Air conditioning question

[pamela]

I have been asking some friends and have been getting some conflicting answers so I thought I'd post this here and see what people thinks is the cheapest way for Air Conditioning..

Is it cheaper to keep AC on all day/night (turn it on low when u're out then turn it on high when u're home if u want it COOL?)

OR

Turn AC off when u're out then when u're home, turn AC back on?

 

[arlyn]

I would imagine it would depend a lot on the home type (wood vs brick), insulation quality and regional weather.

I'm in a brick condo in the Utah desert, it is cheaper to leave it on 24/7 than to have it work harder to cool this brick oven of a home.

 

[ugaimes]

I've been told numerous times it's more expensive to turn the A/C on/off/on/off than it is to keep it on all the time and just turn it up when you're gone. So, I keep my thermostat at abot 80 when I'm not home and keep it at about 76 when I'm home. So far, so good

 

[annabelle33]

I voted that I turn it off when I'm out but right now I only have a wall unit. When I had central air I would turn put it on maybe 80 during the day when I'm at work and maybe 70 or so when I am home, so if it got extremely hot it would kick on but normally it wouldn't. At work we turn it off at night and on in the morning.

 

[katspixiedust]

I would think it would cost more to keep turning it on and off, but I'm not positive. Ours is always at about 70 in my apartment (and believe it or not, my room is generally still warm) and a bit warmer in the winter (but only by about 2 or 3 degrees). I imagine that's probably lower than most people would keep it.

 

[gailc]

We have no air conditioner at our house. Our house is electric heat therefore no ductwork. Our casement windows will not allow a room air conditioner unless we do ugly things with the windows. I utilize my blinds, our placement of trees, ceiling and other fans.

 

[pamela]

I found this site.. http://home.howstuffworks.com/framed...actsheets.html

In 1 section of this it says

An air conditioner will cool the air in your home fairly quickly. For economical operation, turn it on only when your home is occupied. You may consider installing a programmable thermostat. These allow you to set the time when the air conditioner will turn on, such as 30 minutes before you arrive home from work on a hot day. For more information programmable thermostats, see Related Links below. During the day, keep the drapes or blinds closed on windows that face east, south, and west. This will help reduce solar heat gain into your home.

Here's another link. http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumeri...er/summer.html

Hmmm.. I am continuing to check other sites to find more info so pls keep ur comments/polling coming! If u do find further info on this via internet please share!

I am trying to find ways to save money on everything!

 

[arlyn]

I would keep researching.
Also, if there are pets, your home is occupied, whether you're there or not

For me, the consideration is my birds.
You know it's too hot if a cat is panting, but if a tropical parrot is panting and holding it's wings out, it's hotter than Hades.

 

[katspixiedust]

Originally Posted by GailC

We have no air conditioner at our house. Our house is electric heat therefore no ductwork. Our casement windows will not allow a room air conditioner unless we do ugly things with the windows. I utilize my blinds, our placement of trees, ceiling and other fans.

- Fairly good depiction of how Iwould feel without my beloved air conditioning. Though I'm well aware that our climates are vastly different!

 

[pamela]

Originally Posted by Arlyn

I would keep researching.
Also, if there are pets, your home is occupied, whether you're there or not

For me, the consideration is my birds.
You know it's too hot if a cat is panting, but if a tropical parrot is panting and holding it's wings out, it's hotter than Hades.

Yes, that's a very good point to keep in mind. Thank you for pointing that out regarding the comfort level of pets. That's why I am trying to research this NOW so I can see what the best option is economically AND for comfort of my furbabies and ME!

 

[KittenKrazy]

I live in a mobile home (manufactured houseing, whatever), with no trees around. We keep our heating system set during the day with the heat about 65 and cool about 75, and drop the cool to 72 , heat up to 69 at night...... keeps it comfortable for us and the cats. If I were to leave mine off during the day, in the winter even, it would be about 80 degrees, but in the summer would pass 100!

 

[pamela]

Originally Posted by Arlyn

I would keep researching.
Also, if there are pets, your home is occupied, whether you're there or not

For me, the consideration is my birds.
You know it's too hot if a cat is panting, but if a tropical parrot is panting and holding it's wings out, it's hotter than Hades.

I also would like to add that I grew up in Utah! Noted that you're from Utah. I know what the weather is there in Utah- MISS the weather there! Here in DC/MD during the summer, it's hard for me to deal with the heat AND HUMIDITY!!!!!!!

Enuff of me whining!! Enjoy the DRY heat in Utah!

 

[pamela]

Originally Posted by KittenKrazy

If I were to leave mine off during the day, in the winter even, it would be about 80 degrees, but in the summer would pass 100!

YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wouldn't want my AC off either with that kind of temperature!!

 

[arlyn]

That dry heat is one of the reasons I moved here

I'm a Seattle native, so typically I'm used to 80 degree, sometimes 90 degree summers, but that awful humidity was the killer.

 

[rosehawke]

Well, we have a heat pump. During the summer we keep it on 74-75 (depending on how cool/warm I'm feeling that day

) and turn it down to 65 about an hour before bed just to get the house cool, then back up in the morning when hubby gets up. During the winter you're really supposed to keep it on one "comfortable" setting all the time as being the most economical so the auxuiliary heat won't have to kick in to get to its target temp (although I understand they have thermostats that are specifically for heat pumps that avoid this issue) but I like it cool at night, so we usually turn it down to 62 or so, then back up to 70 in the morning. I'm still very pleased with how very economical our electric bills have been compared to the mobile home that was half the size (and this house has next to no insulation!)

KittenKrazy, been there done that! Until the trees got big it was like living in an oven!

 

[mzjazz2u]

In Utah, a lot of people have "Swamp coolers." I never heard of them till I moved out here. They are a little cheaper to run and mine keeps my condo very cool. They use water to cool the air and circulate it through the house. So they actually add some humidity! Thank God!! I leave it on low during the day because my cats are still here and since they are Persian's, I worry about them getting over heated if I turn the cooler off.

Arlyn, I live in a condo in a brick building in utah too!

Pamela, Dry is not always good. I moved from Michigan to Utah and so I went from 80-100% humidity to 0-15% and it wasn't a pretty sight at first. Your skin and hair dries out something awful. Not to mention your eyes and sinuses. It's very hard to get used to and I still have some problem with it after 8 years! I really hated the high humidity in Michigan though.

 

[arlyn]

I keep trying to get my mother to give me her portable swamp cooler, afterall, she lives in an RV, what does she need it for?

It gets bloody hot upstairs even with the A/C, curse the western window!

Honestly, we have a rooftop central unit, I keep the thermostat at 73 year round, I only wish we had a smart thermostat that would turn on the furnance/Air when needed, instead, I have to turn on one, or the other.

 

[ali012281]

We keep our ac on all the time but we have it set that when it gets above 75 in the house the ac comes on then when it gets to 70 it shuts off.

 

[mzjazz2u]

Yeah we need it. one day it is 70's close to 80's and the next it's snowing.... like today!

 

[cheeseface]

Originally Posted by Pamela

I found this site.. http://home.howstuffworks.com/framed...actsheets.html

In 1 section of this it says

Here's another link. http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumeri...er/summer.html

Hmmm.. I am continuing to check other sites to find more info so pls keep ur comments/polling coming! If u do find further info on this via internet please share!

I am trying to find ways to save money on everything!

It's common sense like the quote says. When the AC is off, you're not spending any money on electricity. It does take some time to cool off the house when you do get back, but it doesn't cost you more electricity to do that. It's silly to think that.

It's like two other myths that letting your computer run all night or letting your car stay running while you go into a store costs less gas than shutting it off. No way.