I’m curious about where 24/7 (or *almost *24/7) users of central air-conditioning keep their thermostats set during the hours when you’re at home. I know there are programmable thermostats that can raise the temp and lower it when you get home from work or wherever, and I’m talking about the evening or weekend hours when you’re at home most of the time.
I’ve given options between 68 and 79 and “other” for stuff like “we turn off the a/c at night” or something I can’t think of right now. If you post a comment, I’d be interested in knowing what the outside temperature has to get to before you succumb to turning on the a/c around the clock. Also what does your local summertime temperature usually run?
I keep mine set at 77. The summer temp here in South Texas is in the upper 90s or over 100 til way into September. I’ve already turned on the a/c this year because it’s already in the 90s. The humidity is the killer, though. I live in an old drafty house, but even so, if I set the temp lower than 77 (occasionally 76) I freeze my butt off.
72 during the day. I’ll go to 74 or 75 if it’s really hot out ( upper 90s or higher ) to be easier on the A/C unit.
69 at night. I wake up at 10:30-11 am due to my work schedule, so the morning sun beats on the outside walls and window of the bedroom. If that weren’t so I’d have at 72 for sleeping, so I set it at 69 to compensate.
I’m thick-blooded and can’t stand the heat. Can’t get “used to it” by weaning myself to higher temperatures. Some of my cheap friends keep the house at 80 in the summer, stating it feels cool compared to outside…for them. Coming inside on a muggy 95 degree day to an 80 degree house feels good to me…for about 2 and a half minutes. After that, i feel every last bit of that 80 degrees.
Other: I live in a small downstairs apartment, and I can get away with turning it off when I am not home. When I get home I simply turn it up to the max until I feel cool enough then I generally turn it off for the night. My apartment, being small and insulated on 4 of 6 sides, retains enough coolth through the night that even during summer, a fan on my face is sufficient to keep me comfortable.
Honestly, that’s no sacrifice on my part since lower than that feels cold. In the winter, hotter than 71 feels hot. I suspect that my thermostat has a unique perspective on what 73 actually is.
I am one of those cheapskates. I do keep it at 80 during the summer. But also there’s a vent directly above my computer desk and I’m certain that spot stays cooler than the rest of the house. If I set the thermostat lower I actually feel chilly when I’m sitting in that spot. Elsewhere in the house I feel fine with ceiling fans on.
Once the outside temps start getting into the 80s(that started in February this year)I keep it at 78. I really don’t like the feel of forced, artificially cooled beating down on me and would keep the windows open if I didn’t live [del] on planet Mercury[/del] in Fl.
75 when I’m at home, but I usually don’t start doing it until it starts getting 80 or higher indoors. I also usually turn it off when I go to bed, since my thermostat is the kind that turns the AC off and then back on every few minutes, and the cycling keeps me awake.
I also can’t use a “smart thermostat” as those all require a 5-wire setup, but mine only has 4 and would require quite a bit of work through the walls to change it.
Mine’s set to a fairly involved program- I like it cool when I sleep, or at least as I’m falling asleep, so it’s set to go to 68 starting at about 9:30 or so, and until about 12:30 or so. Then it warms up to 74 until about 5:30 or so, when it steps down to 71, and stays there until 9:30 rolls around again. On weekdays. Basically I like it a bit cooler than my wife does while she’s at home during the day, so we start it cooling about when I get home, but it doesn’t actually cool down that rapidly, so by bedtime, it’s around 68-ish, but it’s taken hours to get there, and I haven’t frozen her out but the last half hour before bedtime.
Weekends are more constant- it’s set at 72 (or is it 73? can’t remember) from about 7 am through about 9:30, when it steps down to 68 until sometime in the early morning, where it sets back to 72.
I like it cooler, but 75 is perfectly fine in the dog days of summer when it’s in the 90s. I don’t need it any cooler than that. And this is coming from someone who, when he was living with his brother about 15 years ago, kept the house at 58 during the winter. It’s all a matter of what the temp is outside. If it’s in the teens outside, then lower 60s feel fine inside. If it’s consistently humid and in the 80s or higher outside, then low humidity, mid 70s feels great to me.
They don’t. I have a 4-wire set-up, and my Ecobee works fine with it, although there is an attachment you have to wire in at the furnace/ac (it was easy enough that I did it myself). Cite.
67, but the thermostat’s thermometer is questionable and it’s in a poor location relative to the parts of the house we’re actually trying to cool, so that doesn’t really represent the “real” temperature (which is probably closer to 72-74)
The humidity is the killer, though. I live in an old drafty house, but even so, if I set the temp lower than 77 (occasionally 76) I freeze my butt off.