What temp for central A/C?

[annethcz]

After 3 years of living here, we FINALLY have air conditioning in our house. It was installed a week ago, and just in time! It's supposed to be in the 90s this week.

I don't remember from the last time we had A/C, so what temp do you keep your thermostat set at in the summer? Do you keep it consistent, or does it change throughout the day?

Since we turned it on yesterday, we've had it set at 74. It feels really comfortable, but I seem to remember keeping it set higher the last time we had A/C.

[rose angel]

We live in a very hot summer climate, so we have to keep ours at 80-82. If we kept it at 74, we would seriously have a $400 or more bill for the month.

[chely7425]

We keep ours at 74 at the moment, we are in Louisiana. It keeps it comfortable though once we get ceiling fans put it in upstairs I think we might bump it up to 75 or 76.

[Katie T]

We keep it between 78 and 80. It can get really hot here and if we kept it lower than that we would be paying out the **** for it.

[Drummer's Wife]

70-72, sometimes lower... I do flip it on and off, though. But yeah, it costs $$$ to keep 3k sq ft cool. That's what we get for living in the desert.

[Ola_]

We have a programmable thermostat which, if I recall correctly, is set for 25C (77F) during the day and 23C (73F?) at night. Right now we're still holding off on turning on the AC and using fans, but I think we'll need it soon, possibly later this week.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

We keep ours set to 68 all summer. Ours has heat as well and we keep it at 68 all winter as well. I refuse to be uncomfortably hot in my home I cant stand the feeling of being sweaty.

[teenyxdoodlez]

It can get really hot where we live so we keep ours constantly on auto and set at 74 for pretty much the entire summer. Luckily these past few days it's been a little windy and cloudy so we haven't had to turn it on yet. Then again it's still only springtime.
B.T.W, Isn't having an A/C awesome?! Anywhere we move my first question is does it have central a/c and a gas stove..lol.

[mom0810]

65.

[ParisApril]

Off.

[CrunchyChristianMama]

My DH sets it at 78 when he's home. When he's gone I usually bump it down a degree or two if I get hot during the middle of the day.

I like reading that others keep it so much lower, I was feeling guilty or self-indulgent or something about turning it down more! He will love to hear me say, "well on MDC..."

[sophiesgrandma]

we live in the northeast. We set it for 72 during the day and 70 when we go to bed as we always get too warm when we sleep.

[FillingMyQuiver]

We have ours set for 78 most of the time. There are moments we may bump it down to 76 or 77 b/c we've been cooking and the heat is retained or the kids are running around like maniacs and creating a lot of body heat , but I try really hard for 78. We also use our ceiling fans as much as possible to keep the cool air moving through the house.

[Chicky2]

We keep ours around 78 if we are just sitting and reading or doing schoolwork on the 'puters. When I'm cooking or we're more active, I put it at 75.

My dh does HVAC work as a side business. Remember that if you keep your thermostat set to "cool" and "on" instead of "auto" the compressor isn't coming on as often because you feel cooler w/the moving air.

[Delicateflower]

78 at the moment, but I try and keep it as high as possible, so I'll bump it up as the summer progresses. I find that the drying effect of the A/C is more important even than the cooling.

Originally Posted by ParisApril

Off.

You don't live where I live.

[KMK_Mama]

78

Yeah, here in AZ, we get news reports of people dying every summer because they either don't have A/C or leave it off because they can't afford it. It's a must!

[dachshundqueen]

Ours is set at 78, sometimes 76 if it is especially hot out. Our kids get heinous heat rash so on days when it is 90+ out, we have to set the temp inside lower to compensate for heat buildup in the upper levels of the house. The temps here now are around 86 during the day, and at 78 it is still sometimes a bit warm when we go to bed.

We could never afford to keep it at or below 76 for extended periods of time.

Liz

[BetsyS]

Ah, I so wish we could afford to keep it at 70.

As it is, we keep it around 75 or 76. That's a bit misleading, though. Our thermostat is in the coolest part of the coolest room in the house. So, keeping it at 75 keeps the upstairs around 78 or 79 degrees.

I totally splurge on AC. I hate to be hot. In the winter, we keep our heat on 60, and we just put on a sweater. But, you can't get more nekkid than nekkid, you know?

[JamieCatheryn]

74, and I'm super comfortable with it there. The house is fairly efficient so the bill isn't killing us, but I do feel wasteful anyway, like I ought to be just a little too warm when it's 85+ outside.

[Chicky2]

There is no way we could keep ours off. Plus we have an elderly woman here who could get really sick. My dh is going to fix a woman's a/c tonight. She called and has a 6 mo old baby, a 12 yo w/tuberculosis, and a cancer patient. They just cannot be hot.

I remember once when it was super hot out and my dh was a volunteer firefighter. He went on a call for an elderly woman who had a heat stroke because they couldn't afford to get their a/c fixed. They had been told it would be $1300 to fix it. My dh went back later to see if he could look at their unit and fix it cheaper. He did. It took him about $3 of a special tape to fix it--all their a/c was going out under their house! I just remember he couldn't sit still that night until he decided to go try to fix it. It gets easily over 100 and the last few years the humidity has been horrid!