What temperature do you keep your central air conditioner at if you have one?

[NNN0LHI]

If I put my thermostat on 77 degrees I sweat and if I put it on 76 degrees I freeze. Can't win.

Don

[tularetom]

1. We keep it at 80 which feels pretty good when its 105 outside

But this old house is so drafty it runs all the time just to maintain 80. We get some godawful bills.

[GodlessBiker]

2. 75

[nevergiveup]

3. 78 reduces the humidity

and is fairly comfortable for me. I hate being cold in the summer.

[imdjh]

7. Isn't that the truth.

It's absurd to see people carry a sweater into a store or mall (or worse, City Hall) so they won't get chilled when it's 90 outside.

[babylonsister]

4. 79-80. As hot as we can stand it. nt

[imdjh]

5. Today it's on 81ºF , it all depends on the day

If it's cooler outside, then it might be on 78. If it's really hot then 82ºF is about as high as I go. I turn it down a little in the evening, and then off at night. Normally, I can sleep well with a floor fan blowing directly on me. Sometimes, I turn on the wall unit in the bedroom. Right now I have a floor fan blowing on me and the AC is running on 81.

When I have company, I set it a little lower because non-Floridians aren't used to it being so warm inside until they have been here a week or so.

[unpossibles]

6. I use a fan

if it's really hot, I go somewhere that has AC.

[imdjh]

10. I just checked your forecast. Are you having a cool summer?

Or is it always like that? The cool night temps look delicious.

[unpossibles]

27. actually, I need to update my profile

I am living in NYC now. Oops.

But yes, the evenings are fairly cool this year for the most part, although Cinci had some heatwave moments earlier this season. I grew up in an old house without AC, and have not had it most of my life, so I guess I am kinda used to it. In fact, most places with AC feel way too cold for my tastes. I don't mind it when it's used to take the humidity out of the air, but I don't understand when people have it set for colder than they would want it in the winter, when they are dressed for that.

[sandnsea]

8. I live at the coast

No air conditioning necessary and only modest heat in the winter. One of the main reasons I don't leave.

[notadmblnd]

9. I don't have central air

I keep my house cool by shade trees, closing the windows, using dark shades and employing the use of ceiling fans. The weather's been in the low 80's which I don't find too uncomfortable. Once the temp get up past 85 and the humidity festival commences, it's a different story. Then I have a window unit in my bedroom and I go there to cool off.

[elocs]

11. I haven't used the air conditioner here in the house yet in WI.

Yes, it can get very hot and humid here in the summer, but it is usually for so few days that I could never justify the expense of central air. Amazingly, once upon a time people were actually able to live without central air conditioning.

[endless october]

12. 75 most of the time, sometimes 74, 72 if i'm burning up.

[David__77]

13. 72.

But it's really warmer than that by about 4 degrees or more.

[Bobbieo]

14. I can handle 85 with low humidity - then it is 82.

[patrice]

15. 78-80

[stray cat]

16. No such luck as central air - not for years.

[MineralMan]

17. No central air in our house.

We have a large window unit in the living room and small ones in our bedroom and my wife's office. We cool only the room we're using.

My office is in the basement, where no AC is needed.

[Spirochete]

18. Mine's at 74

Wait - it WAS at 74. i changed it to 76. But i haven't had it turned on very much so far this year.

[Mojorabbit]

23. Mine is at 74

too. I am menopausal and if it hits even one degree higher in the house I know it. I am hoping eventually this will pass.

[TankLV]

19. 78 when we're out, down to 74 for a few minutes to cool things off, then back to 76

it's COLD when it's 115 outside!!!

[MADem]

20. Put it on the higher temp and aim a fan at yourself.

We've not used any a/c this year. We don't have central air, but we do "spot cool" a room ordinarily--haven't needed to use it at all this year.

[Fledermaus]

21. 86 when I'm at work. 78-80 when I'm home. I use fans and my ac has a dehumidify function.

[Terry in Austin]

22. 73. Plus some poetry for the season

Texas summer haiku:

Shit.
It's hot.

(You can collect the other 14 syllables some time in October.)

[AZCat]

24. Location, location, location.

What applies to real estate also applies to thermostats. If the thermostat isn't where you are (or in a thermally similar zone) then it isn't properly adjusting the space temperature to suit you. You might think about switching to a remote thermostat if comfort is this much of an issue for you, or we can get into an interesting discussion of thermal comfort.

[imdjh]

29. Good point.

I actually prefer wall units to central. They are noisy, but you can do spot AC while they dehumidify the whole house. They also are a lot cheaper to replace than central and if one goes out you have two or three others to keep it bearable until you can get another.

[AZCat]

31. Here in Tucson we don't spend a lot of time worrying about humidity...

with the exception of about six weeks in the summer, but you're right about redundancy. The only problem you can have is if you use one of the systems that has multiple evaporators tied into one condenser (Mitsubishi makes one) - it's still vulnerable to compressor failure.

[The Croquist]

25. 80 when I run it.

I have a large exhaust fan that I turn on at night and in the early morning. It's 75 out now and that will cool the house down to about 76 before it starts getting warm. It's only going to be 86 today with possible thunderstorms so there's a good chance I won't turn it on at all.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

26. Our thermostat is variable (to save energy)

It's programmed to let it get up to 78 when we're not home and set on 75 for when we are home. During the night it bumps up to 76.
If it's rather humid, I might manually turn on the A/C for a few minutes to knock the mugginess out of the air. In the winter, it does the same thing (but reversed)... reducing the heat during work/sleep hours. I feel it was a good investment, as I'm not wasting gas/electric heating a house nobody is in for 10hrs/day.

It's a small house though, so temperature swings are pertty swift :)

[stuntcat]

28. 78's the lowest

If it's 70's outside we open all the windows but this week we've finally closed them and started the AC. We usually have at least one ceiling fan going when the air's off.

We're lucky we're not too sensitive about temps!

[phantom power]

30. 76F in the day, 68F at night.

Even when it's 110F. Like it kind of is right now.

[XemaSab]

32. *Somebody* keeps it at 66

:eyes:

[Systematic Chaos]

33. Our bedroom gets hit with the blazing Vegas sun from late morning til sundown.

The front of the apartment, where the thermostat is, will generally never go over 79 degrees or so no matter what we set it at. However, unless we want to broil in this bedroom we have to keep the thermostat at 75 and pray during the afternoon this room stays under 82. When the 118 degree days get here I'm sure we'll be sweltering back here at about 86 - 88 around sundown.