 F this afternoon. Yesterday the high was 104 F. We kept the windows open last night and managed to cool off the upstairs to 70 F. According to the forecast we won’t be able to open the windows until after 9 pm just like last night. Even so, the highest the temp got to last night downstairs was 74 F but upstairs was over 80 F at 11pm.

All the fans are going full blast. Just hope the power stays on.

Eddie

 

[launderess]

From Vox.com: https://www.vox.com/climate/358898/best-thermostat-setting-save-energy-money-ac

 

[chachp]

70-72 during the day and 70 at night

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">Twenty Seven solar panels on the roof.  I think the electric bill last month was $13 because we used a little more than we made.  Nice and cool in here just how we like it.</span>

 

[frigilux]

72 degrees 24/7 all summer.

 

[launderess]

When home 75 degrees F during day, usually leave it at that setting for night.

Vintage Patton "High Velocity Air Circulator"fans give great air circulation so things feel cooler even with thermostat set bit higher than what some might consider comfortable. You can't fail can you? Today's cheap Asian made tat cannot compare to vintage American built. Keep them clean, occasional drop of oil on bearings (thanks to convenient opening), and they will run forever.

Temps while warm past several days things are more about humidity which has been oppressive.

 

[pulltostart]

Using the 78 night/80 day settings I noted above, the power bill arrived today and it's $148. I can handle that.

 

lawrence