# Can you turn the fucking air conditioning down? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 12, 2018, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814 "2018-07-12T22:23:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/21 "2018-07-13T04:32:05Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Why didn’t you just put more clothing on? When I was in the hospital I was freezing. I would have loved to have put more clothes on, but they were back in my room. I was wearing a hospital gown, laying on a gurney in the OR, waiting for the surgical team to get ready. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/22 "2018-07-13T04:47:08Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I’m quite fine with 25 C (77 F) at this time of year, considering I’m wearing shorts, a t-shirt and sandals. Yes, but the AC is controlled by the people working in that store or office. They are there all day long; you only visit for an hour or so. And many employees are required to wear a lot more than “shorts, a t-shirt and sandals”. Often they are wearing uniforms (and often there isn’t a summer version), or safety regulations require more clothing (like I’m going to volunteer in a donut booth at the State Fair, out in the hot sun in August, and the requirement is long pants and socks with closed-toe shoes). And a whole lot of offices still require men to wear suits, long-sleeve shirts & ties, even during summer; and similar ‘professional’ attire for women. If companies/offices would re-think these archaic dress codes, they could increase the AC temp and everyone (employees & customers) would still be comfortable. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/23 "2018-07-13T04:48:03Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > When I was in the hospital I was freezing. I would have loved to have put more clothes on, but they were back in my room. I was wearing a hospital gown, laying on a gurney in the OR, waiting for the surgical team to get ready. That’s what I was going to say. Hospitals always seem to be freezing, and whenever I’ve gone in for any sort of procedure they make you take off at least some of your clothes and put on a skimpy gown, and if you complain the will give you another skimpy gown to put on over the first one. By the time I’ve gotten to the gurney I’ve been able to ask for blankets\*, but those long waits in the “gowned waiting areas”, as they are called, are torture. \*The last time I went in the people in the surgical area were really nice. Not only did I get a pile of extra blankets but there was some delay caused by a mix-up in the OR schedule. I told the nurse that I was bored and they took the complaint very seriously - they ended up wheeling my gurney into an unused patient room with a TV and giving me the remote. Still, it’s too damn cold. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/24 "2018-07-13T04:49:27Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Cooler air should help fight global warming! Why you hate penguins? Look at his name – he’s a Leafs fan. (And count me with those who crank up the AC. I hate the heat.) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/25 "2018-07-13T09:31:19Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Look at his name – he’s a Leafs fan. > > (And count me with those who crank up the AC. I hate the heat.) Ha ha!! I love you Guin! ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/26 "2018-07-13T09:46:05Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I’m pretty sure you can save some money AND make it more comfortable if you just turn the A/C **down** by a few degrees C. This statement makes no sense. If you go DOWN a few degrees, it gets COLDER. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/27 "2018-07-13T09:57:15Z")
My opinion is that you can always put more clothes on but there’s only so many layers you can take-off before you make _everyone_ uncomfortable. If it’s just me, I have the heating/conditioning how I like, if there’s more than just me I will defer to whoever likes it coolest. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/28 "2018-07-13T11:08:26Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > Some of us appreciate not melting while we shop and bank. 77 degrees. Pshaw! If I wanted to be that hot, I’d sit in the car. See, the problem with hot weather is depending on where you are, you have a different idea of what hot is. When I lived in Austin (TX) I worked with a guy from Boston. He had a mental defect that said room temperature had to be 72. So he always set the AC to 72. Setting it to 72 is fine if the outside temperature is between say 77 and 85. When the outside temperature is 110 coming inside to 72 is one hell of a shock, and often too cold. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/29 "2018-07-13T12:08:08Z")
77 is a few degrees too warm for me unless I can go shirtless. I’d be fine in the 70-75 range in shorts and a tee considering I’m likely to be moving around in any given establishment. If it were a sit-down restaurant or movie theatre I’d probably prefer the upper end of that range though. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/30 "2018-07-13T12:40:26Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > At our office, the building is supposed to be kept in a 70-74 degree range all year round. The fact that people wear lighter clothes in the summer than in the winter isn’t their problem, I guess. I’d love to be able to wear a short sleeved shirt in the office during the summer, so that I’m not overdressed the moment I step outside into D.C.-area humidity - but if I did, I’d freeze all day long while inside. My office is the same way. Our building houses the server banks for the entire base, so it’s always 68 degrees or lower inside, unless you go up to the higher floors (and there’s usually no real reason to go up there). People sit at their desks in coats. My standard office attire is a half-zip sweatshirt and when I step outside into 90 degree, 100% humidity weather, people look at me like I’m nuts. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/31 "2018-07-13T12:48:11Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > After our heat wave here in SoCal the last week or so, I’ve been dreaming about icy cold a/c blasting away. We live near the beach and don’t have a/c. Fans just don’t cut it when you’re in triple digits. > > Now, the temperature’s lower, but the humidity spiked. Sigh. I’m in the same situation (I live in an area that’s currently very hot and I don’t have AC at home,) so I like it when I can go into a building that has air conditioning. And unfortunately, I don’t work in an air-conditioned place. I usually work at home, but it’s been too hot for even that lately. ☹ So these high temperatures are a drain on my finances as well as my physical health and my sanity. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/32 "2018-07-13T17:36:49Z")
When it’s cold, folks can put on a sweater. When it’s hot they can’t take off all their clothes. Well, they can, but they won’t be welcome in Walmart any more. ---
**Author:** ![baileygrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@baileygrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/baileygrrrl)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/33 "2018-07-14T01:43:45Z")
Speaking as a person who could sweat in a snowstorm, I cannot endorse this pitting. Summer can’t be over with too soon as far as I was concerned. Cool malls and stores are often my respite from the heat. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/34 "2018-07-14T03:38:36Z")
> [@baileygrrrl](#): > > Speaking as a person who could sweat in a snowstorm, I cannot endorse this pitting. Summer can’t be over with too soon as far as I was concerned. Cool malls and stores are often my respite from the heat. I’m with you. Retreating into a cooler environment is the only way I survive most of the year. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/35 "2018-07-14T04:31:21Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I’m quite fine with 25 C (77 F) at this time of year, considering I’m wearing shorts, a t-shirt and sandals. 25C is NOT fine. Neither is 24. I have my thermostat set to 23 which means it doesn’t turn on the A/C until it hits 23.5 which is 73.4 F, and sometimes even that’s too hot, especially if I’m doing any physical activity. I’m getting to be an old fart who gets hot easily, and if you don’t like it you can fuck off, a statement that I make just because now I can. 🙂 The perception that reasonable temperatures are “too cold” simply comes from the contrast with the insufferable sweltering humid heat of the outdoors. > [@Leaffan](#): > > No. Up means colder. > > Down means warmer. That’s wrong, too. I can vaguely see the logic if you think of “up” in the sense of “make the A/C work harder”, but “up” is “warmer” in any rational sense of what you do with the thermostat, and is also consistent between heating and cooling seasons – “turn the thermostat up” means to turn it to a higher number. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814/36 "2018-07-14T04:34:34Z")
Oh, and OP? I asked my husband if he could turn the a/c down and the temperature dropped significantly. So… Thank you for that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-turn-the-fucking-air-conditioning-down/817814.md?page=1)