The question needs more clarification: Are you asking about summer or winter? Then, does the 82 degree recommended heat setting apply to summer or winter?
Previously, I lived in Seattle where we had no AC but it was cool and dry in the evening in the summer. The house was at least as warm as whatever nighttime low temperature that was reached by about 6AM. On the hot days, it got to 83 in the house, maybe once per year, so we broke out the fans and got some relief. In winter, we heated the house to 68 by day, 64 by night.
Now I’m in the midwest, in summer, we usually let the AC cool things down to 75 during the day or 73-74 at night. In winter, we heat it to, again, 68 by day and 64 by night.
You actually get better sleep, I’ve heard (sorry no cite) when the ambient room temperature is cool. 64 degrees did it for us. We need warm blankets, but hey, it’s the winter.
But sleeping at 82 degrees in summer? I couldn’t easily do it; wouldn’t like it. The bed turns into a swap at anything over 76 degrees in my house. (So humid.)
window unit in bedroom set to 65. that isn’t what the room temp is though as it will only cool a certain amount and a few nights ago it was still 95 F at midnight. I sleep with a fan blowing on me from the direction of the AC and rarely use a sheet in the summer. In the winter I use space heaters in the bathroom and kitchen when the temp is below 32f. and one in my bedroom set on about 40 F. and I wear lots of layers and bed covers.
The only time I have been too cold was on a camping trip that the temperature was in the 20’s f and my cpap was pretty uncomfortable to put on even with the heating unit cranked up on it.
In cooling season, 21.5 during the day, 25 at night. During heating season, 24 during the day, and 18 at night.
Sorry for the centigrade; it just makes more sense in my life right now. I know in another thread I told the OP that using metric units made him pretentious, but I’m really not trying to be that myself.
My vote/answer was imprecise. I set the central air conditioning to 78 when I go to sleep, but I have a portable AC right next to my bed because I absolutely ***must ***have a cool flow of air directly aimed at my face. I try to leave that at 74 F, but when I wake up, I discover that I’ve lowered it to 70, or sometimes 68.
If I were wealthy, I’d set everything significantly colder, but my August electric bill – for one person – was $200 as it is!
I. CAN. NOT. SLEEP. If the temperature is not right. Now, sometimes I can go 72 or even 73 ( ! ) if I put a fan blowing on me but even then I’ll often wake with my hair and T-shirt moist from sweat.
I can tolerate as higher during the day, in deference to wear & tear on the A/C unit…not the cost. I’ll go 75/76 on a hot day, but if I can maintain 72 without the unit continuously running, I’ do so as soon as possible.
It’s hard to just pick one answer, as it depends on the time of the year. I used the average. During the summer, we usually keep the thermostat around 75 for the house in the evening (78 during the day when just the pups are at home). We use a portable cooler in our room that does evaporation cooling (sort of a mini version of a swamp cooler, if you know what that is), so the temp in our master bedroom is probably a bit cooler than the 75 in the rest of the house…plus it adds some humidity to the air, which is lacking where I live.
During the winter, we usually lower the temperature in the house to something like 65. Again, we have a portable heater in our master bedroom, which probably takes the actual temperature in the bedroom to something like 69 degrees in the summer.
This seems to be the butter zone for us, balancing our solar/battery system for the house with our electrical bills and what discounts we get back from the energy company, with our comfort and that of our pups. YMMV.
Depends on the time of year. If we’re heating the house during colder months, then it will be 68 or so, sometimes as high as 74. If we need the A/C on, it will be 78.
I don’t have a multi-level system and the thermostat is on the ground floor. If it was higher than that it would be intolerable upstairs in my bedroom when I’m trying to sleep.
Seems from context you mean in the summer, and are assuming central A/C?
But our settings are pretty different in winter and summer, partly to do with relationship of ‘setting’ to actual temperature.
Winter: we set the old style thermostat for gas furnace/hot water radiator system, thermostat located in drafty semi-basement floor hall of our 118 yr old house, at around 65. That puts the actual temperature (per room thermometer) in the third floor bedroom around 70. If it’s exceptionally cold out we have to set the thermostat lower to avoid it getting too hot upstairs.
Summer: we set the local temperature control of ‘mini-split’ AC unit (installed a few years ago) in the bedroom at around 79, which approximately agrees with the room thermometer. Often we turn off the AC when we go to sleep and just use the ceiling fan, if the overnight temp is going below 80 or so.
I generally keep mine on 82 during the summer days if I am not moving around and doing anything, but it goes down to 78 at night.
In winter, it’s usually on 72 during the day. I try to d o70, but I get chilly. At night, it’s usually on 68.
It’s programmable, and set on a schedule to allow it get down to 65 during winter and up to either 84 or 85 (can’t recall) when I’m not home during the day.
Roughly about 72, 73. If I had to go with 82, I’d freaking suffocate, no matter what time of the year it is. I don’t like it that hot during that day, either. Yuck.
We had a heat wave last month, and I hardly got any sleep. I think I’d be happy moving to the North Pole.
No A/C in any of the three residences I stay at in CA, MT, and MN,two of them are mobile homes. Use just fans. Turn 'em on in the evening, once it cools to 72F or so, it’s comfortable for sleeping. Keep the windows mostly closed during the day, rarely gets above 75F even on hot days. If your residence is heating up more during the day, you have an insulation problem.
Leaving the temperature constant requires the AC to be on more than allowing it to drift to ambient when nobody’s home. Unless the HVAC guy is saying that its better for the AC unit to cycle often, which sounds highly suspect to me, and even if it were true, AC units would be designed to add extra (brief) cycles even when far from set-points.
The part about having your house warmer when you sleep is bizarre. In bed, I’m sandwiched between a mattress and a blanket; I’m going to need it to be cooler than when I’m sitting in the living room in cutoffs and t-shirt.
Also, a 20-degree difference in sleeping temperatures between summer and winter? No way!
I voted Other. In that we don’t have a thermostat. A little air-con in the summer might be nice, but we make do with electric fans. For the winter, hey, this is Hawaii, no need for heating.