What Temperature Is Your AC Thermostat Set To?

[launderess]

It's been brutal hot and moist summer thus far so AC is running more than normal. Can cope with heat to an extent but constant dampness is another story.

Set AC to 74 in aid of economizing (local utility rates are high and will increase again next month), but with having to run AC pretty much 24/7 savings aren't great as one had hoped.

 

[parunner58]

Here is Davenport Fl(35 minutes SW of Disney World), it's been in the upper 90's - 103, heat index around 110-116 for the past 3 months. We keep our AC at 76 all year and the few times (maybe 4 days in the 13 years we have lived here) we have had the heat on it is set at 66. The AC been working hard but has been keeping the house nice inside. It is a Rheem, 2.5 ton, gas heating installed on 6/24/2014. The house is 2000 sq. Ft. with 18 ft ceilings.

 

[DADoES]

 
78°F 10 am-ish to 11p.  77°F 11p to 10a.

Some people are seriously unreasonable with cooling setpoints.  Sister/SIL in DFW area (claim) they run 65°F.

RJ's 4th rental property is now occupied as of 6/23.  The renters immediately complained it's not comfortable (refrigerating meat seems to be the goal) and expressed concern about the bill due to unit running 24/7.  Asked what was their bill during summer months at their previous rental location, said $700/month.  RJ estimated $350 per some daily meter readings, they thought that'd be fantastic.  As typical, they seemingly don't understand how AC works, apparently believe dropping the setpoint colder correspondingly and instantly reduces the output temp.  They added a window unit to the MBR.  HVAC service visited 8:30 a recent morning.  Setpoint was 60°F, room temp reading 63°F (it rises during heat of the day).  They'll probably want 85°F for heating, gotta feel the chill and the burn, LOL.  Service guy of course reported nothing wrong.

 

[joeekaitis]

78 degrees . . .

. . . and we don’t turn on our split mini system until we need it to feel comfortable, around 1 or 2 PM.

We also have ceiling fans running all through the house. We call it Casa de Las Brisas.

 

[mrsalvo]

78 most of the time. Has been suggested to try 79. South Central Texas.

Barry

 

[petek]

No central air here on account of hydronic heating. I have a 2 ton minisplit which cools the main floor living/dining/kitchen as well as the family room down four stairs off our living room and kitchen. Does a great job. I have it set for about 76, any cooler and my partner complains it's too cold. We were sitting on the back decklast night and it was about 75 degrees and humid. He's sitting there wearing a hoodie while the rest of us are dripping. .

 

[appnut]

78 degrees 24/7. Thus far we have had 40 days of 100+ temperature. Same forecast for the next 10 days. Heat inexes have reqached 112. My electric rates increase by 30% hast September.

 

[maytag85]

The main air conditioner in the house isn’t working however, I have a window air conditioner to make in more tolerable. Have it set to a luxuriously cold 60F, not setting it to the make believe “freezing” temperature of 78F. 72F is about right for air conditioning.

 

[goatfarmer]

77 fahrenheit

 

[luxflairguy]

I only turn on system when it hits 80! But at night its at 73!

 

[ea56]

We don’t have AC.  Our thermostat is set to off right now as its only used for the heaters during the cold weather.  Right now its a pleasant 74 F outside and 70.9 F inside with a humidity of 67.  We have lots of tall shade trees that keep the downstairs cool during all but the very hottest days.  We have fans in every room.  We are probably about 15 miles to the west as the crow flies from the Pacific Coast.  Every evening, except on the rarest of days the ocean breeze begins to come in at about 7:00 to 7:30 pm bringing welcome relief from the heat.  If we open all the windows both upstairs and down we get great cross ventilation that cools off the house nicely.

 

There are 20 units in our complex and no one has  AC.  Although one guy does have one of those portable roll around AC units with the vent hose that you place in a window.  He only uses this unit a handful of times a year.

 

Eddie

 

[geoff]

72 from 8am to 10pm, 68 from 10pm to 8am

We live in SW Florida about an hour north of Naples. we have an amazing Lennox system with proper ducting that keeps our house 24/7 with the temps we set. Our wonderful A/C company owner, Brian can not to this day understand how we can keep our temperature so low and still have it cycle, which it does. He instructs all of his workers to treat our unit with kid gloves when they maintenance it. I can't explain it, but our house is damn cold all year.

 

[circlew]

When I had air conditioning I usually had it set at 72 or 74. Currently I have none, as I stay in the basement. The temperature in here is 82 right now, with relative humidity of 36. I have a floor fan, so isn't too bad. The ductwork and air handler are in place, but the heat pump unit isn't. The upstairs is unfinished space for now, so wouldn't make sense to run it even if the system was complete.

 

[rp2813]

Set Point 75F

I may live in the SF Bay Area, but even when summer temps are near historical average, which is right around 80, I usually have to run the central AC because the front of the house faces southwest and has no shade, and the two front rooms, one of which has a high barrel ceiling, have big windows.  It doesn't help that I'm in the middle of a small heat island with no trees big enough to shade my street, which is a lot wider than average because trolleys used to run down the middle of it. 

 

The back of the house stays cool, so I have the registers barely open in those rooms.   A split system would make more sense, but central AC was already here and is less obvious -- except for the way-too-loud fan.

 

Nights cool down to 60-65, so once the indoor and outdoor temperatures equalize, I shut down the AC and put fans in four strategic windows.  I can sleep comfortably with that arrangement.  If it's a really bad hot spell or if my buddy is spending the night, I have a small 8K BTU portable AC in my bedroom that I set to 65 so I don't have to be cooling the rest of the house overnight just to stay comfortable in bed.

 

[supersuds]

77 now; sometimes it's on 76 or even 75 depending on activity levels.

I recently visited a friend for the weekend. He normally keeps his AC at 75, which is fine, but he was gun-shy because his sister demands it be put on 68 when she stays there. I kept telling him it was okay, but he was so worried about it that he would turn it down to 71 at bedtime. He also brought a box fan into the guest room "in case you get hot." No chance of that!

The whole thing was preposterous. I was freezing -- there was just a thin blanket on the bed -- so I took the liberty of turning the thermostat up to 74 after I was sure he was asleep. I mean, neither of us wanted it to be 71.

 

[48bencix]

Non Programable Thermostat

We live in Sacramento California and we normally have several periods of 100 degree days. This week it is in the 90's. We set it at 77 during the day and the unit came on at 2:30 pm today. Later in the evening I set it to 74 to sleep through the night. My bedroom has three outside exposures and does get a little warmer than most of the other rooms so if I set it at 75 it becomes 76 and that is too warm for me to sleep. I have one blanket and sheet with a second sheet over. 77 or even 78 is so much cooler than outside that it is pretty comfortable.

When I bought this house it had one large wall unit for the whole house, and that was not enough. Especially considering there was no wall insulation. I put in the central system, gas heat and electric cooling, forced air. That was 32 years ago. 5 years ago we had it replaced with a Trane system. I just lowered the speed on the blower because it was a little loud. Still cools very well.

 

[ozzie908]

We have 3 split systems

Whichever room we are in its usually about 68f same over night, However as Dear Launderess points out its so much the heat as the humidity, Its been rather wet this July which although good for the water supply and gardens makes its so damn moist. AC has been the most useful luxury we could have had. I have even used the DRY setting when it was not hot but you felt like wrung out dish rag and that removed the moisture real quick.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Whoa

You guys like it warm. Our house is 71ºF during the day, and is turned down to 70ºF right before bed. Even that is too hot for my blood. It is fairly humid in Ohio right now, but has been bearable. I couldn't imagine living in the south right now.

 

[appnut]

Well, I"m glad all of y'all can afford such luxuries of such cold indoor climates. Too expensve for me and I cannot afford it.

 

[dustin92]

I don't like to sweat when the a/c is on! We don't have central air but I run 3 window units, 10k and 5k downstairs, and 7800 btu upstairs. I generally shoot for 68-69 during the day (except between 2-7 pm, energy saving hours I go as warm as we can be comfortable, usually no more than 73)... I like my bedroom cold cold to sleep, 65-66. The 2 downstairs units are usually turned off at night and usually not back on until 10-11 am. Electric bill this month was around $220.